Next week, Sotheby’s is selling a 25-kilogram rock that quite literally came from another planet.
Fez– Next Wednesday in New York, Sotheby’s is hosting an auction that’s aiming high, literally out of this world.
At the heart of the salle is the largest known Martian meteorite ever discovered on Earth. Weighing in at 25 kilograms (that’s 54 pounds), this massive space rock, officially named NWA 16788, is expected to sell for anywhere between $2 million and $4 million.
This isn’t just a rock; it’s a piece of Mars that made the 225-million-kilometer journey to Earth after being blasted off the Martian surface by a massive asteroid impact.
According to Sotheby’s and scientific experts, NWA 16788 eventually crash-landed in the Sahara Desert, where it was finally discovered in Niger in November 2023 by a meteorite hunter. Talk about cosmic timing.
The sale is part of Sotheby’s Natural History Auction, which also features other fascinating items, including the skeleton of a juvenile Ceratosaurus, over 6 feet tall and 11 feet long, and a curated selection of high-quality fossils, meteorites, and minerals.
All of it is happening during Geek Week 2025, a week-long celebration of scientific wonder, curiosity, and collectors’ dreams.
So what makes this Martian rock such a big deal?
Well, for starters, it’s huge. According to Sotheby’s, it’s approximately 70% larger than the second-biggest Martian meteorite ever recorded on Earth.
The dimensions alone; 375 mm by 279 mm by 152 mm (that’s 15 x 11 x 6 inches), make it a commanding presence.
And with its mix of red, brown, and gray tones, it doesn’t just tell a story of cosmic violence and planetary travel, it also looks pretty stunning while doing it.
“This Martian meteorite is by far the largest known piece of Mars ever found. It’s more than double the size of what was previously thought to be the biggest,” said Cassandra Hatton, Sotheby’s Global Head of Science and Natural History, in an interview.
Her excitement is understandable after all, it’s not every day you get to auction off a chunk of another planet.
Meteorites from Mars are extremely rare. Out of over 70,000 meteorites found on Earth, fewer than 400 have been confirmed to be of Martian origin.
Most are much smaller than a football, and only a handful are large enough to be truly museum-worthy, or, in this case, worthy of a multimillion-dollar bidding war.
And let’s be honest: there’s something undeniably thrilling about owning a piece of another planet.
It taps into something primal: curiosity, power, maybe even a little bit of sci-fi fantasy. Whether you’re a collector, a museum, or someone with too much money and a love for celestial things, this kind of object doesn’t come around often.
Sotheby’s has been steadily building its reputation in the natural history and science space over the past few years, bringing fossils, meteorites, and other marvels into the spotlight, and into the hands of collectors who see both the scientific and aesthetic value in these natural relics.
So, if you’ve got a few million dollars lying around and a shelf that could use a planetary upgrade, this is your moment.
One lucky bidder will walk away with the largest known piece of Mars to ever hit Earth, and the bragging rights that come with it.
And for the rest of us? We’ll be watching closely, reminding ourselves that while we might not be able to “buy” Mars, we can still dream big.
