How much is a meteorite worth if you find one?

A prime specimen will easily fetch $50/gram while rare examples of lunar and Martian meteorites may sell for $1,000/gram or more — almost forty times the current price of gold!

How much is a meteorite worth if you find it?

Common iron meteorite prices are generally in the range of US$0.50 to US$5.00 per gram. Stone meteorites are much scarcer and priced in the US$2.00 to US$20.00 per gram range for the more common material. It is not unusual for the truly scarce material to exceed US$1,000 per gram.

Can I sell a meteorite I found?

You can list your meteorite on popular online marketplaces, but buyers will often want documentation (as you should to ensure that you are not scammed). It's often recommended to contact a meteor seller instead as they can do all the work of preparing it and selling it while you get cash for the find.

Are meteorite rocks worth money?

Meteorites have significant financial value to collectors and scientific value to researchers. Meteorite values can range from a few dollars to hundreds of thousands of dollars.

Do I own a meteorite if I find it?

Meteorites may be collected without a permit or collection fee. Casual collection is for personal use only, and therefore, cannot be bartered or sold for commercial purposes. Meteorites may be collected for scientific and educational purposes under a permit issued under the authority of the Antiquities Act.

How much is a meteorite worth?

Who can verify my meteorite?

You may try contacting the Geological Survey of your state, a local college or university or college or a local natural history museum. In addition, there are a few commercial firms that will charge a fee for examining and identifying suspected meteorites.

How much is a 1 pound meteorite worth?

How Much Is a 1-Pound Meteorite Worth? The exact worth of a meteorite varies depending on the specific type of meteorite in question. An 82-pound iron meteorite originating from an asteroid recently sold for $44,100 — about $540 per pound.

How much is a 12 pound meteorite worth?

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Would you pay more than $600,000 for a chunk of the moon? Someone did. A 12-pound chunk of the moon that fell to the Earth as a lunar meteorite has been sold at auction for the out-of-this-world price of $612,500.

Are small meteorites valuable?

Meteorites are quite valuable, worth as much as $1,000 per gram, according to the LiveScience website. Kellyco Metal Detectors posted on eBay that it can sell for $300 per gram or more — meaning 1 pound could be worth $1 million. "Meteorites are rarer than gold, platinum, diamonds or emeralds.

What type of meteorite is the rarest?

The rarest kind of meteorite are the stony-iron meteorites, containing about equal parts of stone and iron.

What do I do if I found a meteorite?

Collect and handle meteorites using clean gloves, tongs, or new aluminum foil. Common, household aluminum foil is a reasonable and inexpensive means to handle meteorites. Simply tear a fresh piece of foil off of the roll and pick up the meteorite with it. You can keep the foil wrapped around the meteorite indefinitely.

Are meteorites rare to find?

They are very rare, but many people find unusual rocks or pieces of metal and wonder if they might have found a meteorite. Meteorites have several properties that help distinguish them from other rocks: Density: Meteorites are usually quite heavy for their size, since they contain metallic iron and dense minerals.

What happens if you touch a meteorite?

What happens if you touch a meteorite? Try not to handle any freshly fallen meteorites with your bare hands! Oils and microbes from your skin will slowly degrade the surface of a meteorite, dulling the fusion crust, contaminating the meteorite, and promoting rust.

Are meteorites rarer than gold?

Meteorites are small rocks from space that impact the Earth. They are exceedingly rare — the collective weight of every meteorite known to exist is less than the world's annual output of gold.

How can you tell how old a meteorite is?

Rocks, including meteorites, can be dated by looking at the ratios of certain radioactive isotopes (a method analogous to 'radiocarbon dating'). Most meteorites turn out to be about 4.56 billion years old, because they come from asteroids that date from the creation of the Solar System.

How can I test a meteorite at home?

Most meteorites contain some iron-nickel metal and attract a magnet easily. You can use an ordinary refrigerator magnet to test this property. A magnet will stick to the meteorite if it contains much metal.

How much is a 30lb meteorite worth?

Meteorite NWA 12691 was found in the Sahara Desert and weighs just under 30 pounds, It is valued at more than $2.5 million.

What are the rare meteorite rock types?

Stony-iron

They are the rarest of the three major families and are often considered the most beautiful. Stony-iron meteorites are classified into two subgroups: pallasites and mesosiderites. Pallasites contain olivine crystals suspended in iron-nickel metal (Fig. 6).

Which meteorite is expensive?

The Fukang Meteorite

It is made of nickel-iron laced with olivine crystals which contributes to its beauty. The Fukang Meteorite is believed to be 4.5 billion years old, which means that it is either older or the same age as Earth. It was discovered in 2000 and is one of the most expensive meteorites found on Earth.

What type of meteorite do I have?

Streak Test: Scratch your specimen on a ceramic tile. “Unless it is heavily weathered, a stony meteorite typically won't leave a streak mark on the ceramic.” (7) If the streak is black or gray, your sample is likely magnetite. If it is a red or brown streak, you probably have hematite.

How much is a moon rock worth?

Moon rocks collected during the course of lunar exploration are currently considered priceless.

How much is a 4 lb meteorite worth?

A unique 4-pound pallasite meteorite featuring crystals of olivine and peridot recently sold for $60,480. That's over $15,000 per pound! Pieces of Mars rock can command similar prices, with a 4.25-pound piece selling for $63,000, approximately $15,000 per pound. Meteorites from the Moon are even more valuable.

Do meteorites contain gold?

The reported gold contents of meteorites range from 0.0003 to 8.74 parts per million. Gold is siderophilic, and the greatest amounts in meteorites are in the iron phases. Estimates of the gold content of the earth's crust are in the range ~f 0.001 to 0.006 parts per million.

Are iron meteorites rare?

Although they are fairly rare compared to the stony meteorites, comprising only about 5.7% of witnessed falls, iron meteorites have historically been heavily over-represented in meteorite collections. This is due to several factors: They are easily recognized as unusual, as opposed to stony meteorites.

How much can you sell a meteorite for?

Stone meteorites are worth between $2.00 and $20 per gram but could exceed $1,000 per gram. That means a one pound iron meteorite could be worth more than $2,000 while a one pound stone meteorite could get you $9,000. So how do you know if it's a meteorite? The Washington University in St.