Going once, going twice - sold! The Gibeon meteorite from Namibia, which was auctioned in Holland, fetched a record sum of 1.7 million euros (35 million Namibian dollars). This was much more than the expected bids of up to one million euros. The Mercurius Observatory in Dordrecht is using the proceeds to build a planetarium.
The 240-kilogram extraterrestrial chunk is the heaviest iron meteorite ever to go under the hammer in Holland. This was reported by the Dutch news portals NLTimes.nl and RTL.nl. It went to an anonymous US bidder who paid around €2 million including fees.
The chunk is one of hundreds of fragments of a meteorite that crashed to Earth between 10,000 and 30,000 years ago. The debris fell over a large area around what is now Gibeon in south-central Namibia (see also earlier report on Namibian.org).
When and how this specimen of the Gibeon meteorite came to be abroad is not reported in the Dutch media. Some were donated for research puposes.
In 2004, Namibia imposed an export ban. In the same year, the Mercurius Observatory Dordrecht acquired its 'Gibeon meteorite' from the Southwest Meteorite Laboratory in Arizona.
A few weeks ago, the auction of the largest known Martian meteorite at the auction house Sotheby's caused a stir. The 25 kg chunk went to an anonymous US bidder for more than five million US dollars.
The meteorite was found in Niger in 2023. According to a report in the French newspaper Le Monde, there are many indications that it was exported illegally. Niger has now imposed an export ban and lodged a protest. Sotheby's has rejected all accusations but is having the available documents checked.
More than two dozen of the Gibeon meteorites discovered so far can be admired in Windhoek. The National Monuments Council had them installed on metal pedestals in the pedestrian passage of the Post Street Mall. Unfortunately, four have since been stolen.
In Namibia, more precisely, about 20 km west of Grootfontein, the world's largest meteorite to date can also be found: the Hoba Meteorite. Weighing more than 60 tons, the colossus consists of 84 percent iron and 16 percent nickel.
It crashed to Earth around 80,000 years ago. Farmer Jacobus Hermanus Brits discovered it while plowing in 1920 (see Wikipedia article). Visitors can view the metal lump from space for an access fee. This video from Gondwana Collection Namibia gives you an idea.
One shouldn't forget the many small meteorites that don't make it to Earth's surface. They burn up in the Earth's atmosphere and are known as shooting stars. In Namibia's clear starry sky, far from the distracting scattered light of cities, they can be experienced like almost nowhere else.
Sven-Eric Stender