A fragment of the most mysterious "guest from space" is put up for auction
On the last day of September, a very unusual lot was offered at the authoritative online auction eBay - a pebble measuring 9 centimeters in length and 6 centimeters in height and width. Its weight is 996 grams. The current owner asks for this cobblestone "only" $ 2,400,000. Because the description for the lot says that this is "the only known fragment of a meteorite" that fell in 1908 in Siberia.
The artifact is being sold by someone living in the United States and hiding under the pseudonym karensresources. He has a very respectable reputation in the eBay rankings. Here he has been selling antique artwork, auto accessories and old magazines since 2005.
Here's how he commented on his new lot:
“I am only an intermediary, and the owner decided to remain anonymous for now. A fragment of a meteorite came to him back in 1976, after one of the Soviet scientific expeditions visited the Podkamennaya Tunguska area. Eight years later, the stone was examined by specialists from the geochemical laboratory of the University of Kentucky (USA) and the chemical company Antec. Together with the stone, the buyer will receive copies of documents confirming its extraterrestrial origin. The owner wanted to part with the stone back in 1998 and valued it at $ 3.1 million. But the auction then did not take place.