The £2m lump of rock up for auction

This $2m lump of moon rock is astronomical in more than one sense of the word. Chris Carter reports

Moon rock © Christie's
(Image credit: Moon rock © Christie's)

Christie’s is “no stranger to astronomical sums of money”, says David Sanderson in The Times. “Astronomical items are rarer, however.” The auction house in London has put up for sale the fifth-largest chunk of the Moon that can be found on Earth. Hundreds, if not thousands, of years ago, an asteroid or comet smashed into the moon, spraying lunar regolith into space. Then, at some unknown point in time, NWA 12691, as this specimen is called, rained down over the western Sahara as part of a large meteorite shower. It was later found by a researcher working in the desert two years ago.

The shower is thought to be responsible for at least 30 of the known lunar meteorites – a high proportion when you consider that Moon rock is one of the rarest substances on Earth. If you were to gather together the approximately 400kg that Apollo astronauts brought back from their jaunts to the Moon in the 1960s and 1970s, and all of the additional 650kg of known lunar meteorites that have fallen to Earth naturally, “they would all fit comfortably inside a very small car”, says James Hyslop, head of science and natural history at Christie’s.

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Chris Carter
Wealth Editor, MoneyWeek

Chris Carter spent three glorious years reading English literature on the beautiful Welsh coast at Aberystwyth University. Graduating in 2005, he left for the University of York to specialise in Renaissance literature for his MA, before returning to his native Twickenham, in southwest London. He joined a Richmond-based recruitment company, where he worked with several clients, including the Queen’s bank, Coutts, as well as the super luxury, Dorchester-owned Coworth Park country house hotel, near Ascot in Berkshire.

Then, in 2011, Chris joined MoneyWeek. Initially working as part of the website production team, Chris soon rose to the lofty heights of wealth editor, overseeing MoneyWeek’s Spending It lifestyle section. Chris travels the globe in pursuit of his work, soaking up the local culture and sampling the very finest in cuisine, hotels and resorts for the magazine’s discerning readership. He also enjoys writing his fortnightly page on collectables, delving into the fascinating world of auctions and art, classic cars, coins, watches, wine and whisky investing.

You can follow Chris on Instagram.