A piece of the Moon with a starting price of €25,000, meteorites from Mars and a 102-kilogram extraterrestrial object are among the exhibits that the Hessink auction house will offer at auction in Maastricht. The collection includes a total of 33 objects, displayed near Vrijthof Square in the Dutch city.
The auction is scheduled for Saturday. Prices start at €150 for the cheapest meteorite, while the heaviest specimen can barely be lifted because of its weight of 102 kilograms.
Meteorites as Interior Décor
Among the unusual exhibits is a meteorite intended as wall decoration. Another has been shaped into a cube displaying a Widmanstätten pattern – a distinctive structure found in some iron meteorites.
“It shows that this is a genuine meteorite. Such an imitation cannot be made anywhere on Earth,” says auction house director Bradley Hessink, quoted by Dutch public broadcaster L1. According to him, the event is unique in the Netherlands.
Hessink links his choice of collection to his preference for objects that stand out from the ordinary. Alongside meteorites, he has sold works by Banksy and dinosaur skeletons – “crazy, unusual objects,” as he puts it.
Lunar Fragment for €25,000
The piece of the Moon has the highest starting price among the items listed in the collection. It is being offered for a minimum of €25,000. According to Hessink, the fragment reached Earth after a meteorite collided with the Moon. The impact ejected debris into space, which later reached the Earth’s surface.
“Now you have the opportunity to give your wife a piece of the Moon,” Hessink says, comparing the unusual gift to a traditional precious stone.
According to him, all the objects have been tested, verified and certified. Buyers also receive a lifetime guarantee from the Hessink auction house covering the authenticity of the specimens they acquire.
Sources: bta.bg, limburg.headliner.nl