A 54-pound chunk of Mars—believed to be the largest Martian meteorite ever discovered on Earth—is hitting the auction block at Sotheby’s New York on July 16, with an estimate of $2 million to $4 million.
Dubbed NWA 16788, the rock was discovered in November 2023 in Niger’s Agadez region and accounts for an astonishing 6.5 percent of all known Martian material on Earth. It’s also 70 percent larger than the next largest piece of Mars found on our planet. Sotheby’s is billing it as the most valuable meteorite ever offered at auction.
According to Cassandra Hatton, Sotheby’s vice chairman of science and natural history, “NWA 16788 is a discovery of extraordinary significance,” a “once-in-a-generation find” that connects us to “our celestial neighbor that has long captured the human imagination.”
Blasted from Mars by an ancient asteroid impact and likely torpedoed to Earth, the specimen features visible areas of “glassy fusion crust,” proof of its searing descent through the atmosphere. According to Smithsonian Magazine, its mineral structure suggests part of it was transformed into maskelynite, a type of glass formed under extreme pressure and heat.
Sotheby’s said that meteorites are rarer than diamonds, and that Martian meteorites are exceptionally scarce—only around 400 have ever been identified, most of them consisting of small fragments. Sotheby’s also notes that North America averages just 15 meteorite discoveries annually.
The meteorite will be on view at Sotheby’s from July 8–15 before the live auction on July 16.