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Largest piece of Mars on Earth fetches $5.3 million at auction, but young dinosaur steals the show
6:37 CAT | 17 Jul 2025
A Martian meteorite, weighing 24.67 kg, said to be the largest piece of Mars on Earth, displayed at Sotheby's, in New York, on July 9. [Photo: AP/Richard Drew]
The largest piece of Mars ever found on Earth was sold for just more than US$5-million at an auction of rare geological and archaeological objects in New York on Wednesday. But a rare young dinosaur skeleton stole the show when it fetched more than US$30-million in a bidding frenzy.
The 25-kilogram rock named NWA 16788 was discovered in the Sahara Desert in Niger by a meteorite hunter in November 2023, after having been blown off the surface of Mars by a massive asteroid strike and traveling 225 million kilometres to Earth, according to Sotheby’s. The estimated sale price before the auction was US$2-million to US$4-million.
The identity of the buyer was not immediately disclosed. The final bid was US$4.3-million. Adding various fees and costs, the official sale price was about US$5.3-million, making it the most valuable meteorite ever sold at auction, Sotheby’s said.
The live bidding was slow, with the auctioneer trying to coax more offers and decreasing the minimum bid increases.
The dinosaur skeleton, on the other hand, sparked a war among six bidders over six minutes. With a pre-auction estimate of US$4-million to US$6-million, it is one of only four known Ceratosaurus nasicornis skeletons and the only juvenile skeleton of the species, which resembles the Tyrannosaurus rex but is smaller.
Bidding for the skeleton started with a high advance offer of US$6-million, then escalated during the live round with bids US$500,000 higher than the last and later US$1-million higher than the last before ending at US$26-million.
People applauded after the auctioneer gavelled the bidding closed.
Winner plans to loan dinosaur skeleton to an institution, Sotheby’s says
The official sale price was $30.5-million with fees and costs. That buyer also was not immediately disclosed, but the auction house said the buyer plans to loan the skeleton to an institution. It was the third-highest amount paid for a dinosaur at auction. A Stegosaurus skeleton called “Apex” holds the record after it was sold for $44.6-million last year at Sotheby’s.
Parts of the skeleton were found in 1996 near Laramie, Wyoming, at Bone Cabin Quarry, a gold mine for dinosaur bones. Specialists assembled nearly 140 fossil bones with some sculpted materials to recreate the skeleton and mounted it so it’s ready to exhibit, Sotheby’s says. It was acquired last year by Fossilogic, a Utah-based fossil preparation and mounting company.
It’s more than 2 metres tall and nearly 3 metres long, and is believed to be from the late Jurassic period, about 150 million years ago. Ceratosaurus dinosaurs could grow up to 7.6 metres long, while the T. rex could be 12 metres long.
Mars meteorite is a rare find
The bidding for the Mars meteorite began with two advance offers of $1.9-million and $2-million. The live bidding slowly proceeded with increases of $200,000 and $300,000 until $4-million, then continued with $100,000 increases until reaching $4.3-million.
The red, brown and gray meteorite is about 70 per cent larger than the next largest piece of Mars found on Earth and represents nearly 7 per cent of all the Martian material currently on this planet, Sotheby’s says. It measures nearly 375 millimetres by 279 millimetres by 152 millimetres.
It was also a rare find. There are only 400 Martian meteorites out of the more than 77,000 officially recognized meteorites found on Earth, the auction house says.
“This Martian meteorite is the largest piece of Mars we have ever found by a long shot,” Cassandra Hatton, vice chairman for science and natural history at Sotheby’s, said in an interview before the auction. “So it’s more than double the size of what we previously thought was the largest piece of Mars.”
It’s not clear exactly when the meteorite was blasted off the surface of Mars, but testing showed it probably happened in recent years, Sotheby’s says.
Hatton said a specialized lab examined a small piece of the red planet remnant and confirmed it was from Mars. It was compared with the distinct chemical composition of Martian meteorites discovered during the Viking space probe that landed on Mars in 1976, she said.
The examination found that it is an “olivine-microgabbroic shergottite,” a type of Martian rock formed from the slow cooling of Martian magma. It has a course-grained texture and contains the minerals pyroxene and olivine, Sotheby’s says.
It also has a glassy surface, likely due to the high heat that burned it when it fell through Earth’s atmosphere, Hatton said. “So that was their first clue that this wasn’t just some big rock on the ground,” she said.
The only known juvenile Ceratosaurus fossil just sold in the #SothebysNewYork sale room for a staggering $30.5 million, making it the third most valuable dinosaur fossil ever sold at auction. #AuctionUpdate
The Natural History sale continues LIVE: https://t.co/VFFgQ4UVDB pic.twitter.com/f0BlXrWwkZ
— Sotheby’s (@Sothebys) July 16, 2025
A 54-pound Martian meteorite — the largest known piece of Mars ever found on Earth — has landed at #SothebysNewYork.
How did it get here? Find out from @the_lynx_eyed.
The Natural History Live Auction takes place 16 July at 10:00 AM ET. https://t.co/7rZVChTFmY pic.twitter.com/W3zqEbAG1H
— Sotheby’s (@Sothebys) July 11, 2025
The largest piece of Mars on Earth is now the most valuable meteorite ever sold at auction after it achieved $5.3 million in the Natural History sale during Sotheby’s Geek Week. #AuctionUpdate
The auction continues LIVE from #SothebysNewYork: https://t.co/VFFgQ4UVDB pic.twitter.com/qVVgJDpcau
— Sotheby’s (@Sothebys) July 16, 2025
Source: AP
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