NEW YORK. The largest known piece of Mars ever discovered on Earth is set to go under the hammer at Sotheby’s in New York on Wednesday, with an estimated auction price of $2 million to $4 million.
Weighing 54 pounds (25 kilograms), the Martian meteorite, officially named NWA 16788, will be part of a natural history-themed sale that also includes a juvenile Ceratosaurus nasicornis skeleton. According to Sotheby’s, the meteorite is about 70 percent larger than the second-largest known Martian fragment and represents nearly 7 percent of all Martian material ever found on Earth.
The massive red, brown, and gray rock measures roughly 15 by 11 by 6 inches (375 x 279 x 152 millimeters). Experts believe it was blasted off the surface of Mars by a massive asteroid strike, then traveled approximately 140 million miles (225 million kilometers) before crashing into the Sahara Desert. It was discovered by a meteorite hunter in Niger in November 2023.
“This Martian meteorite is the largest piece of Mars we have ever found by a long shot,” said Cassandra Hatton, Sotheby’s vice chairman for science and natural history. “It’s more than double the size of what we previously thought was the largest piece of Mars.”
Only about 400 Martian meteorites have been identified among the more than 77,000 meteorites recognized on Earth. A small sample of NWA 16788 was sent to a specialized lab, where scientists confirmed its Martian origin based on its chemical makeup, which matched that identified by the Viking space probe in 1976.
The meteorite is classified as an “olivine-microgabbroic shergottite,” a rare type of Martian rock that forms from slowly cooled magma. It has a coarse-grained texture and contains the minerals pyroxene and olivine. Its glassy outer surface suggests it was burned upon entering Earth’s atmosphere, further supporting its extraterrestrial origin. The rock was previously displayed at the Italian Space Agency in Rome. The current owner has not been publicly disclosed.
Also featured in the auction is a juvenile Ceratosaurus skeleton, over 6 feet tall and nearly 11 feet long. The fossil was discovered in 1996 near Laramie, Wyoming, and is estimated to fetch between $4 million and $6 million. It was assembled using nearly 140 fossil bones and sculpted parts by Fossilogic, a Utah-based fossil preparation company.
Believed to date back to the Late Jurassic period around 150 million years ago, Ceratosaurus was a bipedal predator with short arms, similar to Tyrannosaurus rex, though significantly smaller.
The sale is part of Sotheby’s Geek Week 2025, which features 122 lots including meteorites, dinosaur fossils, and gem-quality minerals.
Paraluman P. Funtanilla
Paraluman P. Funtanilla is Tutubi News Magazine's Marketing Specialist and is a Contributing Editor. She finished her degree in Communication Arts in De La Salle Lipa. She has worked as a Digital Marketer for start-up businesses and small business spaces for the past two years. She has earned certificates from Coursera on Brand Management: Aligning Business Brand and Behavior and Viral Marketing and How to Craft Contagious Content. She also worked with Asia Express Romania TV Show.
- Paraluman P. Funtanilla
- Paraluman P. Funtanilla
- Paraluman P. Funtanilla
- Paraluman P. Funtanilla
