If You've Ever Wanted To Own A Giant Chunk Of Mars, Here's Some Cool News For You
It's very cool and valuable... for now
I'm always on the lookout for a good conversation piece. Something that will take the burden off of me, so that I can spend less time trying to think of non-weather lines of communication, and my guests can simply look at my wall and say, "Hey, is that one of Orson Welles' fat guy capes?"
Indeed, it is (in theory, I wish I had one of those).
And I think I've found a great conversation starter, but if you want it, you need to act fast because it will be old hat within about two decades: a giant chunk of Mars.
According to the Associated Press, Sotheby's in New York is auctioning off a giant 54-pound rock that comes from Mars and is estimated to bring in somewhere between $2 million and $4 million.
That's a little rich for my blood. The best I can do is a rock from Mars, Pennsylvania…
However, if you've got the money to make it happen, imagine blowing every guest's mind with that. I'd love to have that sitting on my coffee table. If the Iron Maiden Monopoly game that's there now doesn't get people talking, a piece of Mars sure would.
The largest chunk of Mars currently available on Earth is about to hit the auction block.. (Photo by Selcuk Acar/Anadolu via Getty Images)
The big 15 inches, by 11 inches by 6 inches chunk of rock known as NWA 16788 was found in the Sahara back in 2023 and accounts for 7% of all Martian material on Earth after having traveled some 140 million miles.
How cool is that?
But I see a problem with this. It's not going to be a good investment. That's because it seems like we're easily within two decades of people going to Mars.
What does that mean? It means that a lot more Mars rocks are going to be coming back the other way.
Mars rocks are rare and valuable now, but once every Mars tourist comes back with one, those things are going to be as valuable as a Señor Frog's shot glass.