American buyer pays more than €1.7 million for Namibian meteorite in Noordwijk
A rare 240-kilogram iron meteorite from Namibia sold for 1.7 million euros at an auction in Noordwijk, nearly double the expected price, auctioneers said, according to RTL. With fees included, the American buyer will pay more than 2 million euros.
The meteorite, which struck near the Namibian village of Gibeon thousands of years ago and was discovered in the 19th century, is the largest iron meteorite ever auctioned in the Netherlands. It had been in the observatory’s possession since 2004 and was displayed in recent months at the Space Expo museum in Noordwijk, where the auction took place. The sale reportedly allows Dordrecht’s Mercurius Observatory to fund the construction of a new planetarium.
Eighteen bidders registered for the sale, including several from abroad, according to Hessink's Fine Art Auctioneers. Auctioneer Bradley Hessink said he was surprised by the outcome. “We had counted on proceeds between 800,000 euros and 1 million euros,” he said. “But meteorites are very popular, more and more people want to own one. That caused a higher price than expected.”
The winning bidder, described only as an American party, has not been publicly identified. “I cannot say whether it is a private individual or an institution. That is not allowed due to privacy. First we have to settle everything with the client. Then he or she can decide whether to make themselves known,” Hessink told the newspaper.
The Dordrecht observatory had put the meteorite up for sale to secure funding for its new planetarium. “Sometimes we have to make choices about what we keep,” the observatory said earlier in an interview with RTL Ontbijtnieuws. “Thanks to this sale, we can build a place where children and visitors can experience the universe in a new way.”
