There’s really no substitute for ‘ground truth,’ and the Martian meteorites represent the only known samples from that planet.” In those words, geochemist Ralph Harvey encapsulates the scientific significance behind the record-breaking sale of a 54-pound Martian meteorite at Sotheby’s in New York.

A 54-pound Martian rock, known as NWA 16788, fetched a record $5.3 million at Sotheby’s, becoming the most expensive meteorite ever sold at auction.

The largest piece of Mars ever found on Earth was sold for just over $5 million at an auction of rare geological and archaeological objects in New York on Wednesday, while a juvenile dinosaur skeleton went for more than $30 million.

The largest piece of Mars ever found on Earth was sold for just more than $5 million at an auction of rare geological and archaeological objects Wednesday in New York. But a rare young dinosaur skeleton stole the show when it fetched more than $30 million in a bidding frenzy.

Add this to the list of "things that might be fun if you had a buttload of money": Someone forked over $5.3 million in a Sotheby's auction to own a piece of Mars. The Red Planet meteorite was discovered in 2023 in a remote area of the Sahara Desert in Niger.