GEOMETRIC SAMPLE OF THE MOON — NWA 12691 - photo 1
GEOMETRIC SAMPLE OF THE MOON — NWA 12691 - photo 2

GEOMETRIC SAMPLE OF THE MOON — NWA 12691

Lot 69
23.02.2021 10:00UTC -05:00
Classic
Sold
$ 40 000
AuctioneerCHRISTIE'S
Event locationUSA, New York
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Archive
ID 491279
Lot 69 | GEOMETRIC SAMPLE OF THE MOON — NWA 12691
Estimate value
$ 10 000 – 14 000
Rocks from the Moon are among the rarest substances on Earth, and now offered is a quadrilateral (or rhombus) sample cut from one such rock that was blasted off the lunar surface following an asteroid impact. There are less than 750 kg of lunar meteorites known to exist and a significant fraction is controlled by governmental institutions. Every lunar meteorite known would fit into five footlockers. While Apollo astronauts returned with 382 kilograms of Moon rocks, not one milligram of this material is available for private ownership. Moon rocks are identified by specific textural, mineralogical, chemical and isotopic signatures. Many of the common minerals found on Earth’s surface are rare on the Moon and some lunar minerals are unknown on Earth. In addition, Moon rocks contain gases captured from the solar wind with isotope ratios very different from the same gases found on Earth. NWA 12691 is the 12,691st rock recovered in the Northwest African grid of the Sahara Desert to be analyzed and classified. The stone from which this slice is derived is a breccia composed mainly of very fine-grained minerals and a few much larger grains of anorthite (a calcium-aluminum silicate mineral present in most Moon rocks).

In the last two years a massive lunar strewn field straddling the Mauritanian, West Saharan and Algerian borders was discovered. About 250 kg of lunar meteorites were recovered — nearly doubling the mass of all lunar meteorites known at the time. An extraordinary bounty, this created the opportunity to fashion a limited number of spheres. The specimen now offered is a “cut-off” from lunar meteorite in the process of preparing a larger mass prior to the sphere-making process.

The official classification and publication of this meteorite was performed by Dr. Anthony Irving, the world’s most prolific classifier of lunar and Martian meteorites. The abstract he provided to the Nomenclature Committee of the Meteoritical Society became part of the scientific literature upon vetting and its publication in the Meteoritical Bulletin.

As one would expect, many of the Moon rocks returned by Apollo missions are nearly identical to lunar meteorites — and such is the case here. This lunar sample is composed of different fragments of rocks and minerals, including signature anorthite, cemented together by lunar regolith and other crushed rock. On the front face it features a prominent grain of metal from a meteoroid impactor at the left margin as well as a curious inclusion at the center right (see second image) which is most likely an impact-melt spherule. All surfaces have been cut revealing a galaxy of fragmentary inclusions, the result of the ongoing bombardment of the Moon’s surface by meteoroid impacts prior to the collision responsible for launching this rock to Earth. Modern fashioning.

Christie's would like to thank Dr. Alan E. Rubin at the Department of Earth, Planetary, and Space Sciences, University of California, Los Angeles for his assistance in preparing this catalogue.

The analysis of this meteorite was led by Dr. Anthony Irving, whose findings underwent peer review by the Nomenclature Committee of the Meteoritical Society. The analysis and classification was published in the 108th edition of the Meteoritical Bulletin — the official registry of meteorites.

44 x 44 x 14mm (1.75 x 1.75 x 0.5 in.) and 77 grams
Category:Meteorite
Address of auction CHRISTIE'S
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09.02.2021 – 23.02.2021
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