CASH IN THE ATTIC
EVERY week TOBY WALNE gives the low-down on the value of forgotten treasures that may be gathering dust in your attic. MOON rock picked up by a Russian space probe in 1970 was recently sold for $855,000 – £670,000 – at auction.
The three small fragments, sold together, were no more than two inches long and had been bought by the seller 25 years earlier for $442,500.
Rock collectors are occasionally lucky enough to find bits of the Moon that arrived on Earth as a result of outer space collisions, but you are more likely to discover a bit of meteorite.
A 2.5-gram finger nailsized piece of the Barwell meteorite that fell in a Leicestershire village on Christmas Eve in 1965 now changes hands for £200.
A half-inch fragment of the 25kg Wold Cottage meteorite that alarmed people in East Yorkshire on December 13, 1795, can sell for £250. Such pieces of rock have increased in value because of their auspicious history.
If you find an unusual rock and wonder if it may be of value – a piece of meteorite can look like slag metal – contact the Natural History Museum.