Yahoo! News is reporting that a couple of large meteorites up for auction were withdrawn because the bidding didn't go high enough.
A 30-pound chunk of the Willamette Meteorite which fell in Oregon a few thousand years ago only got up to $300k in the auction, and they were hoping for $1.3 million. I am not an expert, but that strikes me as a tad high. 30 pounds is 13,600 grams, and hoping for $100/gram is, IMO, insane. It's a beautiful piece, to be sure, but they probably should have taken the $300,000. The other meteorite was the Brenham meteorite, which fell in Kansas and was dug up a couple of years ago. It's a Pallasite, which is a relatively rare and beautiful type of meteorite (it's my fave, actually), and it only got a top bid of $200,000, a third of what was hoped. I'm sure eventually they'll sell the pieces; collectors of such high-end pieces may not be interested in bidding at public auctions. I don't mind bidding on small pieces; I have a couple of dozen meteorites I've picked up here and there (they are so cool!); maybe someday I'll be able to get a few really nice pieces. But $100k+? Heh. Dream on.
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