Rare Lunar Scrapings Sold to Underwhelming Reception

For the first time in years, privately held, verified lunar samples went up for auction, topping $500,000 at this week’s Bonhams auction. 

The sale was probably the best-documented opportunity to add legitimate, authenticated lunar material to space enthusiast’s collection, not to mention the first one to come available in years. Lunar samples and moon material is held to be a national treasure by NASA, and the sample that reached auction this week was the beneficiary of their dogged pursuit to retain every last micron of moon dust they possibly can. 

Bonham’s sample came from a contingency bag sold as government surplus to a Chicago-area woman for $995. Suspecting she had come into something interesting, she sent the bag to NASA for testing to see whether or not it had retained microscopic moon dust from its time carrying larger rocks. The administration confirmed the unique material pervading the bag with a range of lab equipment and refused to return the bag to her, saying that it was sold in error. A couple legal disputes ultimately saw the bag ruled by a judge as rightful property of the woman, and a later out of court settlement also resulted in the return of the dust samples to the woman as well. The bag itself went on to sell for $1.8 million at Sotheby’s. 

The mounted and isolated dust sample was estimated to fetch anywhere from $800,000 to $1.2 million, but underperformed a fair amount, bringing in only $504,000 after buyers’ premium. The result surprised space collectors. It will be hard to see another comparable series of events once again, requiring multiple instances of government error, legal maneuvering, and administrative intrigue. Adding in the fact that NASA itself has fully authenticated (and legally fought for) the admittedly miniscule samples, future space aficionados could well be kicking themselves for missing a bid in coming years. 

NASA brought more than 800 pounds of samples back to earth across 6 Apollo missions, with almost all of them accounted for in agency vaults. A few goodwill gifts were granted to a variety of friendly governments around the world, and they are not available for sale, if they have not yet been lost to time. The sum of legal moon material for private ownership can be measured in nanograms and microns, not inches and pounds. Years ago, Sotheby’s auctioned off a plaque containing Soviet probe returns that contained 3 small pebbles weighing less than 1/10th of a gram. That piece sold for $855,000. 

FMI: bonhams.com