The Moon – lunar feldspathic breccia; Sahara Desert, Mauritania

Every single bit of the Moon found on Earth could fit in the trunk of a large SUV. This includes the nearly 400 kg of Moon rocks returned by Apollo astronauts and the 800 kg of lunar meteorites, i.e., pieces of the Moon ejected off the lunar surface following an asteroid impact. (Nearly all of the craters on the Moon are the result of such impacts.) A significant fraction of this material is held by governments, research centers and museums.

Moon rocks are identified by the sum of a variety of parameters which include their textural, mineralogical, chemical, and isotopic signatures. The classic character of a feldspathic lunar breccia is seen in this example: white anorthite suspended in a charcoal lunar groundmass “cemented’ together as part of a melt that solidified. Its primary minerals are anorthite, olivine, pigeonite, augite, fayalite, silica polymorph, ilmenite and kamacite. The brecciation is the result of the ongoing bombardment of the Moon’s surface by asteroid impacts prior to the collision responsible for launching this Moon rock to Earth. This specimen is cut and polished on three sides and the reverse showcases its natural exterior accented with patches of Sahara Desert caliche. Modern cutting.

The official classification of the material from which this partial slice was derived was performed by Dr. Anthony Irving, the world’s foremost classifier of lunar and Martian meteorites. His work underwent peer review prior to publication in the 108th edition of the Meteoritical Bulletin.

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.

65 x 48 x 34mm (2.5 x 2 x 1.33 in.) and 138.9 g (0.33 lbs)