Lunar meteorite / gabbro and mare components in polymict fragmental breccia Sahara Desert (near Mauritanian /Algerian border)

Material from the Moon is amongst the rarest substances on Earth, and now offered is a sample of a Moon rock ejected off the lunar surface into an Earth-crossing orbit following an asteroid impact. Lunar meteorites are identified by specific textural, mineralogical, chemical and isotopic signatures. There are 750 kg of lunar meteorites known to exist and a significant fraction are controlled by governmental institutions. Many of the common minerals found on Earth’s surface are rare on the Moon and some lunar minerals are unknown on Earth. While Apollo astronauts returned with 382 kg of Moon rocks, not one milligram is available for private ownership. In fact, the total amount of the Moon available to private collectors can be contained in several large footlockers. North West Africa (NWA) 11616 was discovered in 2017. As described by the foremost classifier of lunar meteorites, Dr. Anthony Irving, along with his colleague, lunar geochemist Dr. Randy Korotev, this is a polymict fragmental breccia with separate olivine gabbro and rare olivine-free basaltic (lunar mare) clasts in a fragmental matrix.

Lunar meteorites that contain lunar mare are exceedingly rare. This is because the dark basaltic plains from which they originate occupy only 17% of the lunar surface.

This partial slice contains both the lighter and darker materials seen when we look at the Moon. The lighter olivine gabbro clasts contain, in part, olivine, zoned clinopyroxene and maskelynite. The darker area is rare lunar basalt (lunar mare). A mixture of gabbro and regolith is also present. The bottom edge is cut and fusion crust covers much of the rimmed perimeter. Modern cutting. Lot 52 was cut from the same meteorite.

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 107th edition of the Meteoritical Bulletin — the official registry of meteorites.

99 x 85 x 2mm (4 x 3.33 x 0.1 in.) and 36.68g