About 0.4% of known meteorites are from Mars. Martian meteorites are referred to in the scientific literature as SNCs (after the type specimens Shergotty, Nakhla and Chassigny — cities in India, Egypt and France where these meteorites were seen to fall). Among the three principal groups of Martian meteorites, chassignites are the least common — only three specimens are known. NWA 2737 consists mainly of the iron-magnesium silicate mineral olivine that formed within a magma chamber deep under the Martian surface. As the crystals grew, gravity caused them to settle toward the bottom of the chamber. It required a tremendously energetic asteroid impact to blast the sample off Mars into space, and this sample was highly shocked as a result of this event. Fine fissures course through its charcoal grey olivine-rich matrix. Although the total mass of the meteorite is only 611 grams, dozens of papers and abstracts involving samples of NWA 2737 have already been published. Now offered is an especially exotic specimen of the planet Mars — one of rarest objects on Earth. Modern cutting.

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.

This meteorite was analyzed and classified by a group of cosmochemists at Ecole Normale Supérieure de Lyon and their findings underwent peer review prior to publication in the 90th edition of the Meteoritical Bulletin.

26 x 12 x 2mm (1 x 0.5 x 0.1 inches) and 1.739 grams