The yellowish-green matrix is transected by thin veins of shock melt coursing throughout. Dominated by olivine, pyroxene and pigeonite, the specimen is relatively coarse-grained with a cumulate igneous texture. This fragment was part of a larger mass that broke apart as it impacted Earth. This is a coarse-grained volcanic rock from the Moon. Modern cutting.
51 x 31 x 29 mm. (2 x 1.25 x 1 in.)

81.8 g.

The Moon is among the rarest naturally occurring substance on Earth, and now offered is a meteorite that is rarer still. Said Dr. Randy Korotev, one of the world’s experts on the Moon’s geochemistry “This is one of the most unusual lunar meteorites. It is unlike any rock in the Apollo collection.” Dr. Korotev was pointing out that the texture of this sample is different from the many different lithologies found in Apollo lunar samples. Moon rocks are identified by their mineralogy and chemistry. Many of the more common minerals found on Earth are rare or absent on the Moon and some minerals found on the Moon are not encountered on Earth. NWA 6950 has been chemically paired with other documented meteorites, which is to say they originated from the same impact event and all are referred to as the NWA 773 clan of meteorites. Together their total weight is approximately 12 kg. This offering is the result of a cataclysmic explosion on the Moon that launched the rock from which this specimen is derived into space. It later experienced a hard landing on Earth and the sculpting forces of the desert winds of the Sahara.

Christie's would like to thank Dr. Alan E. Rubin at the Institute of Geophysics and Planetary Physics, University of California, Los Angeles for his assistance in preparing this catalogue note.