10kg stone thrown at the door is worth 2.3 billion

The owner of this stone is Mr. David Mazurek, a farmer living in Michigan, USA. He was given the stone by a customer who bought his agricultural products in 1988.

Recalling the story 30 years ago, when he was given the stone, Mr. David's friend said that his grandfather discovered a piece of meteorite that fell in 1930 in Edmore, Michigan at night. When he picked it up, the meteorite was still very warm.

Not knowing the value of the stone, for 30 years, Mr. David Mazurek did not care about it. He used the stone to block the door of his house.

But early last year, David Mazurek learned a lot about rocks that had fallen from the sky and were highly sought after by scientists. He recalled that the rock that had been blocking his door was a similar one, if what his business partner had told him 30 years ago was true. He sent the rock for testing to confirm whether it was indeed of extraterrestrial origin.

At the Institute of Earth and Atmospheric Sciences at Central Michigan University, Mona Sirbescu, a lecturer, examined the stone under X-ray fluorescence. “I am certain that this stone did not originate from the earth, it came from somewhere far away,” she exclaimed.

She discovered that it was an iron-nickel meteorite, about 88% iron and 12% nickel, a metal rarely found on Earth.

Meteorite iron is typically about 90-95% iron, with the remainder consisting of nickel and traces of heavy metals including iridium, gallium and sometimes gold, adds Mona Sirbescu.

To be sure, Mona Sirbescu sent two small slices of the rock to the Smithsonian in Washington, DC, to double-check her claims, Archynety reported. A colleague there further analyzed the sample, including an acid test that revealed the Widmanstätten pattern, an attribute of most iron-nickel meteorites that cannot be faked.

Ms. Sirbescu commented that the meteorite owned by Mr. David Mazurek is the 6th largest meteorite on the list of discovered meteorites. Because this stone was found in the village of Edmore, she affectionately called it the "Edmore meteorite".

The meteorite that David Mazurek has kept blocking his door for 30 years could be worth up to £76,000, according to scientists at Central Michigan University.

Mr David Mazurek is considering selling the meteorite to a museum or collector and has promised that if it sells for £76,000 he will give 10% of the value to Central Michigan University.