Moon Rocks Sold

There is only one known set of moon rocks in a private collection. It consists of three rocks from the Soviet Luna-16 mission in 1970. They were initially a gift to Mme. Nina Ivanova Koroleva, widow of Sergei Pavlovich Korolev, who was the former chief designer and director of the Soviet space program. In 1993, she consigned them for sale in a Sotheby’s auction, where they sold to an American buyer for $442,500. More recently, Sotheby’s sold them again for $855,000.

Photo: Phys.org