GRAND RAPIDS, Mich. — After reading about pieces of meteorites selling for thousands of dollars, David Mazurek decided to learn more about the large rock he had used for decades as a doorstop.
It turns out the 23-pound rock is full of iron and nickel and worth about $100,000, researchers at the Central Michigan University and the Smithsonian Museum determined.
“I could tell right away that this was something special,” CMU geology professor Mona Sirbescu said. “It’s the most valuable specimen I have ever held in my life, monetarily and scientifically.”
Sirbescu first identified it as more than just a rock. She then sent two pieces of it to the Smithsonian for confirmation.
Mazurek said he got the meteorite with a barn he bought in 1988. The farmer who sold him the property said it landed in the 1930s.
The Smithsonian and a mineral museum in Maine are interested in purchasing it.
“I’m done using it as a doorstop,” Mazurek said. “Let’s get a buyer!”
The Associated Press contributed to this report.
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