Part of the Hambleton meteorite, thought to be the UK’s most expensive rock from outer space, has failed to sell at auction.
Bidders were unwilling to meet the rocks £9,000 reserve price, despite some people valuing it at more than £10,000.
The meteorite is a pallasite, an extremely rare stony-iron meteorite, and is the only one of its kind found in the UK.
It was discovered in 2005 by meteorite enthusiast Rob Elliott and his wife Irene in the Hambleton Hills in North Yorkshire.
Mr Elliott, from Milton of Balgonie in Fife, is the owner of the UK’s largest private collection of space memorabilia. The auction featured 85 items from his collection.
Other notable lots included a piece of the Russian meteorite Chelyabinsk, the small asteroid that entered the earth’s atmosphere in February at an estimated speed of 41,000 miles per hour. It was sold for £700. A section of the Seymchan meteorite, also from Russia, drew the highest price, at £3,200.
It is not known whether the 2.9kg Hambleton rock will go on sale again.
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