A man who found a rare meteorite in his back garden is set to sell it for more than EUR 200,000.
Astonished Mahmut Sahin, 46, could barely believe it when the 4.5 billion-year-old space rock landed on his property in Elmshorn, in the German state of Schleswig-Holstein on 25th April last year.
And it was only when his science-mad daughter remembered that meteors are magnetic that he realised a fortune had dropped into his lap.
Mahmut immediately began fielding offers from collectors all around the world for up to EUR 200,000 (GBP 174,000).
The meteorite is reportedly made up of concentrated H-type chondrite, a rare and valuable metal.
Mahmut had previously toyed with the idea of selling the meteorite to a museum so that it would not disappear into a private collection.
But it is currently unclear who the buyer is, with German media reporting that the Turkish man is set to make a deal with an unknown buyer for approximately EUR 200,000, according to local media.
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Mahmut said: “We are in concrete negotiations that are about to be concluded.”
German media reported that he plans to invest the money from the sale in a property.
Mahmut said: “When we became aware of the meteorite impact, I received various offers for the stone. Even a dealer from India contacted me. Then it should be auctioned in Qatar. Once we even had interested parties from America come to our door.”
German media said that the 3.7-kilogramme meteorite was examined by a number of experts who were all extremely excited at the find.
Carsten Jonas, 57, from the ‘Meteor Working Group’, said: “This is the largest meteorite ever to fall in Schleswig-Holstein. In 1962, one hit a roof in Kiel and weighed about a kilo. In 2019 we had an impact, but it only weighed 28 grammes.
“The Elmshorn meteorite comes from an asteroid belt between Mars and Jupiter. It has has travelled several million kilometres.”
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Story By: Joseph Golder, Sub-Editor: Marija Stojkoska, Agency: Central European News
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