The Smithsonian Institute offered the two doctors whose office it was $5,000 for the little piece of heaven, which they quickly accepted. Meanwhile, the actual property owners decided to make a play for the meteorite themselves. They cited as precedents U.S. court cases that ruled a meteorite becomes part of the land it crashes into.
They owned the land, which meant -- in theory -- they owned the newly arrived Lorton meteorite as well.
For now, the Smithsonian is holding onto the space rock while the ownership rights play out. According to the Associated Press, it could fetch up to $50,000 on the open market. Welcome to the world of meteorite hunters.
WASHINGTON, D.C. (AP) — A small meteorite that crashed through the roof of a Virginia medical office last year is becoming part of the Smithsonian's Museum of Natural History in Washington.
The Smithsonian paid $10,000 for the meteorite to Marc Gallini and Frank Ciampi, the doctors who found it. They have in turn given the $10,000 check to the Doctors Without Borders charity.
Museum spokesman Randall Kremer said Saturday the meteorite is part of the museum's research collection. The Smithsonian holds the world's largest collection of meteorites.
Meteorites are lucrative, and after the tennis-ball-sized rock fell from the sky and landed in an examination room in the office in January 2010, the landlords at the doctors' building made a legal claim to it. But that claim was later dropped.
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