A meteorite that crashed into a homeowner’s garden has been valued at an out-of-this-world GBP 350,000.
Astonished Mahmut Sahin, 47, 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.
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).
But now it has emerged that the 3.7-kilogramme (8-lb) rock is actually worth an amazing EUR 400,000 (GBP 348,000).
The meteorite, the largest ever found in the area, is now stored in a safe after being appraised by experts.
Mahmut told local media: “The meteorite was exhibited at the trade fair in a special exhibition for particularly valuable stones and minerals.
“When I heard that it was valued there at EUR 400,000, that was really great!”
But Mahmut says he does not want the rock to disappear into a private collection.
He said: “I don’t want the meteorite to disappear in some private person’s safe.
“Everyone should be able to see it because it is now part of the history of Schleswig-Holstein.”
When the meteorite crashed to Earth seven months ago on 25th April, Mahmut first thought a gas mains had exploded.
He said: “At first we thought that the hole in the garden was caused by a gas leak or a chemical reaction and called the fire brigade.
“They could quickly give the all-clear. We didn’t think of a meteorite.
“It was my daughter who came up with the idea of doing a test with magnets.
“She had heard that a meteorite is magnetic hours after impact, normal rocks are not.”
Mahmut told how his daughter brought out two magnets from her pinboard and tried them on the rock.
He said: “They actually stuck to the stone.”
Mahmut says his wife and daughter were drinking coffee when they heard a terrific bang in their back garden.
But as they rushed outside the pair were stunned to find a huge rock half buried in the ground.
Carsten Jonas, 57, from the Meteors Working Group, which investigates space phenomena, estimated that the meteorite is around 4.5 billion years old.
He also revealed that it may once have weighed more than 100 kilogrammes (220 lbs) in space.
He said: “This is the largest meteorite that ever struck in Schleswig-Holstein.
“In 1962, one hit a roof in Kiel, weighing about a kilogramme.
“In 2019 we had an impact, but it only weighed 28 grams.
“The Elmshorn meteorite comes from an asteroid belt between Mars and Jupiter. It has travelled several million kilometres.
“The special thing about this meteorite is that it was observed to fall. And that too in an inhabited area.”
Despite the valuation, Mahmut is now negotiating with a museum in Hamburg for EUR 250,000 (GBP 217,450) because he wants the public to be able to enjoy it too.
He said: “Seventy-five per cent of the financing is already in place.
“And even if they only get 90 per cent together, I would give them the stone. That would be my dream.”
Mahmut said he plans to invest the money from the sale and use part of it for good causes.
