PART of a meteorite, worth several thousand euro, that crashed in Patrickswell nearly 200 years ago, is to be auctioned off in Scotland next week, the Limerick Post has learned. The tiny 0.71g meteorite part is to go under the hammer for £150 at Edinburgh fine art auctioneers Lyon and Turnball – but is expected to reach far more.
The August 17 exhibit is part of world’s largest private collection of meteorites assembled over many years by Robert Elliott, a former electrical engineer, who now travels the world looking for the unusual space rocks.
When contacted by the Limerick Post, Mr Elliott said: “The whole meteorite weighed around 48 kilos and is worth a seven figure sum. The Limerick meteorite is actually what I would refer to as the holy grail of meteors as it was recovered in Ireland, which is very rare”.
The meteorite is recorded as having crashed “on the lands of Scagh” at 9am on September 10, 1813. Its largest surviving piece resting in the National Museum in Dublin, although Elliott’s fragment was acquired through exchange with the Natural History Museum, London.
An eyewitness account recalled at the time: “The sky darkened and very much disturbed, making a hissing noise”, adding that the meteorite “fell to the earth, and sank into it more than a foot and a half”.
It’s not the first time the skies over Limerick were witness to unusual sightings of space debris.
In February 2010, a fireball was spotted by thousands as it blazed across the Mid-West.
A call was put out at the time by Astronomy Ireland for people to search lands for the object, believed to have been a meteor – which depending on size, can make you a millionaire.
Mr Elliott encouraged others with a taste for science or maybe those with a taste for money, to increase their awareness of meteorites: “We’re coming up to another one of those annual meteor showers in the next three days. It may be worth having a look; you’d never know what you might find. I offered €20,000 recently for a kilo of a meteorite that fell in Carlow.
The 49-year old is one of around a dozen or so serious meteorite hunters.
“If I hear of a meteor landing anywhere in the world, I’ll get on a plane and head to that place,” he added.
Mr Elliott, has reputedly made a fortune from selling meteorites to celebrities including the Israeli psychic spoon-bender Uri Geller, and pop-singer, the late Michael Jackson.
Rob Elliott, and inset, part of the meteorite due to go for auction
