A Cosmic Monument: The 240 kg Gibeon Meteorite from Hessink’s Auctioneers

The Story of the Gibeon Meteorite.

It is not every day that you can own a fragment of the universe.
On 30 August 2025, Hessink’s Fine Art Auctioneers will present one of the most extraordinary natural wonders ever to appear at auction: a 240-kilogram Gibeon meteorite, the largest iron specimen ever offered on the open market.

For centuries, meteorites have fascinated scientists, collectors, and dreamers alike. They are time capsules from the birth of the solar system, physical evidence of worlds that existed long before Earth itself took shape. The Gibeon meteorite embodies this allure in dramatic fashion, a sculptural mass of extraterrestrial iron scarred by its fiery entry through the atmosphere and marked by regmaglypts, the mysterious fingerprint-like hollows that tell the story of its violent cosmic journey.

A Traveler Older Than Earth

The story of Gibeon begins some 4.5 billion years ago, deep within the molten core of an asteroid orbiting between Mars and Jupiter. A cataclysmic collision shattered that body, sending fragments drifting through space until, tens of thousands of years ago, they fell across what is now Namibia. Discovered by local communities and later documented by Europeans in the nineteenth century, Gibeon meteorites have since become some of the most celebrated iron meteorites in the world.

Today, they are protected by law and no material can leave Namibia. That makes this offering all the more exceptional. Acquired legally decades before these restrictions, the meteorite has impeccable provenance: from noted collector Marvin Killgore in Arizona, to a Dutch private collection, and since 2004, the pride of Sterrenwacht Mercurius in Dordrecht. 

At 240 kilograms (529 pounds), this is the largest pure iron meteorite ever presented at auction. Certified by leading experts, including Professor Christopher Herd of the University of Alberta and the International Meteorite Collectors Association, it represents not just an object of beauty but also a specimen of immense scientific and historical value.

A Cosmic Monument in Human Hands

In the end, the Gibeon meteorite is more than a collectible and more than an investment. It is a reminder of our place in the universe, small and fleeting, yet capable of holding in our hands a piece of eternity. For the winning bidder at Hessink’s, this will not simply be an acquisition but a guardianship: the stewardship of a cosmic monument shaped by fire, time, and chance.

On 30 August, one collector will take home a piece of the stars. The rest of us can only look up in wonder.