Stayin' Alive

The sky is falling . . . and it's worth millions.

The ancient Greeks held meteorites as objects of veneration. The ancient Romans enshrined them in temples. And the council of 15th century Holy Roman Emperor Maximillian determined the fall of a meteorite was a good omen. Now present-day earth dwellers see them as the hottest thing since the Beanie Baby.

Once solely collected by scientists for study, meteorite fragments have recently experienced a surge in popularity among the collector species. Since the landing of the Mars Rover in 1997, consumer interest has placed Martian meteorites high on the wish lists of even the most amateur rock collectors, resulting in extraordinary price inflation. "The impetus behind collecting such interesting samples is that they're rare and often beautiful," says Stanford University geologist Jane Oglesby. "It's a wonderful feeling to be able to hold something extraterrestrial in your hand." With prices ranging from $20 all the way up to $5 million for slices of the space debris, it's becoming obvious we have a cosmic craze on our hands.

This article was originally published in the October 1999 print edition of Entrepreneur with the headline: Stayin' Alive.