Faustino
Asensio Lopez is a Spanish farmer, who lives in the province of
Ciudad Real in Spain. Sometime back in 1980 he was tending to
livestock with his father in a field near Ciudad Real town, which is
the capital of the province with the same name. On one day, during
his daily outings, his eyes fell on a small outcrop of a nice
looking rock deeply buried under the soil. He thought that its would
be a useful thing for curing the meat and dug it out. The rock turned
out to be a compact rock having dimensions of about 18 inches x 12.5
inches x 8 inches but was extremely heavy, Its weight turned out to
be around 100 Kg. It was obvious that rock contained lots of metal,
mostly iron and had remained safe because it was deeply buried inside
earth. Faustino brought the rock home, Believing it to be military
scrap from the country's civil war. The rock sat on the patio of
Lopez household for more than three decades. Because of its heavy
weight, it was used by family members to cure meat, in particular for
pressing ham, and was soon forgotten.
Image source MailOnline
( Image may be copyrighted)
In the
year 2011, Lopez saw a TV report on meteorite sightings over Spain
and he suddenly remembered the rock, which he had found way back in
1980. He got in touch with geologist Juan Carlos Gutierrez Marco, who
examined the rock. A small fragment was broken off from the rock and
was sent for testing.
Lopez
had a shock of his life time when geologist Juan Carlos Gutierrez
Marco called him and told him that the report has come. And it has
been found after extensive analysis, that the rock was confirmed to
be a pre-historic metallic meteorite, a solid piece of debris from
an asteroid or comet that survived an impact with the Earth's
surface. The estimated price for this one: cool $5.3 Million.
To
find a solid piece of an iron asteroid is something very rare.
Spanish newspaper ABC says that only three such meteorites have been
previously found in Spain so far, near Quesa, in 1898, near Granada
in 1912 and near Zaragoza in 1950.
Image source MailOnline
( Image may be copyrighted)
The
first results of the research on the meteorite are being published in
the Journal Geological Survey, although the International Society for
Meteoritics and Planetary Science has allocated this meteorite the
official name of the Bullaque Retuerta, depending on the location of
discovery .
Spanish
news agency EFE has reported that Lopez, who officially owns the
meteorite with his brother Ramon, is thinking the possibility of
putting up the meteorite for sale. The siblings said that they
they have realised that there is a worldwide market for meteorites
and that an offer could be made online to them. They would like it to
be 'sold quietly' provided they receive 'a tempting offer' that meets
their expectations. Meanwhile they have moved the rock to a safe
location.
Madrid’s
Mining Museum is now displaying the fragment broken off for testing,
alongside a replica of the original in similar fashion to the Gibeon
Meteorite found in 1836 in Namibia being displayed at the The Arthur
Ross Hall of Meteorites in US.
Gibeon Meteorite
Lopez
siblings have been Millionaires for all this time. Only thing that,
they never knew it.
31
March 2013
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