Piece of the Moon for Sale

Symon Gold writes "A desk set purportedly containing a piece of moon rock is up for auction at Lelands.com. Listing here. The New York Times (free registration required) has a story about the piece--a retirement gift given to Joe Healy, an engineer at NASA's Lunar Receiving Laboratory who worked on the Apollo missions and who died a decade ago. The auction runs until 9 p.m. on December 4th with an opening bid of $50,000."

Comments

Re:futurama quote

[grub]

Face it, the moon is a dump. It's a boring, dried up wasteland, and the only reason anybody ever comes here is for the tacky little amusement park.

You mean like France and EuroDisney?

Scientists?

[John Seminal]

In September, the United States returned to Honduras a Moon rock that President Richard M. Nixon gave the country in 1973, but that was later stolen and ended up with a dealer in Miami. Last year, three interns at NASA's Johnson Space Center in Houston stole a safe containing Moon rocks valued at $2.5 million to $7 million. The three pleaded guilty to the theft, and a conspirator, who offered the rocks for sale on the Internet, was convicted at a trial in June.

Why do break in's always have Nixon's name somewhere in the paragraph?

$50,000??

[edubarr]

This makes the moon rock the most expensive paper weight ever!

Re:50k desk?

[youngerpants]

Moon rocks do have magical properties, have you never seen Halloween 3

I'll be impressed

[Pingular]

if you can sell me some jupiter rock.

Re:I'll be impressed

[tommy_teardrop]

Jupiter Rock
More Jupiter Rock
Yet More Jupiter Rock

If you can call Tori Amos rock, that is...

I live my life in service to the God Jupiter, I think I should be able to make bad jokes about him.

Waste Of Money

[Anonymous Coward]

I predict that within 10 years Wal-Mart will carry moon rocks imported from the Chinese, who will have a mine on the moon by then and bring rock back by the ton. Get ready for "pet moon rocks" and "moon mood rings" on the shopping channel too.

Real Estate for sale...

[WaterDamage]

HA! I can beat that offer, on E-bay I'm selling 1-acre lots on the moon starting at $20,000. Perfect for your next home building project. Building your next home on the moon has many perks: 1. No Pollution - at least not yet 2. No pollen - great for people with allergies 3. Spectacular views of the planet Earth with ocean front views. Mission to the moon, taxes, rocket fuel, and NASA clearence fee, building permit, and contractors to build you house, sold seperatly. Buy now and get 1000 free hours of AOL via satelite to planet Earth.

Re:Real Estate for sale...

[damien_kane]

Building your next home on the moon has many perks:
1. No Pollution - at least not yet
That extra sunlight that we humans are accustomed to not really getting may be a bitch... mmm... cosmically irradiated french fries...

2. No pollen - great for people with allergies
Lots and Lots of dust... bad for people with allergies.

3. Spectacular views of the planet Earth with ocean front views.
Too late... I've already sold all the available land on the bright side of the moon... you get the dark side...

If this stuff's worth so much

[Anonymous Coward]

Why not fly the shuttle to the moon and fill her up?

It's well capable and has the necessary landing ability.

They could bring back 20 tons of paydirt and solve the national debt!!

Mmm, rock

[BabyDave]

Does it have "The Moon" written all the way through?

I presume, and so can you...

[baileytal]

From the description at the auction site:

Molded into the [moon-rock shaped blob of] resin are presumably the tiny fragments and flecks found on the bottom of the Apollo 11 "rock boxes."

Yeah, $50k USD for a blob of resin with some "presumable" tiny fragments of moon rock.

To be fair, I think it would be fair to pay with 50 "presumable" $1000 bills encased in a big blob of resin shaped like a sucker.

Moon rock is good

[pt99par]

as long as they dont sell pieces of ur-anus .. cus i would not want any of tht on my desk

Re:Moon rock is good

[Erik K. Veland]

Isn't it about time we change the name of that planet to end that stupid joke once and for all?

I propose Urectum.

Re:My Moon Rocks?!?!

[Czernobog]

The spanish public payed millions of dubloons(?) of taxes to send a man to the Indies and bring back spices/riches/evidence of life/rocks. Therefore, I find it strange and wrong that spices/riches/evidence of life/rocks can be in private hands.

Everybody paid to bring the spices/riches/evidence of life/rocks here, and therefore these spices/riches/evidence of life/rocks should belong to all Spanish people, not to private owners.

Nevermind that Isabella ruthlessly stripped the Spaniards of their property at every opportune moment and with every handy excuse and that Colombus was Genoese....

Re:50k desk?

[cfuse]

Moon rock or not... it's dirt!

Or cheese.

Re:Why...?

[Art Tatum]

Especially since his user name is 'trotski'. :-)

"the thats-an-expensive-piece-of-rock dept." ?!?

[Art Tatum]

I'm disappointed in you, Taco. How could you miss an opportunity to run "the own-a-piece-of-the-rock dept."?

Sell quick before the market falls...

[yiantsbro]

So, sell now before the Chinese bring the stuff back in bulk and kill the market.

dr jones time

[cyrax777]

begin Indiana Jones mode "It belongs in a museum" end Indinana Jones mode

Old News...

[windside]

Man, three years ago I bought my Dad an acre of land on Io from a booth at the mall around Christmastime. It only cost me 10 bucks and it even came with a deed, although the guy printed that on-site with a shitty bubble jet.

Either way, he was also selling pieces of the moon, but owning land on our moon is like owning a cabin in Aspen - it may have been cool 30 years ago, but not anymore. Jupiter's moons are the next big thing, man.

[hmm... that post started and ended with "man"... maybe i need to get out more...]

Re:It's all about the brand

[the unbeliever]

That should be "bullshit is bullshit especially when it's called marketing"

Where is the moon peice?

[t0ny]

You would think that big piece of cheese in the desk would stink by now!