# Auction for only extra-terrestrial object to ever kill a living thing **URL:** \ **Category:** Miscellaneous and Personal Stuff I Must Share\ **Created:** [October 26, 2007, 11:54am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/auction-for-only-extra-terrestrial-object-to-ever-kill-a-living-thing/424090 "2007-10-26T11:54:05Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 5\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![GomiBoy](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/g/b2d939/32.png) [@GomiBoy](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/GomiBoy)\ **Post date:** [October 26, 2007, 11:54am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/auction-for-only-extra-terrestrial-object-to-ever-kill-a-living-thing/424090/1 "2007-10-26T11:54:05Z")
I think this is wicked-cool and would love to own it - too bad I am moving house and have no spare cash just now! I also love the matter-of-fact response from the people who found the meteorite. [Link.](http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/main.jhtml?xml=/news/2007/10/26/wrock126.xml) [QUOTE=TheTelegraphUK] The only meteorite known to have killed a living thing when it shot through Earth’s atmosphere and landed on a cow is being put up for auction. In the world’s first ever sale devoted exclusively to meteorites, Bonhams is putting 54 lots under the hammer, including the Valera meteorite fragment, which holds the dubious distinction of being the only extra-terrestrial rock to have caused a death. Thirty-five years ago, farmers in Trujillo, Venezuela were startled when they heard a sonic boom. The following morning they found a large rock alongside a dead cow, whose neck and shoulder had been “pulverised” by the impact. According to the New York auction house, Argimiro Gonzalez, the physician who owned the farm, quickly deduced that his cow had been killed by a meteorite, which he apparently found unsurprising. Witnesses reported that the cow was eaten, the meteorite re-deployed as a doorstop, and nothing more was done about the matter until an astronomer from the University of the Andes heard the story and went to investigate. [/QUOTE] The world is a weird weird place, and I love it! 🙂 ---
**Author:** ![TroubleAgain](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/e480ec/32.png) [@TroubleAgain](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/TroubleAgain)\ **Post date:** [October 26, 2007, 3:51pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/auction-for-only-extra-terrestrial-object-to-ever-kill-a-living-thing/424090/2 "2007-10-26T15:51:27Z")
Whoa. Poor cow…in the field, minding its own business…when WHAM! Cosmic, dude. ---
**Author:** ![OneCentStamp](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/o/13edae/32.png) [@OneCentStamp](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/OneCentStamp)\ **Post date:** [October 26, 2007, 3:55pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/auction-for-only-extra-terrestrial-object-to-ever-kill-a-living-thing/424090/3 "2007-10-26T15:55:34Z")
And really, what else _is_ there to do? Eat steak for a week. Do something useful with the rock. Move on with your life. It ain’t really the kind of thing you could write a bestselling tell-all book about, you know? 😛😃 ---
**Author:** ![GomiBoy](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/g/b2d939/32.png) [@GomiBoy](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/GomiBoy)\ **Post date:** [October 26, 2007, 3:56pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/auction-for-only-extra-terrestrial-object-to-ever-kill-a-living-thing/424090/4 "2007-10-26T15:56:35Z")
[QUOTE=TroubleAgain] Whoa. Poor cow…in the field, minding its own business…when WHAM! Cosmic, dude. [/QUOTE] No, WHAM! Then a nice burger for lunch. Maybe some steaks even. Not so much for the cow, though 🙂 ---
**Author:** ![GomiBoy](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/g/b2d939/32.png) [@GomiBoy](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/GomiBoy)\ **Post date:** [October 26, 2007, 3:58pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/auction-for-only-extra-terrestrial-object-to-ever-kill-a-living-thing/424090/5 "2007-10-26T15:58:15Z")
[QUOTE=OneCentStamp] And really, what else _is_ there to do? Eat steak for a week. Do something useful with the rock. Move on with your life. It ain’t really the kind of thing you could write a bestselling tell-all book about, you know? 😛😃 [/QUOTE] Yeah, but it was a rock from space!