Provenance: Swiss private collection

Named after the Roman god of war, Mars has long been associated with warfare and mysteries. The planet’s two moons, Phobos and Deimos were named for two of the sons of Ares and Aphrodite (the counterparts of Mars and Venus, respectively, in Greek mythology).

A Martian meteorite is a rock that formed on Mars and was ejected wth a minimal speed of 5 km/s from the planet by an impact event, for example from an asteroid. It then traversed interplanetary space for many hundreds of thousands of years before landing on Earth. As of May 2021, only 261 meteorites had been classified as Martian, less than half a percent of the over 70'000 meteorites that have been classified.

These meteorites are known as Martian because they have elemental and isotopic compositions that are similar to rocks and atmospheric gases on Mars, which have been measured by orbiting spacecraft, surface landers and rovers.
The majority of SNC meteorites are quite young compared to most other meteorites and seem to imply that volcanic activity was present on Mars only a few hundred million years ago. The young formation ages of Martian meteorites was one of the early recognized characteristics that suggested their origin from a planetary body such as Mars.

The here presented specimen of a matrian specimen is of the finest quality. After an estimated 20'000 years in the Desert it turned into a true piece of natural art. It reminds the viewer of a work of modern art, such as a sculpture by alberto giacometti (1901 - 1966) or a relief by hans josephsohn (1920 - 2012).

See also lot 1882