- What we got there? I have something here
that is out of this world. [mystical music] A meteorite. Cool. [laughs] Can I touch it? Yes, sir. RICK: It's meteorite
not kryptonite, right? [laughter] Meteorite hunting
is a hobby of mine. It's awesome to hold
something in your hands that has come from billions
and billions of miles away. You're first human
beings to ever touch. Today I would like to
get $4,700 for my stone. The least that I'm willing
to take would be $2,000. RICK: What's it made out of? CHRISTOPHER: Nickel, iron, and
just ordinary chondritic stone. If you look around
the outside edge here, you will see what they
call a fusion crust. That's the black line
that goes all the way around the outside of it. And it's from material
melting off of it as it comes into the atmosphere. It's only been on the
ground for maybe three to five months, approximately. Only a few months? Yeah. You can see here where it
was lying on the ground. You can see part of the
sand from where it was laying up on top of the soil. And the fact that
it's still rusted shows that the patina
hasn't worn off yet. If it was there for longer,
it would be nice and smooth. RICK: I mean, it's
not of this Earth. Yeah, it traveled
billions of miles to land here and in your hands. RICK: Oh, more than billions--
billions and billions. CHRISTOPHER: Billions
and billions. [laughter]
Yeah. I mean, if it's
real, it's really cool. I mean, I dig it. I think it's really neat. I mean, big problem is I
don't deal in meteorites. And I don't even know
if it's a meteorite. CHRISTOPHER: OK.
- I want someone to look at it. He'll do whatever he does. He'll be able to tell me
it's a meteorite right here. I'm going to go
give him a jingle. Hang out. I don't have any meteorites,
but I have other stuff for sale. So check them out.
CHRISTOPHER: All right. Sounds good. How much do you want for it? I'd like to get $4,700. We'll talk-- let me-- let
me talk to my buddy first, OK? CHRISTOPHER: OK. All right.
Hang out. He'll be here in a few minutes. And we'll do some business, bro. CHRISTOPHER: Fair enough. ROBERT VERISH: I've
been hunting meteorites for the last 20 years. It's just a whole lot of fun. It gets me outdoors. It gets me to feel
I'm young again. I'm a meteorite hunter. Rick, so what are your
concerns about this stone? RICK: OK, I mean,
is it a meteorite? Well, I got to tell you,
you know, a lot of people come to me saying, hey,
is my rock a meteorite? You know, it's-- it's
rarely, if ever, a meteorite. So I'm going to
say that first, OK? I don't want to get
your hopes up there. So tell me a little more
about how you found this. Well this was found on a dry
lake in Southern California. [inaudible] it with my magnet. Can I have your
permission to do that again? Absolutely. I normally don't put
a magnet on a meteorite. If I'm in the field,
sometimes you have to. OK. All right, that's interesting. You saw that how
that danced on there? That's a strong attraction. This is really exciting. I'm going to look at
it a little closer. What you're looking for is
whether it has these round grains of metal and whether
it also has these round spheres of silicates. OK, so it's-- so
it's a meteorite? That rock is older
than this planet. That thing was solid before
this planet ever solidified. Wow, that's pretty cool. ROBERT VERISH: Chris,
tell me about where the other piece of this is? The other piece is
actually at UCLA right now. It is actually cataloged.
- Cataloged? Yeah, it's cataloged
in an international official meteorite database. The big question, what
do you think it's worth? Well, Rick, I got to
tell you, if this meteorite wasn't cataloged, it
would fetch $10 a gram. But this is a graded
cataloged meteorite. This is a $4,000 meteorite. OK. Cool.
Thanks, man. You're welcome. It was a real pleasure to be
able to tell somebody, hey, this is really a meteorite. These are the oldest
rocks in the solar system. They're even older than
the world, our own planet. Bob said it's worth
right around 4 grand. I have to resell this, OK? It takes work. I mean, realistically, it
just looks like a rock. I got to figure out a way to
make it not look like a rock, and I can give you $1,800. Could you do $2,250? It is one of a kind. To a degree. It's the only meteorite in the
world that's shaped like this. Will you take 2 grand for it? Nah, I can't go that low. I mean-- It'll look beautiful
in here under the lights. I'll give you $2,100. I'm not-- I won't
give you a dime more. I mean, that's-- that's it. CHRISTOPHER: That's it? That is it. [clears throat] $2,100 sounds fair. RICK: OK. deal, man. Thank you very much. All right, I'll meet
you right over there at the [inaudible] counter. We'll write this up. All righty. $2,100 for something that
fell from outer space-- you know, I didn't
really have to do anything except pick it up. It was pretty good.
