Slice of rare meteorite sold

The collection from the UK’s only professional dealer Rob Elliott, dubbed the “Indiana Jones of meteorite collectors”, went for £45,800 at the auction at Lyon & Turnbull in Edinburgh. The slice of the Hambleton Meteorite sold for £2,600, although a larger chunk failed to meet its £12,000 reserve.

It was discovered in North Yorkshire in 2005 by Mr Elliott and his wife Irene, from Fife, Scotland.

A type of meteorite known as a “pallasite”, it was formed deep in the core of a massive asteroid and is deemed to be the jewel in the crown of British meteorites, being the rarest recovered in the United Kingdom to date.