Present from heaven. A meteorite hit their garden – now they are rich

Several meteorites rained down on the German town of Elmshorn. The eldest ended up in the family garden. It weighs 3.7 kilograms and is 4.5 billion years old – and it’s worth a lot.

At the end of April, there was a small but very distinct shower over the town of Elmshorn in Schleswig-Holstein: instead of raindrops, meteorites rained down from space.

One of them ended up in the Shaheen family garden. My wife was sitting at the dining table with my daughter. Tell Mahmoud Shaheen, the broadcaster, NDR. Then the two of them went out into the garden and saw a real crater.

The stone the two found in the crater was the size of a handball – making it the largest meteorite ever to hit Schleswig-Holstein.

A meteorite is going to a museum at present

The stone weighs 3.7 kilograms and is believed to be about 4.5 billion years old. For some people, it’s worth a lot of money: the Chahin family received several offers, the largest being €200,000, or about 194,250 francs.

“Winning the lottery was the most likely way to make money,” Shaheen comments on the offers in NDR.

But before it is sold, the meteorite is on display in a museum. “We fell a bit in love with the stone,” Shaheen says. “That’s why we want to make it more accessible to others.”