It was traced to the Apollo 17 mission to the moon, and was given as a goodwill gift from then-US president Richard Nixon to Honduras. It was eventually returned to the government of Honduras.
Before someone buys a meteorite, Gutheinz said, a geologist should make a very definitive assessment based on evidence of extreme heat, weight, composition and other factors.
In the US, Gutheinz added, "most meteorites are found in plowed fields or desert environments, all across the farm belt and the prairies in plowed land, and in Death Valley they're found a lot because it's dry so you don't have the decay factor and they stand out against the background".
