See to Believe: The $5 Million Meteorite Collection

It's one of the world's most complete meteorite collections. "I have at least one of every type of specimen," says 52-year-old Naveen Jain, founder of the search engine InfoSpace, digital security firm Intelius, and Moon Express, a company that aims to land a robotic craft on the lunar surface next year.
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Naveen Jain isn't your average rock collector. His home office in Bellevue, Washington, is a showcase for more than 500 specimens, all of them drop-shipped to Earth from outer space. It's one of the world's most complete meteorite collections. "I have at least one of every type of specimen," says the 52-year-old founder of the search engine InfoSpace, digital security firm Intelius, and Moon Express, a company that aims to land a robotic craft on the lunar surface next year.

Jain, who as CEO of InfoSpace rode the dotcom rocket onto Forbes' list of wealthiest Americans, has spent $5 million to date. He collects only meteorites that someone has seen streaking through the atmosphere, known as witnessed falls. They're unweathered and uncontaminated by terrestrial detritus, and museums and collectors snap them up nearly as fast as they fall to Earth. Take the Martian brick that fell on Chassigny, France, on October 3, 1815: With only 750 grams extant, fragments can cost $100,000 per gram, or 2,000 times the price of gold. (Jain has a 4-gram piece.)

What does Jain get for his money? "You're holding something that nobody can get to," he says. "How many people can say they've touched Mars?"

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