Everyone loves rocks. They’re good for throwing at the windows of those who’ve wronged you or raising as a pet of your own that won’t shit on the floor or give you that terribly annoying love or affection. But would you pay $50,000 for something that’s basically a rock from the sky?

The five-pound meteorite that crashed into a Park Forest home in 2003 was bought by a private collector for $50,787.50 Sunday during an auction by Dallas-based Heritage Auctions.

David Herskowitz, director of natural history at Heritage, says it’s the Garza’s provenance that makes it exceptional.

“The added value of this meteorite is that it hit a man-made object,” Herskowitz said. “And that’s extraordinary. They usually land in the desert, the ocean or the polar ice cap and are never found.”

Herskowitz says wealthy collectors aren’t the only ones who find meteorites, fossils and dinosaurs fascinating.

“Most people find this sort of thing really cool,” he said. “We can’t get enough of them. That’s the reason natural history museums remain so popular.”

[via]