mmmm genuine or a hoax ?
Back in 1969, as the hazy images beamed back to Earth from space, Neil Armstrong stooped and gathered some rocks from the lunar surface.And now, one of those very moon rocks is for sale on Trade Me.
http://www.trademe.co.nz/Browse/Listing.aspx?id=247457716&permanent=0As a billboard for a popular beverage might say - yeah, right.
Nonetheless, some punters are prepared to put their money on the line for this sample of astronomical history.
Bidding this morning stood at $152 dollars.
As the blurb accompanying the auction explains, the seller was a taxi driver in Melbourne in the mid-1980s.
Into his cab one day walks none other than the great man himself, Neil Armstrong.
At the end of the ride, the legendary astronaut was caught short and didn't have enough on him to pay the fare. He did, however, have the moon rock, which he offered to use as barter to pay the cabbie.
So the story says, anyway.
A Herald reader, Craig, emailed nzherald.co.nz to say he alerted Trade Me to the auction, and the 'questionable' validity of the product on offer; but the administrators of the e-commerce website told him it didn't seem to violate any of their trading conditions, so they decided not to pull it.
Some of the comments posted by bidders and tyre-kickers on the auction page were illuminating.
One reader suggested "a swap for some fairy dust".
Now that sounds like a deal.
http://www.nzherald.co.nz/nz/news/article.cfm?c_id=1&objectid=10603765