Aletai Pendant (without reserve price). Iron meteorite - 9.5 g

Aletai Meteorite Pendant, stainless steel.

Small protective resin layer.

Chain offered

The world's largest iron meteorite (74 tons) was discovered in Aletai Prefecture in the Uighur region of Xinjiang in July 2011. The local government took it away under the pretext of 'protection'.

One and a half years later, the meteorite discoverers — Hailati Ayisa and Jiaerheng Habudehai, two guides of Kazakh nationality — decided to pursue the government. Once filed, it could be the first case concerning the ownership of space articles, reported the Southern Weekly. The pasture entrepreneurs where the meteorite was found also claimed its ownership, further complicating matters.

The three parties claimed to be the first discoverers of the iron meteorite. It will not be easy for the judicial authorities to render a correct verdict because Chinese civil law does not follow the 'first possession' theory of property, which states that ownership of something is justified by someone who claims it before anyone else does.

Hailati comes from Qinghe County of Aletai, the place where China's largest iron meteorite, the 'Silver Camel,' was found. He was passionate about meteorites and had befriended the sheep merchant Jiaerheng while doing business.

In April 2011, Hailati received a call from another meteorite enthusiast. The man told Hailati that they were searching for a meteorite on a pasture in Aletai and hoped he would be willing to join the search.

A team of nine meteorite enthusiasts then set out to find the supposed object from space. Zhang Baolin, a meteorite expert from the Beijing Planetarium, and meteorite collector Lei Kesi were among them. However, the search proved unsuccessful. Before the nine men parted ways, they reached a verbal agreement with Hailati and Jiaerheng to continue the search.

"Zhang Baolin said that we would probably receive a great reward if we found him and informed the government," Hailati stated. Living an ordinary life, Hailati and Jiaerheng considered the search as an opportunity likely to change their destiny.

June 17, 2011, proved to be the day they found the meteorite. 'It was a gift from the Lord; I thought our lives would be different,' Jiaerheng told Southern Weekly.

They immediately informed the remaining seven meteorite fans, but received no response. However, a few days later, they learned from the Beijing Planetarium that the man they had informed had reported the discovery to the Chinese Academy of Sciences as his 'first discoverer'.

Experts from the Beijing Planetarium tried to calm their minds by saying, "We know that you both found it," and shortly afterward, they issued them a certificate.

On July 16, 2011, the meteorite was officially confirmed as the fourth largest iron meteorite in the world and was found to be part of the same meteoroid as the 'Silver Camel'.

However, the local government removed the iron meteorite from the pasture as soon as possible, stating that it simply wanted to ensure better protection of the meteorite.

He also denied that Hailati and Jiaerheng were the first discoverers of the iron meteorite, asserting that the Party secretary of Aletai, Sun Jianguo, had already identified it in 2004. However, there was no evidence to support this claim. According to Zhang Min, lawyer for Hailati and Jiaerheng, no government had a legal basis to demand, seize, or hold meteorites.

Regarding their reward, the local government agreed to give Hailati and Jiaerheng 5,000 yuan (802 dollars) each due to 'their touching behavior.' However, the two men considered the reward insufficient and opposed the offer.

Meteorite collector Lei Kesi claimed that 'the Beijing Planetarium and I paid Hailati and Jiaerheng for their help.' He believed they were employed to assist with research, and therefore should not claim ownership of it. Hailati and Jiaerheng denied this particular relationship but admitted to receiving a small sum from the Beijing Planetarium during their last search.

Suddenly, the pastoral entrepreneurs Juman and Kenjiebieke Remazan have now claimed that they actually discovered the iron meteorite back in 1986 and have also asserted ownership of it.

According to the Chinese land procurement system, grazing entrepreneurs can only obtain rights and interests related to the grazing itself, and since meteorites are not generated by grazing, the Remazan brothers should not hold the meteorite, said Meng Qinguo, a law professor at Wuhan University.

In fact, some scientists had already proposed legalizing government ownership of meteorites eight years ago, but this project was somewhat paralyzed. Meteorite enthusiast Liu Xin told newspapers that it takes a lot of time and money to find a meteorite.

Discoverers will be injured if their hard-to-find meteorites are simply taken by the government.

I hope that the laws can encourage individuals to find more meteorites and benefit both the country and the discoverer, said Liu Xin.