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Yes, you can own, buy and sell a meteorite in the United States. No federal law bans private ownership, and the courts treat a meteorite as the property of whoever owns the land it lands on. The rules get tighter on federal land, and tighter again once a meteorite crosses a border, because several countries treat meteorites as national heritage. I keep a small shelf of specimens, and this guide covers what I check before I pick up, buy or ship one. It is general information, not legal advice.
Meteorites earn that attention. Bridgmanite, the most abundant mineral in Earth’s lower mantle, got its official name in 2014 after researchers found it in the Tenham meteorite, which fell in Australia in 1879. A rock that can reveal something new about our own planet is worth protecting, and that is why the law pays attention to who owns one.
The short answer
- Private land: the landowner owns a meteorite that falls there. If you find one on someone else’s land, get written permission and agree on the split before you pick it up.
- BLM land: you may keep up to 10 pounds per person per year for personal use, with no permit. You may not sell it.
- National parks: casual collecting is not allowed. Rules in national forests vary by forest.
- Buying and selling: legal in the US. Buy from a dealer who can name the locality and the classification.
- Other countries: Canada, Australia, Argentina, Morocco and others restrict ownership or export. Check before you travel with one.
Who owns a meteorite that just fell?
Ordinary property law applies. The Bureau of Land Management says in its own FAQ that the courts have long held that meteorites belong to the owner of the surface estate where they are found. The standard citation is Goddard v. Winchell, an Iowa case from 1892. A meteorite fell on Goddard’s land in 1890 and a neighbor dug it up and sold it. The court gave it back to the landowner.
In practice that means three things. A meteorite that lands in your yard is yours. A meteorite you find on a farmer’s field belongs to the farmer, so ask first and put the deal in writing. A meteorite that lands on public land follows the rules of whoever manages that land.
The Hoba meteorite in Namibia shows the other side of ownership. At about 60 tonnes it is the largest known intact meteorite, and nobody can carry it off. Namibia declared it a national monument in 1955, and it stays where it fell.
Meteorites on US public land
The BLM’s Instruction Memorandum 2012-182 sets the policy for the land it manages. It sorts collecting into three kinds.
| Kind of collecting | What you can do |
|---|---|
| Casual (hobby) | Up to 10 pounds per person per year, surface only, no motorized or mechanized equipment. Metal detectors are allowed. No permit or fee. Personal use only: you cannot sell or barter what you collect. |
| Scientific or educational | Permit under the Antiquities Act from a BLM state office. The applicant must be a qualified researcher, the specimens remain BLM property and they go to an approved repository. |
| Commercial | Permit under the Federal Land Policy and Management Act. Fees apply, including a purchase price based on market value. |
Casual collecting is limited to open BLM land. Developed recreation sites, national monuments, national conservation areas and some wilderness areas and areas of critical environmental concern are closed to it, so call the local field office before you go. You also cannot stake a mining claim for meteorites, because they do not count as a mineral resource under the mining laws. Taking meteorites from public land illegally can bring a citation under the BLM’s regulations and, in serious cases, a federal charge for theft of government property.
The BLM policy covers BLM land only. The same FAQ states that casual collecting is not allowed on land run by the National Park Service, the Bureau of Reclamation or the US Fish and Wildlife Service. National forests set their own rules, and they differ: some forests allow personal collecting without a permit and others prohibit it, so ask the forest office. State parks, state trust land and tribal land have their own rules too. Assume the answer is no until the manager says otherwise.
Antarctica is a separate case. Under the Antarctic Treaty no one can claim territory, and meteorites there are collected by government science programs. The US program, ANSMET, sends its finds to NASA’s Johnson Space Center and the Smithsonian for curation and research.
Is it legal to buy and sell a meteorite?
In the US, yes. A meteorite you own or buy can be resold, and dealers trade them openly. The limits come from where the specimen was taken. A piece collected casually on BLM land cannot be sold, and a piece exported from a country that bans export carries that problem with it. Selling a rock as a meteorite when it is not one is fraud, and the BLM’s FAQ mentions false labeling as a separate federal offense.
The Meteoritical Society, the international scientific body for the field, asks collectors and dealers to follow national and local laws and not to acquire material they know was collected or exported illegally. Its Nomenclature Committee also decides which meteorites receive an official name. Names appear in the Meteoritical Bulletin Database, which lists more than 75,000 of them. The Smithsonian’s National Museum of Natural History holds the US national meteorite collection.
Laws in other countries
Rules differ widely, and the common pattern is that countries with many meteorites protect them. Check the country of origin and the country you are shipping to.
| Country | Ownership and export |
|---|---|
| Canada | Meteorites are on the control list of the Cultural Property Export and Import Act. Exporting one needs a permit, and exporting without a permit is a criminal offense. A review can delay a permit so Canadian museums can make an offer. |
| Australia | State by state. In Western Australia the Museum Act makes meteorites state property, held by the Western Australian Museum. In the Northern Territory the Meteorites Act vests them in the Territory and makes unauthorized possession an offense. Export also needs a permit. |
| Argentina | Chaco province declared meteorites public property in 1990 and banned taking them out of the province. The national government and the neighboring province have since protected them as cultural property. Smuggling continues. |
| Morocco | Since a 2020 law, collecting and trading meteorites needs a government license. Licensed hunters can export most of what they find, and part goes to the state geology directorate. |
| Algeria, Libya, Egypt and Tunisia | Export is banned. |
| Oman | Collecting and exporting needs government approval. Customs seizes unpermitted shipments. |
| Denmark | Finds belong to the state under the Danekræ rules and go to the Natural History Museum of Denmark. The finder receives compensation. Greenland and the Faroe Islands follow the same rule. |
| United Kingdom | Common law gives a meteorite to the landowner. The Natural History Museum studied the Winchcombe fall of 2021, which landed on a family driveway in Gloucestershire. |
Argentina and Morocco matter most to buyers. Campo del Cielo in Argentina is the source of most of the inexpensive iron meteorites in the market, and Morocco and the wider Sahara supply most of the stone meteorites. If a seller offers a large quantity of either, ask about the export history. A legitimate dealer answers without hesitation.
The 2011 fall in Tissint, Morocco, shows why the trade attracts so much attention. It was the first Martian meteorite seen falling in nearly 50 years, and for a time it sold for far more than gold by weight. Nomads in the area still search the desert for pieces. The full story of the best known falls is in the list of famous meteorites, and where meteorites are found covers the places worth searching.
How I buy a meteorite
I own a few. The first was a Campo del Cielo iron nugget from a small kit, and the second was a thumb-sized Sahara stone I bought from an IMCA-member dealer at a mineral show. Both came with a card giving the locality, and the Sahara stone came with its classification. My process has not changed since: I check three things before I pay.
1. The seller. The International Meteorite Collectors Association (IMCA) is a membership group of collectors and dealers with a published code of conduct. Membership does not guarantee a deal, but it means the seller has put a name and a reputation behind the pieces. Ask for the IMCA member number and look it up. Whatever the seller, you want a return policy.
2. The paperwork. A real specimen has a locality, a type and a mass. Better still, it carries a name that you can find in the Meteoritical Bulletin Database, where the classification and the discoverer are listed. If a piece comes from a country with export limits, ask for the export documents or the history of the piece. A certificate of authenticity from a general seller is the seller’s own statement. It is useful and it is not a lab report.
3. The piece itself. A magnet and a loupe tell you most of what you need at home. Most meteorites attract a magnet, and iron meteorites attract it hard. A fresh stone often has a thin, dark fusion crust, a skin that formed when the surface melted in the atmosphere. Many have shallow thumbprint dimples called regmaglypts. Meteorites feel heavy for their size, and they have no bubbles or holes. Many iron meteorites show a crossing pattern called the Widmanstätten structure once a face is cut, polished and etched with acid. It does not form in any Earth metal.
The usual fakes are slag from furnaces and the minerals hematite, magnetite and pyrite. Tektites and Libyan desert glass are natural glass formed by impacts. They are not meteorites. A magnet alone proves nothing, since many Earth rocks stick to it. Only a lab can confirm a find, and a meteorite becomes official when the Meteoritical Society’s Nomenclature Committee approves its name. If you think you have found one, start with a university geology department or a natural history museum. Handling it is safe.
What I would buy
These are the pieces and tools I would start with. All six are in stock on Amazon US as of November 2026.
A first specimen
Dancing Bear Campo del Cielo Meteorite, 20 to 32 g
One solid piece of iron-nickel meteorite from Campo del Cielo, with an ID card and a certificate of authenticity. The fall happened thousands of years ago and the parent body weighed more than a ton. Campo del Cielo is the most widely traded and best documented iron meteorite, which is why I suggest it for a first piece. The weight makes it easy to test with a magnet and to hold.
Lower-cost start
Dancing Bear 3-Piece Campo del Cielo Meteorite Kit
Three small fragments of the same iron meteorite in a magnifying box, with an information card and a certificate. This is the kit I started with. The pieces are about half an inch across, which is enough to see the surface and to practice the magnet test, and it makes a good gift for a child.
Field guide
Field Guide to Meteors and Meteorites
By O. Richard Norton and Lawrence Chitwood. It covers how to recognize meteorites, how to tell them from lookalikes, the main types and where falls and finds occur. It is the book to read before you buy your first specimen or search a field.
For the story
Meteorites: The Story of Our Solar System
Written by curators and scientists of the Natural History Museum in London, with photos from its collection. It explains what meteorites tell us about how the planets formed. Read it if you care more about the science than the field work.
Loupe
KINGMAS 30x Foldable Loupe
A pocket loupe shows fusion crust, tiny metal flecks, bubbles in slag and the grain of a cut face. At 30x you can tell glassy slag from a stone with a metal-flecked interior, which is the first sorting step. It folds into a case that fits a keychain.
Magnet
WELLZEER N52 Keychain Magnet
A strong neodymium magnet separates a meteorite from a nonmagnetic rock in seconds. Hold it to the specimen and feel the pull, and do not treat the result as proof. Keep it away from phone cases and cards with magnetic strips.
If you prefer your space rocks as jewelry, I covered the options in my guide to space jewelry made from real meteorites. And if you are new to the terms, meteor, meteoroid and meteorite are three different things, and how meteors form explains the trip down.
Not legal advice. This page gives general information and the rules change. Check current rules with the land manager, your state and the country you ship to. Ask a lawyer if a find is valuable or contested.
FAQ
Is it legal to own a meteorite?
Yes, in the United States and in most countries. Private ownership is legal in the US, and a meteorite belongs to the owner of the land where it fell. A few countries such as Denmark claim finds for the state, and others limit export.
Can I sell a meteorite?
Yes, if you own it legally. You cannot sell a meteorite that you collected casually from BLM land, because that collecting is for personal use only. Pieces exported from a country that bans export are a risk for any buyer.
Can I keep a meteorite I found on my own land?
Yes. The landowner owns it. If you found it on someone else’s land, it belongs to that owner unless you agree otherwise in writing.
Can I collect meteorites in a national park?
No. Casual collecting is not allowed on National Park Service land. National forests set their own rules, so ask the forest office. On open BLM land you can keep up to 10 pounds per person per year for personal use.
Do I have to report a meteorite I find?
Not in the US. Reporting is still useful, because a lab classification lets the Meteoritical Society give it an official name. In Canada, Australia and some other countries, reporting or surrendering finds is part of the law.
Can I take a meteorite out of the country?
It depends on the country. Canada requires an export permit, and Argentina, Algeria, Libya, Egypt, Tunisia and Oman restrict or ban it. Morocco allows licensed export. Bringing one into the US is generally allowed. Declare it at customs and keep the paperwork.
How can I tell if a meteorite is real?
Check the seller, the paperwork and the piece. Look for a locality and a classification, a fusion crust on fresh stones, a heavy feel and no bubbles. Test it with a magnet and a loupe. Only a lab can confirm it, and an official name in the Meteoritical Bulletin Database is the final proof.
Where can I buy a real meteorite?
Buy from IMCA member dealers, established mineral and gem shows, museum shops and sellers who give the locality and classification. A first piece of Campo del Cielo iron is an easy starting point.
