--- title: Meteorite Worth $100,000 Used As Door Stop for 30 Years description: A meteorite worth $100,000 has been holding open a door at a Michigan farm for the past 30 years. canonical: https://time.com/5416853/meteorite-in-michigan/ author: Megan McCluskey article:opinion: false article:content_tier: free article:published_time: 2018-10-05T16:31:37.000Z article:modified_time: 2026-05-11T04:46:13.926Z og:title: Meteorite Worth $100,000 Used As Doorstop for 30 Years og:description: "I could tell right away that this was something special" og:url: https://time.com/5416853/meteorite-in-michigan/ og:site_name: TIME og:image: https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blt1c584826ae024f6d/69893bf7096a946bfd6a39de/meteorite-doorstop.jpg?branch=production&width=3840&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=16:9 og:image:width: 1200 og:image:height: 675 og:image:alt: Central-Michigan-University-Meteorite og:type: article twitter:card: summary_large_image twitter:title: Meteorite Worth $100,000 Used As Doorstop for 30 Years twitter:description: "I could tell right away that this was something special" twitter:image: https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blt1c584826ae024f6d/69893bf7096a946bfd6a39de/meteorite-doorstop.jpg?branch=production&width=3840&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=16:9 ---  # Man Uses Meteorite Worth $100,000 As Doorstop for 30 Years Before Finding Out It's a Very Big Deal  by [Megan McCluskey](https://time.com/author/megan-mccluskey/)  ## Megan McCluskey Staff Writer Oct 5, 2018 4:31 PM UTC  Central Michigan University Photo/ Professor Monaliza Sirbescu shows off a meteorite. Central Michigan University Photo/ Professor Monaliza Sirbescu shows off a meteorite.Mackenzie Brockman/Central Michigan University  by [Megan McCluskey](https://time.com/author/megan-mccluskey/)  ## Megan McCluskey Staff Writer Oct 5, 2018 4:31 PM UTC A [meteorite](http://time.com/money/4232620/make-money-selling-truffles-saffron-meteorites/) in Michigan worth $100,000 has been holding open a door at a [Michigan](http://time.com/5391830/miss-america-flint/) farm for the past 30 years. According to Central Michigan University, the 22-pound meteorite rock was brought in to be examined by an unnamed man who said he had been using it as a [doorstop](http://time.com/4416998/home-security-technology-gadgets-tech-gear/) for several decades. CMU geology professor Mona Sirbescu said that this is the first time in her time at the university that a rock she has been asked to test actually turned out to be a meteorite. “For 18 years, the answer has been categorically ‘no’—meteor wrongs, not meteorites,” Sibescu said in a statement from CMU on Thursday, [CNN](https://www.cnn.com/2018/10/04/us/meteorite-doorstop-michigan-trnd/index.html) reports. “I could tell right away that this was something special.”  Central Michigan University Professor Mona Sirbescu shows off a meteorite Mackenzie Brockman/Central Michigan University The chunk of iron—which was confirmed as a space rock by the Smithsonian Institution in Washington, D.C.—is the sixth-largest meteorite ever found in Michigan, according to the museum. “It’s the most valuable specimen I have ever held in my life, monetarily and scientifically,” Sibescu said. ```json [{"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"NewsArticle","@id":"https://time.com/5416853/meteorite-in-michigan/","mainEntityOfPage":{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https://time.com/5416853/meteorite-in-michigan/"},"headline":"Man Uses Meteorite Worth $100,000 As Doorstop for 30 Years Before Finding Out It's a Very Big Deal","datePublished":"2018-10-05T16:31:37.000Z","dateModified":"2026-05-11T04:46:13.926Z","description":"\"I could tell right away that this was something special\"","url":"https://time.com/5416853/meteorite-in-michigan/","keywords":["Newsfeed","Space"],"thumbnailUrl":"https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blt1c584826ae024f6d/69893bf7096a946bfd6a39de/meteorite-doorstop.jpg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=1200:675&height=675","author":[{"@type":"Person","name":"Megan McCluskey","jobTitle":"Staff Writer","url":"https://time.com/author/megan-mccluskey/"}],"articleSection":"","image":[{"@type":"ImageObject","url":"https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blt1c584826ae024f6d/69893bf7096a946bfd6a39de/meteorite-doorstop.jpg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=1200:675&height=675","width":1200,"height":675,"headline":"Central-Michigan-University-Meteorite","caption":"","creditText":"Mackenzie Brockman/Central Michigan University","representativeOfPage":true}],"publisher":{"@type":"Organization","name":"Time","url":"https://time.com/","logo":{"@type":"ImageObject","url":"https://time.com/images/logo.png","width":528,"height":156},"foundingDate":"March 3, 1923","sameAs":["https://www.facebook.com/time","https://www.instagram.com/time/?hl=en","https://twitter.com/time","https://www.pinterest.com/timemagazine"]}},{"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"BreadcrumbList","itemListElement":[{"@type":"ListItem","position":1,"item":{"@id":"/tag/time-section-newsfeed/","name":"Newsfeed"}},{"@type":"ListItem","position":2,"item":{"@id":"https://time.com/5416853/meteorite-in-michigan/","name":"Man Uses Meteorite Worth $100,000 As Doorstop for 30 Years Before Finding Out It's a Very Big Deal"}}]}] ```