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This dog house is asking something close to the median price of a suburban home — thanks to a far out accident.

The small structure known as the “Aguas Zarcas Doghouse” was once home to a German shepherd named Roky. It’s made of pressed wood and tin and is far from luxurious — nevertheless, it’s estimated to auction for between $200,000 and $300,000 at Christie’s “Deep Impact: Martian, Lunar and Other Rare Meteorites,” now on until Feb. 23.

That because of a unique selling point: In 2019, a meteorite tore through the oxidized red-tone roof, narrowly missing the fightened pooch.

This bizarre event happened thanks to a meteorite shower that took place above Aguas Zarcas, Costa Rica, just after 9 p.m. on April 23 of that year.

While “cosmic debris,” as the auction literature describes it, mostly disintegrates as it enters Earth’s atmosphere, this rock had a peculiar path. The vast majority that survive end up in ocean water — which covers two-thirds of the planet’s surface — or land in remote areas buried underground from the force of impact.


  The meteorite left a 7-inch hole in the doghouse’s roof while the German shepherd was inside. Courtesy of Christie’s The meteorite left a 7-inch hole in the doghouse’s roof while the German shepherd was inside. Courtesy of Christie’s

But this meteorite was part of a fireball caught on multiple cameras during its descent, with part of the material piercing the roof of a local house and another going right into Roky’s lair.

The one that certainly startled the pup, and left a 7-inch hole in his roof in its wake, is also up for sale seperately from the dog house, and is estimated between $40,000 and $60,000. (That piece alone now has 21 bids and has risen to $2,200.)

Christie’s notes there can be a premium for objects struck by meteorites.

In 2007, a mailbox in Georgia hammered by a landing meteorite more than 20 years earlier sold at auction for $83,000. In Peekskill, NY, in 1992, a more than 26-pound rock struck the trunk of a Chevy Malibu, which a teenager had purchased from her grandmother for $400. A week later, the car traded hands for a whopping $69,000 — and once more in 2010 for $230,000.


  The meteorite that narrowly missed Roky is also up for grabs. Courtesy of Christie's The meteorite that narrowly missed Roky is also up for grabs. Courtesy of Christie's

The doghouse has 16 current bids and has reached $1,600 for now. Its simple-looking structure also includes the words “House” and “Roky” sketched in pencil on its outside, as well as a large painted “R.” And while the meteorite’s impact didn’t harm the pooch himself, it destroyed Roky’s weathered wooden floor. All damaged wooden portions have since been replaced.

The majority of meteorites come from the asteroid belt between Jupiter and Mars, while some come from Mars proper or the moon. And though hundreds reach our planet annually, very rarely is their landing witnessed — and recovered. 

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