The sky really is falling... Piece of the first meteorite proven to have fallen is for sale

There's just time for one last look at the meteorites on offer in Heritage's Natural History auction.

Some of the others offered include a piece of the Murchison meteorite and a vast piece of the famous Willamette meteorite.

The auction is offering the 29.5 pound crown of the Willamette meteorite - the only cut of the Willamette that was ever made, and the only specimen of Willamette available for auction to the public.

The main part of the iconic 15 ton meteorite is one of the star attractions at the American Museum of Natural History in New York.

By contrast, the Murchison meteorite encouraged the view that life on Earth may have been 'seeded' with chemicals which developed in space, including as it does some of the basic building blocks of amino acids and DNA.

Heavens above! The L'Aigle meteorite

But of course to accept this, you would have to accept that meteorites fall from the sky in the first place - and that was not always accepted, as they are only occasionally seen in action.

L'Aigle meteorite shower of April 26, 1803 provided indisputable proof that rocks could fall from the sky.

French scientist Jean Baptiste Biot's comprehensive description of the l'Aigle phenomenon provided the coup de grace to skeptics. In addition to having collected numerous eyewitness accounts, Biot presented evidence that l'Aigle stones appeared similar to other stones that reportedly fell from the sky.

Following an examination of the data collected, the French Academy of Sciences acknowledged that the face of science had changed: rocks could indeed fall from the heavens.

A piece of the famous meteorite weighing 325.3g, and previously part of the British Museum of Natural History (The Natural History Museum) and The Macovich Collection of Meteorites is expected to sell for at least $38,500 in the auction which takes place this weekend, June 11-12. It will make an excellent alternative investment.