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The afternoon of June 12th, 1841 in Château-Renard village — which, FYGI (for your geographic information), is located in present-day Loire department in FRANCE's Centre-Loire Valley region — was supposed to be like any other. However, a stony chondrite meteorite decided to drop near this community, and its 30-kilogram (66-pound) mass shattered into smaller fragments. Fortunately, no human injuries or deaths (but what about insects?) were reported with this incident, and multiple remnants of the meteorite were collected and studied.
The Château-Renard meteorite is definitely not one of the largest meteorites to impact Earth — one from Namibia boasts a weight of 66 tons! Nevertheless, the meteoritic pieces are worthwhile enough to stick on 1000 Francs CFA coins issued by the MCI Mint on behalf of BURKINA FASO (West Africa, southeast of Mali). Comprised of silver in a patinaed antique finish, these 2016-dated coins actually have a meteorite fragment embedded on it! A 1-gram piece of the historic meteorite is valued at $300. The coins typically sell anywhere from $175 to $300 — a pretty great deal considering the history and value connected to them.
Original coin images (before editing) come from First Coin Company (↗). This coin was minted by the MCI Mint (↗) of Kabelsketal, GERMANY.
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