Celestial Being

In 1938 a Nazi explorer found this Buddhist relic on a mission to prove the supremacy of the Aryan race. He took it back to Germany with him, but probably just cause he thought the emblem on the figure’s chest was a cool addition to the Nazi souvenirs-of-the-world collection – helping to misappropriate the most poorly misinterpreted symbol of all time. Now it’s been determined that the statue, found in what was once part of the Mongol Empire, was carved out of a meteorite.

CBSnews.com calls it a ” Space Buddha”, but it’s not. The figure is thought to represent Vaisravana, the King of the North, and he was popular in the North of Asia as Hindu derived Buddhism spread across the continent. “Space Buddha” sounds cool though, much better than his other nickname “Iron Man”.

Its estimated value is now being determined by scientists and antiquities collectors. It will presumably be valued at more than it’s current $20,000 price tag once scientists find a way to date the meteorite’s arrival on our earthly plane.