(LIVE SCIENCE) – A long-lost piece of the moon belonging to the state of Louisiana may have remained missing – if not also been discarded or destroyed – had the plaque on which it was mounted not attracted the eye of a Florida gun collector.
The man, who was looking for wood samples to use in the repair or replacement of his damaged gunstocks, purchased the Apollo 17 goodwill moon rock display without realizing what it was. The buyer, who requested to remain anonymous but resides in Merritt Island, near Cape Canaveral, said that he had likely purchased the plaque at a garage sale sometime over the past 15 years.
“I can’t even tell you how long I owned it for,” the man told collectSPACE.com after reaching out for information through a common contact. “I’m not even sure how much I paid for it. I buy plaques because I take the wood from the plaques and I send it over to my gunstock guy and he makes grips for my Colts and so forth.”
