A meteorite that had been used as a doorstop for decades was identified as a valuable extraterrestrial rock by geologist Mona Sirbescu from Central Michigan University in 2018. The object, weighing just over ten kilograms, was found on a farm in Edmore, central Michigan, where it had been lying around for decades without being examined. The meteorite is considered one of the finest specimens handled by the researcher. The rock fell from the sky in the 1930s on the same farm. The original owner reportedly saw it fall with an impressive noise and dug it up the next morning, finding it still warm at the bottom of a small crater. He kept the dark gray block as a curiosity and stored it with his tools. When the farm was bought in 1988, the new owner inherited the rock, warned only that it was an object that had fallen from the sky. For about thirty years, the rock was used to prop open the barn door. The children in the house even took it to school to show it in class, without realizing they were carrying a relic of a shooting star. In total, the rock was within reach for almost eighty years without revealing its secret. The situation changed when the owner learned that similar fragments are traded for a high price and finally took his stone to Central Michigan University. Sirbescu used an X-ray fluorescence device to analyze the rock's composition and realized she had in her hands an extraordinary specimen. The analysis showed approximately 88% iron and 12% nickel, a typical signature of iron meteorites that are never found in terrestrial rocks. Nickel, very rare on the surface of the Earth, acts as an almost infallible celestial marker. To validate the diagnosis, a piece was sent to the Smithsonian in Washington, while the geochemist John Wasson at the University of California in Los Angeles refined the measurement. With its ten kilograms, the block becomes the sixth largest meteorite recorded in the state. The valuation of the meteorite is estimated to be at least $100,000. These iron blocks, however, only form a small minority of falls, which sharpens the desire of collectors. The Smithsonian and a museum in Maine are already fighting over the right to acquire it, and the owner has promised to give a portion to the university that uncovered the secret of his doorstop. The meteorite is believed to have come from the metallic core of asteroids broken in the early days of the Solar System, more than four billion years ago. Each block thus delivers a piece of planetary core that has fallen freely on Earth. Laboratories are still measuring its exact content in rare elements, which will determine its final value.