Casper teamed up with New York City meteorite dealer Darryl Pitt to buy the meteorite and distribute it to various museum and research collections around the world. By trading samples of Mars rock for meteorites that have already been thoroughly studied, Casper was able to secure valuable specimens he could sell, while ensuring that the rare LA 001 was available to scientists. The most popular meteorites lately have been pieces of Sikhote-Alin, the iron meteorite that exploded above eastern Siberia in 1947. But larger samples, pieces with exotic shapes fitting to be displayed as sculpture can sell for that much per gram. This iron meteorite from Casper's catalog is one of the countless fragments from the Sikhote-Alin meteorite, which exploded above eastern Siberia in 1947.
Prices vary tremendously based on the demand for various types of meteorites.
The most common stony meteorites sell for just a few dollars per gram, while prices for very rare meteorites, such as pieces of the moon or Mars, or especially beautiful meteorites can reach hundreds of dollars per gram. Except for the rare pieces that are so important that they need to be saved for scientific research, everything he has is for sale, Casper's business practices occasionally irritate other meteorite dealers. He is willing to sell large pieces at prices well below the prevailing market value for that particular meteorite. With one sale of several pounds of diogenite at a price that some report to be about half the market value, Casper single-handedly cut the world price of diogenite meteorites, critics say. Haag is one of the few dealers who have been buying and selling meteorites for more than 20 years.