Rich pay sky-high prices for meteorites

Extravagant purchases have raised veteran collectors' fear of forgeries

One small check to a businessman, one giant leap for a meteorite: After journeys of millions of kilometers, rocks formed from the primordial soup of the solar system have landed on the walls of a Chinese showroom.

For some of China's wealthy, the terrestrial trappings of fast cars, designer bags and deluxe apartments are worthless compared with bounty from outer space.