Embarrassment as 'moon rock' in museum turns out to be just a piece of petrified wood

It's not green cheese, but it might as well be.

The Dutch national museum said today that one of its most prized possessions, a rock supposedly brought back from the moon by U.S. astronauts, is just a piece of petrified wood.

In an investigation into the piece, a space expert told the Rijksmuseum it was unlikely NASA would have given away any moon rock so soon after Apollo returned to Earth.

Prized possession: A piece of moon rock on display at the Dutch national museum has been revealed to be a piece of petrified wood after an investigation

Rijksmuseum spokeswoman Xandra van Gelder, said the museum will keep the relic as a curiosity.



'It's a good story, with some questions that are still unanswered,' she said. 'We can laugh about it.'

The museum acquired the rock after the death of former prime minister Willem Dreesman in 1988.



Dreesman received it as a private gift in 1969 from then-U.S. ambassador J. William Middendorf who accompanied the Apollo 11 astronauts on a visit to The Netherlands after the first moon landing.



Mr Middendorf told how the rock came from the U.S. State Department, but couldn't recall the exact details.



'Apparently no one thought to doubt it, since it came from the prime minister's collection,' Ms Van Gelder said.

The rock is not usually on display at the museum, which is primarily known for fine art by masters including Rembrandt.

'It's a nondescript, pretty-much-worthless stone,' said Geologist Frank Beunk from Amsterdam's Free University. He said he could see at a glance the rock was not from the moon.