Two of the world’s most famous meteorites failed to attract buyers at an auction on yesterday, while an ordinary metal mailbox zapped by a falling space rock in 1984 was sold for the unearthly price of nearly $83,000.

A 30-pound chunk of the Willamette Meteorite, which was found in Oregon in 1902 and has been steeped in ownership controversies for more than a century, was offered by Bonhams auction house at an estimated value of $1.3 million, but was withdrawn from sale after bidding ended at $300,000.

Similarly, the 1,410-pound Brenham Main Mass, dug out of a central Kansas farm field in 2005, was withdrawn by the auctioneer and chief executive officer of Bonhams, Malcolm Barber, after it drew a top bid of only $200,000 — well short of the pre-sale estimate of $630,000 to $700,000.

In both cases the sellers, who were present, said they weren’t worried because potential purchasers were known to be interested in the extraterrestrial rocks even though they may not have joined the bidding.

Among the more than 50 meteorites, moon rocks, and other items that Bonhams auctioned off for a total of $750,000, a surprise star was a mailbox that had sat outside the trailer park home of Carutha Barnard in Claxton, Ga., until it was blasted one night in 1984 by a three-pound rock from outer space.

In spirited bidding, the mailbox — somewhat the worse for the experience but with its red metal flag still bravely in the “up” position — went to an unidentified bidder for $82,750 including the buyer’s premium of 20%. A tiny piece of the rock itself, less than an ounce, went for $7,700. The Valera Meteorite, noteworthy as the only space rock known to have caused a fatality on earth, was sold for $1,554. Its victim in 1972 was a cow in Venezuela.