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Forum:Auctions - Reviews & Results
Topic:[RR Auction] Space Exploration (Oct 2020)
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gliderpilotukI’m curious about the provenance on Lot 4473 Sergei Korolev. I have concerns over the style of the signature plus the fact that he pretty much remained secretive through to his death. Signed photos are like hens teeth and most authentic items are just scribbled work notes.
SpaceAholicLot 4473 pulled.
SpaceAholicNow open for bidding.
rgarnerThis lot was mistitled until today: The coin was flown aboard Apollo 16.
Entirely rare 1971 Johannes Kepler 400th Anniversary pendant coin, 1.5" in diameter, attested to as flown by the niece of Jack Swigert, and carried into lunar orbit during the Apollo 16 mission on behalf of Apollo astronaut Jack Swigert.

EDIT: The title reverted back to the incorrect title less than 24 hours later.

coleriseHas anyone been able to identify the smaller MA-8 shingle location? It looks to be an upper panel, but the mounting holes don't seem to fit the other visible missing panel location on the MA-8 spacecraft. There's also a photo in the listing that shows a similar, uncut panel belonging to spacecraft #9, MA-5 (chimp mission), which seems to match the hole pattern better.
JurvetsonWell that was fun. Buyer price of $750K for the Apollo 17 Cuff Checklist and more than $200K for the two flown Mercury panels (one is just finishing up bidding now).
tothemoonYou ain't kidding!! These crazy auction prices are what make it hard to build an inventory for a museum. Ahh well.
TallpaulWith the buyer premium, the flown Apollo 17 patch sold for over $10,000. I believe this was only the second time a flown Apollo 17 patch has appeared at auction.

A few years ago, Larry McGlynn reported that there 457 patches in the OFK and that they were earmarked for VIP presentations not for crew souvenirs.

Chris Spain would know better than I but I believe this particular patch would rank as one of the rarest,if not the rarest flown patch from the MGA era. It certainly ranks right up there with the patch from GT-8.

randycI checked the list of sold lots and did not see the Apollo 17 EVA #3 Checklist on the list. I recall that the estimate was around $750,000, and I thought the final bid was close to the estimate, but it did not sell. If the final bid was $750,000 then the seller would net around $580,000, using a sellers fee of 22.5%.

If the owner wants to net over $700,000 the bid, not including the buyer's premium, would need to be around $900,000 (again using a seller fee of 22.5%). If they want to net $750,000 the bid would need to be almost $975,000!

SkyMan1958The estimate was $800,000+. The estimate does not include the commission. Unlike most other auction houses (for example, Heritage) for whatever reason, RR does not officially state what the reserve is on their lots. Oftentimes (but not always) the estimate is the reserve. From what I can remember, the final bid on the lot was ~ $600,000. So, you're looking at a discrepancy of $200,000.

Also, regarding sellers fees, a seller with a bigger ticket item (or a collection in total that is valuable), can generally negotiate a lower sellers fee.

hbw60
quote:
Originally posted by SkyMan1958:
RR does not officially state what the reserve is on their lots.
RR doesn't officially state reserve prices, but I've found that it can be extremely easy to guess. And that's because RR has a tendency to severely lowball the estimated prices.

Most autographed items have an estimate of "$200+". Armstrong signatures might be "$1,000+". Flown patches that routinely sell for $1,000 or more will often have an estimate of "$600+". Those Mercury shingles had an estimate of $50,000 each, and sold for almost quadruple that. I believe this is intended to leave the consignors more pleased with the final prices.

But sometimes, the estimate will be abnormally high. I spotted this three times in the last auction. The Apollo 17 cuff had an estimate of $800,000. The Apollo 1 signatures had an estimate of $3500. And the Jim Lovell signed plotboard had an estimate of $2500. All three of those items ended slightly beneath the estimate, and none of them sold. So I think the key is just to look at the trends, and watch for anomalies.

Of course, the major downside of this is that I don't think RR allows you to reach that price unless two bidders hit it. Suppose an item has a reserve price of $1000. I put down a maximum bid of $1500. But the second highest bid is only $700. In that case, the current price will go to something like $750, and it'll go unsold, even though I bid well above the reserve price. I wish their software was smart enough to bump you up. So if the item has a reserve price, the maximum bid is always counted as the current bid amount until it hits the cap.

Or even better, if an item has a reserve price, just make that the starting price. Then there's never any doubt.

MikeSpaceThe 30 minute rule seems a bit long, it should not take that long to decide whether you can/will bid again.
thisismillsI agree, even with people bidding on a list of multiple items, I think that a 10 or 15 minute rule would strike the perfect balance and cut the auction time in half.

Overall though, I do like this format as it allows you to bid on items when others have exceeded your budget, unlike a linear auction, where you would have already missed out.

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