posted 06-19-2023 09:47 PM               

Some of it includes: Apollo 16 surface flown USA flag signed and authenticated by Charlie Duke, Apollo 9 flown Texas flag from the McDivitt collection, STS-2 through 4 flown USA flags, Armstrong signed photo from one of the few signings he did, full set of KNIGA Vostok covers, Apollo 11 crew signed faded photo, just to name a few.

Why am I here saying this? Because I need to know if any of you have done a mass sale of items like this, and if so, did you go through an auction house?

posted 06-20-2023 02:29 AM               

Downsides - I only hit cS members and some spacesuit collectors that I already knew. It was a time-consuming job for a few weeks while I was photographing, digging out research about the background/use of hardware, and writing descriptions. Once that stage was done it dropped to an hour or two of reading emails, working out the top bids and then writing the update each night.

Upsides - I saved 20+% commission and the buyers were able to bid without allowing for the extra 20 to 30% commission that they would be charged; this may likely have increased the amounts bid. I had a LOT of fun doing it, and I think many of the buyers did too, though necessarily some were dissappointed not to win items.

I've since sold some items through one of the big prestige auction houses that sporadically carry space sales. The amount of research and prep I had to do was identical, the prices were not transformatively different; however once I'd shipped the items off my workload was approaching zero, and I was offered a good deal on commission.