Posts: 547
From: Fort Worth, TX, USA
Registered: Feb 2005

posted 04-28-2006 04:24 PM               

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I've gotten a number of emails from folks wondering what the heck was so special about Lot 1254. Nothing, unless you were a crazed patch collector! There were six (6!)original Gemini mission patches in that lot. A full list of the lot is listed below. Our friend Bill Hunt won the lot and I was the "other" bidder. I am certainly sorry to have run the price up for Bill, but it was an auction and I wanted those patches too! I quit when they reached twice what I wanted to pay for them. Regency was lucky to have two crazies bidding on the same lot. Every auctioneers dream. I wish that lot hadn't been the last patch lot in the auction because I was saving my money for that lot. You can read in another thread how happy Bill was to get them. Can't blame him a bit.

Includes
1. Gemini 3 Grissom Young (Molly Brown)
2. Gemini 7 Borman Lovell
3. Gemini 9 Stafford Cernan
4. Gemini 10 (Young and Collins) Red X
5. Gemini 11 Conrad Gordon
6. Gemini 12 Lovell Aldrin
7. Apollo 7
8. Apollo 8
9. Apollo 9
10. Apollo 12
11. Apollo 16
12. Apollo 14
13. Apollo 11
14. Apollo 13
15. Apollo 17
16. Apollo 10
17. Apollo ASTP
18. Skylab 1
19. Skylab 2
20. STS-3
21. STS-4
22. STS-106 or 108

Posts: 399
From: Irvine, CA
Registered: Oct 2002

posted 04-28-2006 11:07 PM               

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Six original flight-issue Gemini patches (not the common AB Emblems souvenir variety), along with an original Apollo 11 bio-isolation patch and a vintage crew-issue Apollo 9 patch as well. The rest are all vintage AB or Lion Bros patches. Everything was in pristine condition, and all the patches cloth-backed as opposed to waxed. Each is a perfect example of the patch design in question.

All in all, a VERY nice lot. I'll try to post pictures of the Gemini emblems this weekend.

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Bill Hunt

Posts: 3811
From: Midwest, USA
Registered: Jul 2005

Posts: 399
From: Irvine, CA
Registered: Oct 2002

posted 04-29-2006 03:59 AM               

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I think it's hard to say which is more "original". The patch that flew with the crew on their suits didn't have the crew names or the words "Gemini Seven". However, the version with the names matches the artwork that hung in Mission Control. It's also the one that was most commonly worn on the crew's flight suits and jackets post mission. And to my knowledge, it was made at the time of the flight.

Similarly, the Gemini 9 patch that flew on the crew's spacesuits is different than the one worn on the crew jackets later (which had the crew's names on a tab), but it seems only in so much as the tab was cut off for the flight. Otherwise, it's basically the same patch. So which is more "authentic" or original. Very hard to say.

If you go strictly by which was worn on the spacesuits, it'd be the versions without the crew names. However, it's possible that in both cases, both versions of the patches flew on the flights.

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Bill Hunt