posted 06-26-2011 01:51 PM
Jason - I vaguely remember hearing about a couple of sales around the mid 1980s when I first began thinking of putting together a space sale. I think they were done in Alabama (probably Huntsville) but I don't remember the details. They were probably estate sales given the Redstone Arsenal being there. My January 1991 Superior sale was the first of the regularly scheduled space auctions, although I included space memorabilia on a "test the waters" basis for a few years or so prior to that. As Superior "forerunner" sales I have in my library the catalogs for March 28-9, 1980 (lots 686-703), November 9-10, 1981 (lots 384-398), November 18-19, 1991 (lots 1-135). These were all stamp sales with space included. These sales proved to me that a stand-alone space auction was financially viable. These combo stamp/space sales are probably overlooked by space collectors today, but should definitely be included in the genre of Superior's sales.
There was also a "Boys Town" (?) sale in a small green half-size catalog in the late 1980s, but I don't have a copy of it in my files. Alan Lipkin at Regency-Superior might have a copy of that one. It was mainly a coin sale to the benefit of Boy's Town with the small catalog done separately with stamps and some space.
My sale copies are all hardbound in two volumes with prices realized. When I began running Superior, I decided to have one set of Superior stamp sales (starting with the first in about 1970) and one set of Space sales bound for the record. These are, to my knowledge, the only complete sets of Superior auction catalogs in existence.
I couldn't have the half-size stamp/space catalog bound into the bindings according to the printer at the time, so that catalog has slipped by. I expect that Regency-Superior in St. Louis has the Stamp catalog set as I didn't take that with me when I retired from Superior in 2001.
Let me know if I can answer any further questions.
posted 06-23-2011 09:17 AM
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