posted 12-14-2018 07:47 PM               

The 28th Lunar Legacies Space Memorabilia Auction is tentatively scheduled for Saturday, Feb. 2, 2019 and many of the auction lots (for preview purposes only) are now beginning to appear here.

If you would like to consign to this auction, please email. The deadline for consignments is Jan. 18, 2019.

This auction will feature more than 100 items from Col. Jerry Ross' collection, covering all seven of his space shuttle missions.

posted 01-17-2019 03:25 PM               

Looks like there will be about 700 lots and about 10% are being previewed on my website at lunarlegacies.com, with more to preview in the coming days.

Drop dead date for consignments will be about January 17, so please contact me if you are interested at lunarlegacies@gmail.com.

Included in this auction are:

• Many items from the Jerry Ross collection (all 7 missions)
  
• Many items from the Shannon Lucid collection (all 6 missions + Mir)
  
• Apollo 11 signed letter and photo
  
• Lunar Module TV Camera parts and documents
  
• Lots of nice numbered glossy photos and rare patches

posted 01-22-2019 08:30 AM               

The uploading of the Lunar Legacies 28 auction to Invaluable and Auction Zip has been completed, and it is ready for viewing and pre-bidding for the live auction on Saturday, Feb. 2, 2019 at 9 a.m. Pacific Time.

As usual, lots of descriptions to do, but all should be completed by next week, but the photos and bidding numbers are correct and you may pre-bid now if you so choose once you are registered. A few photos are left to be done once the consignor boxes arrive in a day or two.

Some of the highlights:

• Great items from Jerry Ross and Shannon Lucid.
  
• Items from the great collection of Lunar TV Camera developer Stanley Lebar which include: (also, see his bio below):
  • Lot 284: Apollo 12 Flown to Lunar Surface Lunar TV Camera Handle / Adapter
    
  • Lot 301: Flown to Moon 4 Times TV Monitor, Apollo 13, 14, 15 and 16
    
  • Lot 320: Apollo 14 Flown to Lunar Surface TV Camera Power Cord
    
  • Lot 249-250: Apollo 11 Crew-Signed Items

Stanley Lebar, was the program manager at Westinghouse and developed the TV cameras for the Apollo, Apollo Soyuz and Skylab missions. His cameras were on Apollo 9 through 13 including the black and white camera that transmitted Neil Armstrong's first steps on the Moon. They were the first with live B&W TV and Color TV on the Moon. He died 9 years ago. His son has had his materials from the 1960s and 70s since then.

In 1964 he was tasked with taking a 700 lb studio camera and shrinking it to 7 lb and operating the the energy, as he described, necessary to power one Christmas light bulb. To do so they had to create the electronics to go from tube TV to solid state electronics. From that has sprung the modern age of digital electronics.

posted 01-24-2019 11:16 AM               

Circumstantial evidence can be very powerful, and it can also be used as proof. The case for the monitor and the other items in Lebar's collection I think are supported by compelling circumstantial evidence.

The vast majority of early space workers, from my 25 years of experience in seeing collections, primarily kept things only from their areas of expertise. A tracking network guy has mostly tracking network stuff, a LM guy has mostly Grumman stuff, etc. In this case, 95% of Mr. Lebar's collection is camera related things, as you would expect from someone whose only thoughts were of keeping things as souvenirs from his contributions to the space program. There were no notions of current or future value, so therefore, no thoughts of scrabbling for documentation. No documentation was necessary from his thinking - he knew what he knew - and I've seen that repeated hundreds of times in 25 years. If thoughts of future value were common, massive collections from rank and file space workers would be the norm, and not the rare exception.

As for the TV Monitor, first, the part number on the TV monitor is exactly the one listed in the CM Stowage Lists for Apollo 13, 14, 15 and 17. No serial number is given for this part or most any other part on the lists.

Second, this monitor was a luxury or convenience item - the TV camera could be operated fine without it. It was not mission critical, so therefore it did not have to be urgently replaced before every new mission due to possible fatigue or wear. There is no logical reason why it wouldn't have flown multiple times, especially since this particular one had proven itself to work well (and it still works!).

Third, I would have expected a monitor that came on the market to more than likely come from Apollo 17, the last moon mission, after which these monitors would no longer needed. Awhile before Apollo 17, it was not known whether more missions would come afterwards, and thus the monitors needed again. It makes sense that this one flew on Apollo 17, the last moon mission.

Fourth, there is Velcro on three sides of the monitor, which does not mean it was flown, but if there was no Velcro or any sign of Velcro, that would raise a red flag.

Fifth, if anyone were to have obtained, or been presented this monitor after the Apollo 17 mission, if would have been Mr. Lebar, the Program Manager of the Apollo TV Camera development. Maybe, just maybe, the monitor was given to Mr. Lebar by Westinghouse because he built the thing.

Over many years there have been dozens of flown items I have rejected for the auction because of lack of clear evidence. I don't do "loose" or "speculative." On the monitor, all the circumstances and evidence line up perfectly and just make sense.

posted 01-24-2019 04:24 PM               

In addition previous possession of items by an individual associated with the program does not provide meaningful coorelation of flown status (i.e. it is a data point that neither detracts from or supports an argument that an article has been actually flown). Is it also your contention Westinghouse produced only a single copy of this monitor (i.e. there were no others developed for RDT&E, training and spares)?

As noted many times in these forums ASLs (which list only drawing numbers) are non-authoritative for determining flown status.

posted 01-31-2019 01:19 PM               

Single copy of this monitor? Have you even read the description?

Training? There is no Velcro on the bottom of the monitor for it to be set on top of something as you would expect for training. The monitor weighs close to 7 pounds, and I can’t image one strip of Velcro on its side or top holding that much weight against a bulkhead for long in Earth’s gravity, especially when you consider it could easily be yanked on by its power cord to the camera while filming. The simple answer is that this particular monitor really looks like it was intended for zero gravity only - more circumstantial evidence, thanks!

I will not add the extra picture you request for the handle, for the same reason you don’t mention it by name, but I will think about sending it to Robert if he requests me to, and the consignor agrees. It is not in my possession.

posted 01-31-2019 01:27 PM               

• 77A - Mercury Program MA-6 Post-Retrieval Manual
  
• 138A - Rare Apollo 1 S/C 012 Operating Logic Schematics Manual
  
• 144A - Three Sections of Flown Apollo 7 Fragments in Lucite
  
• 291A - Apollo 13 Flown Lunar Map Segment on Certificate
  
• 603A - Shannon Lucid's Cosmonaut-Given Flight Suit