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  FS: Apollo 8 Earthrise red number photo

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Author Topic:   FS: Apollo 8 Earthrise red number photo
Pad39A
Member

Posts: 41
From: Little Rock, AR, USA
Registered: Nov 1999

posted 05-22-2017 03:16 PM     Click Here to See the Profile for Pad39A   Click Here to Email Pad39A     Edit/Delete Message   Reply w/Quote
The May 19, 2017 Heritage Space Auction just sold an Apollo 8 "Earthrise" original NASA "red number" color photo, AS8-14-2383 for $10,625, which included a 25% buyer's premium. I have an identical photo, same red number on the correct vintage chromogenic 10x8" Kodak fiber-based paper bearing the "A Kodak Paper" watermark on the verso. I am offering it to anyone for the no-buyer's premium-price of $7900.

The auction catalog reads:

This is one of the most iconic images of the entire twentieth century, taken from lunar orbit in December 1968 of the Earth as it rises over the horizon. These originals are rarely offered and this one is beautiful with a couple of minor dents seen only under raking light, pristine otherwise. A rare opportunity.
I would not call my copy "pristine," but excellent condition. Please contact me if if you have an interest.

Chuckster01
Member

Posts: 873
From: Orlando, FL
Registered: Jan 2014

posted 05-22-2017 05:02 PM     Click Here to See the Profile for Chuckster01   Click Here to Email Chuckster01     Edit/Delete Message   Reply w/Quote
Just insane...

jtheoret
Member

Posts: 344
From: Albuquerque, NM USA
Registered: Jul 2003

posted 05-23-2017 01:05 AM     Click Here to See the Profile for jtheoret   Click Here to Email jtheoret     Edit/Delete Message   Reply w/Quote
Couldn't agree more — but I never got the prices paid for red numbered photos anyway. To each his own I suppose, but that such photos often sell for more than flown items is truly insane to me. Could have bought four or five flown flags for the price of that photo.

rgarner
Member

Posts: 1193
From: Shepperton, United Kingdom
Registered: Mar 2012

posted 05-23-2017 02:07 AM     Click Here to See the Profile for rgarner   Click Here to Email rgarner     Edit/Delete Message   Reply w/Quote
I know a few collectors of red numbers and they're all incredibly enthusiastic. I can see why, especially with this piece.

Photography allows the capture of a moment in history that will never come again, and the moment in this picture is one of the most beautiful and important in human history, so it is no wonder there are those who will pay big money for an original. Why buy a print when you can buy an original?

But at this price? I don't know anyone who would pay event a tenth of that.

neo1022
Member

Posts: 281
From: Santa Monica, CA
Registered: Jun 2013

posted 05-23-2017 02:56 AM     Click Here to See the Profile for neo1022   Click Here to Email neo1022     Edit/Delete Message   Reply w/Quote
Time to sell all those red numbered photos dad brought him from work, I guess... Too bad I used a three-hole-punch on all of them when I was a kid!

spaced out
Member

Posts: 3110
From: Paris, France
Registered: Aug 2003

posted 05-23-2017 03:39 AM     Click Here to See the Profile for spaced out   Click Here to Email spaced out     Edit/Delete Message   Reply w/Quote
quote:
Originally posted by rgarner:
But at this price? I don't know anyone who would pay event a tenth of that.

Actually a pristine copy could approach $790 on eBay. $500+ is certainly possible.

And neo1022 - punched holes, particularly if they go into the printed image, are a real problem. That said, if you have an original Apollo 8 earthrise or Apollo 11 'visor' shot in there they're probably still worth three figures.

Panther494
Member

Posts: 402
From: London UK
Registered: Jan 2013

posted 05-23-2017 07:35 AM     Click Here to See the Profile for Panther494   Click Here to Email Panther494     Edit/Delete Message   Reply w/Quote
quote:
Originally posted by rgarner:
Why buy a print when you can buy an original?
An original one of many hundreds printed at the time. A fantastic image, a crazy price.

Mike Dixon
Member

Posts: 1397
From: Kew, Victoria, Australia
Registered: May 2003

posted 05-23-2017 07:56 AM     Click Here to See the Profile for Mike Dixon   Click Here to Email Mike Dixon     Edit/Delete Message   Reply w/Quote
To each their own I guess, but those dollars in an investment easily obtained elsewhere? No.

rgarner
Member

Posts: 1193
From: Shepperton, United Kingdom
Registered: Mar 2012

posted 05-23-2017 08:20 AM     Click Here to See the Profile for rgarner   Click Here to Email rgarner     Edit/Delete Message   Reply w/Quote
I suppose some people just see it as a hobby or fascination as opposed to an investment. Personally my collection is a combination of both. I have bought pieces which I will not make money on (I doubt I would lose money though), while others I know will appreciate in value.

Each to their own indeed.

Joel Katzowitz
Member

Posts: 808
From: Marietta GA USA
Registered: Dec 1999

posted 05-23-2017 09:15 AM     Click Here to See the Profile for Joel Katzowitz   Click Here to Email Joel Katzowitz     Edit/Delete Message   Reply w/Quote
quote:
Originally posted by rgarner:
Why buy a print when you can buy an original?
I certainly agree that the image is amazing but the image isn't any more "original" than any other printed image made from the negative. The negative (or positive) used to capture the image is an original but any print made from that negative is, well, just a print.

Robert Pearlman
Editor

Posts: 42988
From: Houston, TX
Registered: Nov 1999

posted 05-23-2017 09:26 AM     Click Here to See the Profile for Robert Pearlman   Click Here to Email Robert Pearlman     Edit/Delete Message   Reply w/Quote
And it is good to keep in mind that no prints were ever made from the flown film. All prints are at best second generation, having been made from a duplicate of the original negatives/positives (and I believe, but I am not positive, that the red number glossies are actually third generation prints).

spaced out
Member

Posts: 3110
From: Paris, France
Registered: Aug 2003

posted 05-23-2017 09:44 AM     Click Here to See the Profile for spaced out   Click Here to Email spaced out     Edit/Delete Message   Reply w/Quote
When you get this kind of anomalous auction result my assumption is always that the buyer has completely misunderstood the nature of the item. In this case they probably thought that this was 'the' Earthrise photo (a unique original in some way). Maybe they even imagined that the crew came back from the mission with a stack of prints, one of each image.

The same thing can happen with large flown flags, where the bidder has a vague idea of having seen a flag flying on the moon and thinks that the flag in the auction must be the one that was flying on the moon.

Chuckster01
Member

Posts: 873
From: Orlando, FL
Registered: Jan 2014

posted 05-23-2017 03:18 PM     Click Here to See the Profile for Chuckster01   Click Here to Email Chuckster01     Edit/Delete Message   Reply w/Quote
When you speak of "the buyer," please remember that for a price to reach such a level there were "bidders."

Mike_The_First
Member

Posts: 436
From: USA
Registered: Jun 2014

posted 05-23-2017 08:16 PM     Click Here to See the Profile for Mike_The_First   Click Here to Email Mike_The_First     Edit/Delete Message   Reply w/Quote
quote:
Originally posted by spaced out:
When you get this kind of anomalous auction result my assumption is always that the buyer has completely misunderstood the nature of the item.
Honestly, I wish auction houses (and sellers in general) would scrap words like "rare," "original" and "beautiful" and put the items in context. In the description above, they managed to shoehorn some variation of "rare" in twice... in only three sentences. At a certain point, not quantifying wording like that reads less like hype and more like an attempt to take advantage of less educated bidders with deep pockets.

Sellers on eBay are even worse with that kind of thing.

Philip
Member

Posts: 5952
From: Brussels, Belgium
Registered: Jan 2001

posted 05-24-2017 03:35 AM     Click Here to See the Profile for Philip   Click Here to Email Philip     Edit/Delete Message   Reply w/Quote
LOL for a $ 5.00 KODAK photo

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