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Author
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Topic: 110521392802: Key for launch "Vostok-1"
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GACspaceguy
Member Posts: 2475
From: Guyton, GA
Registered: Jan 2006
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posted 04-18-2010 07:01 PM
   
Can anyone verify if this is real? Starting price $235,000.00 |
liftoff1
Member Posts: 235
From: Cumberland, Wisconsin
Registered: Aug 2001
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posted 04-18-2010 07:26 PM
I believe that was just featured on the show "Pawn Stars" a couple of weeks ago. Their call-in "expert" verified it as authentic. The seller had originally thought it was key for launching nukes. |
Robert Pearlman
Editor Posts: 42988
From: Houston, TX
Registered: Nov 1999
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posted 04-18-2010 07:34 PM
When I visited Baikonur in 2002, the museum there displayed what they said on the tour was the Vostok 1 key (see photograph below). Extraordinary claims require extraordinary evidence, so caveat emptor. quote:
Originally posted by liftoff1:
I believe that was just featured on the show "Pawn Stars" a couple of weeks ago.
Indeed, two similar style keys recently appeared on an episode of The History Channel's "Pawn Stars." They were initially misidentified by their owner as Soviet ICBM launch keys, then correctly described as Russian spacecraft launch keys by the curator from the Atomic Testing Museum in Las Vegas. His appraisal was much higher than I would have advised. His was in the thousands; I would have estimated a few hundred dollars at most, unless a specific mission could be documented, and then only more if the mission was particularly of high profile. I know for a fact that commemorative/souvenir edition keys were produced, as well as modern replicas, so the proof would need to be in the provenance.  |
ColinBurgess
Member Posts: 2031
From: Sydney, Australia
Registered: Sep 2003
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posted 04-18-2010 07:36 PM
That's a lot of money for an object with such a dubious provenance and virtually no verifiable information. Even the listed website only identifies it as a key from Baikonur. If it could be proved genuine beyond any doubt then it would be very valuable indeed, but until then a quarter million is a little rich for a hunk of metal. |
MadSci
Member Posts: 226
From: Maryland, USA
Registered: Oct 2008
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posted 04-19-2010 02:04 AM
A friend of mine returned recently from a 3 month stint in Baikonur with many photos form the museum there - including the launch key for Vostok 1. He brought me back several lovely souvenirs, but try as he might, they wouldn't part with the launch key.This claim is bogus. Several Soviet launch keys with good provenance have surfaced recently at a number of space auctions. As mentioned above, there are also commemorative ones in circulation. This one reminds me of the various attempts to sell 'lunar soil' from Luna 24. The price was also around $240,000. I think someone must owe this amount to the Russian Mafia and is looking for a way out of the bind!  |
Robert Pearlman
Editor Posts: 42988
From: Houston, TX
Registered: Nov 1999
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posted 04-19-2010 02:29 AM
quote:
Originally posted by MadSci:
This one reminds me of the various attempts to sell 'lunar soil' from Luna 24. The price was also around $240,000.
There have been authentic sales though, of Luna 24 returned lunar soil. Sotheby's in 1993 auctioned less than a gram for $442,500. |
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