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  Rarity of Boeing lunar rover (LRV) manuals?

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Author Topic:   Rarity of Boeing lunar rover (LRV) manuals?
DebKoons
Member

Posts: 21
From: El Dorado, KS
Registered: Feb 2014

posted 07-30-2014 04:41 AM     Click Here to See the Profile for DebKoons     Edit/Delete Message   Reply w/Quote
I have several Boeing Lunar Roving Vehicle (LRV) manuals/documents, some up to 5" thick — and I can't find anything similar that's been put online. I've been tasked with selling these (my mother inherited them from her brother, who worked at NASA) and I can't figure out whether to try eBay (and at what starting bid) or an auction house that has periodic space-related auctions. Has anyone seen manuals in this series?

An album with some pics of one of the large ones is here. Titles of some of the smaller documents are:

  1. Lunar Roving Vehicle - Data Management Program Plan
  2. Lunar Roving Vehicle Project Configuration Management Plan
  3. Lunar Roving Vehicle Reliability Program Plan
Any info and suggestions appreciated! — Deb

schnappsicle
Member

Posts: 396
From: Houston, TX, USA
Registered: Jan 2012

posted 07-30-2014 05:19 AM     Click Here to See the Profile for schnappsicle   Click Here to Email schnappsicle     Edit/Delete Message   Reply w/Quote
In a way, I am your problem. If they were something I could read and understand, I'd gladly offer you something for them. Being so technical, they'll definitely go way over my head. While they are valuable, they'll probably only have value to someone with enough savvy (i.e. another cS member) to understand them.

You might try to contact someone like Steve Hankow at Farthest Reaches who sells stuff like that all the time. He could sell them for you, or even give you a much better idea of the value of your manuals.

Rick Mulheirn
Member

Posts: 4167
From: England
Registered: Feb 2001

posted 07-30-2014 11:36 AM     Click Here to See the Profile for Rick Mulheirn   Click Here to Email Rick Mulheirn     Edit/Delete Message   Reply w/Quote
Scott Schneeweis and John Fongheiser, both cS members might be interested.... if they have not already been in contact. They are both hardcore hardware guys.

DebKoons
Member

Posts: 21
From: El Dorado, KS
Registered: Feb 2014

posted 07-30-2014 02:47 PM     Click Here to See the Profile for DebKoons     Edit/Delete Message   Reply w/Quote
Thanks, schnappsicle and Rick, for your thoughts. I hadn't really thought about someone wanting them to necessarily understand them ;) -- but mostly for just the fact of having something rare, if indeed these are. It may be that several people have them, but no one has taken on what would be an extremely time-consuming task of scanning them for online PDFs. But I would have thought I'd at least have seen a mention of the titles somewhere. Google didn't turn up anything, though.

There are a couple that are program type - so not technical per se; and others are multi-page documents having to do with configuration, reliability program plan, etc. So maybe those are more "history of the LRV program" related. I also have a folder containing the LRV Request For Proposal; and another folder with the LRV Requirements and two Statement of Work manuals from MSFC.

I'm actually looking for guidance about whether to just slap them up on eBay, where I've been selling other NASA items/manuals from this collection (lots to go), and I do have "regular buyers/followers" at this time including those interested in LRV items ... or whether the Heritage space auction coming up is a better forum for any of them, and I do have a contact for that if it's considered the better venue. Either way, not sure about rough value as a guideline for a minimum or starting value.

As such, and since I'm selling these for my mother plus I have others who are interested, I feel that at least to start with, an auction of some type is the place to start. I've been surprised several times with the bids for items for which I couldn't find comparable sales, and I wouldn't have known to agree on a price in that range in a private sale arrangement.

So hopefully Scott and John will have some input as well. I have other hardware & LRV books to still list, along with maps, photos, transcripts, memos, some sort of workbook for I think A15, and an A11 flight plan. Right now I have some ALSEP & science manuals, contractor books, and the Apollo 17 Final Flight Mission Rules up. Some have notes made by my uncle, who was a geologist, a "science" flight controller during Apollo, and an engineer on LRV.

Since there may be hardware people reading this, I'm also debating whether to list on eBay two Apollo Operations Handbook / Lunar Module manuals, Vol. I and II, for Apollo 11 (LM-5). I have seen a huge spread of realized prices in auction results - not sure what accounts for that. Any ideas appreciated.

chet
Member

Posts: 1506
From: Beverly Hills, Calif.
Registered: Nov 2000

posted 07-30-2014 04:31 PM     Click Here to See the Profile for chet   Click Here to Email chet     Edit/Delete Message   Reply w/Quote
What is your eBay seller ID?

DebKoons
Member

Posts: 21
From: El Dorado, KS
Registered: Feb 2014

posted 07-30-2014 09:37 PM     Click Here to See the Profile for DebKoons     Edit/Delete Message   Reply w/Quote
Chet, I have items on mine — debswhimsy — and here's the item number for one of the listings: 281398881440.

There are more on my mother's account, where I'm going to start listing more (I decided to begin switching to hers, which I originally set up for her to sell vintage postcards, thus the name) — postcardoverload — and one item number: 321477413070.

Everything except the Apollo 17 Mission Rules is a re-list; have been battling a shoulder injury for 3+ weeks, so just now taking photos and getting some new items ready to start on Sunday. Working on the photos for the Apollo 17 book tonight to add to that listing.

I will have more questions for the experts here, such as a series of photos of hypergolic fuel testing that I can't find anything comparable to, so I'm not sure how to handle those either...

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