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Forum: Auctions - Reviews & Results
Topic: [Heritage] Space Exploration (Oct 2008)

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Message to Edit: HTML is ON UBB Code is ON Smilies Legend	Originally posted by Robert Pearlman on 10-16-2008 01:29 PM Heritage Auction Galleries release: <BLOCKQUOTE><FONT SIZE="+0">[b]Moon Landing Flight Plans, Astronaut Artifacts Bring Record Prices at Heritage[/b]</FONT> [i]Record prices realized on rare Apollo Program space flown memorabilia Dallas Auction[/i] There's a famous saying among space buffs that if you took all personal items and mission-used materials that went with the Apollo astronauts to the moon and then came back to earth - excluding moon rocks - then the total contents would just about fill a large suitcase. Three times Heritage has been fortunate to visit that mythical Samsonite, and each time the lots, and the prices, continue to amaze collectors of Space and to set auction pricing records. On Oct. 7, at its downtown Dallas headquarters, Heritage held its Space Exploration Auction for a rapt in-person audience and an engaged buying public bidding over the phone and via Heritage Live!, the gallery's online, real time bidding service. When the rocket fuel had cleared the showroom and the Ethernet lines the total sales of the auction exceeded $826,000, a remarkable amount considering the finite amount of lots available and against the $713,000 pre-auction high total estimate. "Many of the consignments in this sale were received directly from the Apollo astronauts themselves," said Howard Weinberger, Senior Space Consultant for Heritage. "Demand for Apollo 8 and 13 memorabilia is very high, and the availability of it very low. Heritage feels extremely fortunate to not only be able to auction these items, but also to get them straight from the source." What really shone in the sale were items from the Apollo Space Program, in specific Apollo 8, 13, 14 and 17, which saw fierce bidding and unexpected prices. Just as human kind didn't know what to expect when it took those first steps into outer space, Heritage continues to help a rare and important market define itself with its Space Exploration auctions and the attendant prices. In many cases, excited bidders pushed the prices of space flown memorabilia to three and four times its pre-sale estimate. The prices realized not only help to establish the true market value of such important memorabilia, but also places Heritage squarely atop the space memorabilia market and shows the continuing strength of Heritage's collectibles business in the face of an uncertain world economic climate. Many items in the sale were as hot as they've been since their first re-entry into the earth's atmosphere, including the Apollo 17 Command Module Flown Flight Plans, Volumes I and II, which realized an astounding $35,850 against a pre-auction estimate of $7,500-$10,000. The Apollo 8 Flown Update Book, signed by Mission Command Module Pilot James Lovell, garnered another interstellar gavel price with a final bid of $33,460 against its pre-auction estimate of $7,500-$10,000. Another important piece of Apollo 17 memorabilia that created a significant buzz was the Lunar Module Flown Lunar Rover Malfunction Procedures Checklist Card, with smudges of lunar dust on it, and signed by Mission Commander Gene Cernan; it brought $28,860 against a pre-auction estimate of $7,500-$10,000. Of particular interest to space buffs were the very strong prices realized for signed photos by Neil Armstrong, the first human being to set foot on the moon. Two different photos, both signed, realized higher prices than have ever been recorded before for the famous space explorer's autograph. An Armstrong color spacesuit photo, inscribed, sold for $7,170 against and pre-auction estimate of $800-$1200, while another Armstrong color spacesuit photo, not inscribed, realized at $8,365 against a pre-auction estimate of $1800-$2500. Both prices are at-auction records for signed 8x10 Armstrong photos. All prices quoted include a 19.5% Buyer's Premium. Several items in the sale were sold to benefit the Astronaut Scholarship Foundation, and featured special dinners, trips and other family-focused activities with different American astronauts. The highlight of this special section of the sale was the Apollo 14 Lunar Module Flown Portable Utility Light as Presented by Mission Commander Alan Shepard to Support Crew Member William Pogue. This light was flown to the surface of the moon as part of the Apollo 14 Lunar Module Antares that spent more than 33 hours in the lunar highlands of Fra Mauro, on Feb. 5-6, 1971. It realized $20,315. Following on the success of this sale, and the increasing demand for such rarified material, Heritage is already moving its plans for its May Space Exploration Auction plans onto the launch pad. The auction, coming as it will in the year that marks the 40th anniversary of human kind's first step on the moon, is expected to garner just as much interest and as many record prices - if not more - than the previous three, and a tremendous amount of national and international interest.</BLOCKQUOTE>
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