Heritage Auctions‘ seventeenth consecutive semi-annual space event – Space Exploration Auction is open for bidding on their website. More than 200 lots including the finest in flown, astronaut-owned, autographed, and historical material will be offered for sale on November 6, 2015, in Dallas. Many Space collectors tend to specialize a bit in their collecting whether by mission, program, or category. Let’s take a quick survey of several of these specialties and what “goodies” can be yours!
Space Exploration Auction
Apollo 13: An extremely popular mission. Many of us well remember the drama of this flight forty-five years ago; younger people learned of it from the excellent 1995 Apollo 13 movie starring Tom Hanks as James Lovell. This auction haseleven lots containing items flown on this mission; seven of them are directly from Mission Commander Lovell’s personal collection! Two highlights are the Nametag and NASA Logo removed from his personal backpack and the”Landing” Checklist Cue Card. These are museum-quality pieces of history, but they could end up in your private collection.
Space Exploration Auction
Robbins and Fliteline Medallions: Always a hit with space and coin collectors alike, this auction has a particularly fine selection, all with provenance from the original astronaut owners. The highlights are the two rarest of the Apollo flown medals: a “Treasure Silver” Apollo 12 medal (1 of 82 minted) from Alan Bean and an Apollo 17 medal (1 of 80) from Gene Cernan. Also on offer are five different Fliteline flown medals, all in the gold coloration and all from the Jerry Carr family collection:Gemini 7, Gemini 9, Gemini 10, Gemini 11, and Gemini 12.
Space Exploration Auction
Apollo Insurance Covers: Another great area of specialization: an Apollo 11 Type One cover originally from Michael Collins’ collection, a rare Apollo 12 Type Three cover from Alan Bean’s collection, and an Apollo 17 pre-flight crew-signed example from the sister of Ron Evans.
Space-Flown Relics: Along with the flown pieces mentioned above, there are a number of very rare items for your bidding pleasure. To mention just a few here: aGemini 3 Flown 4096 Bit Memory Plane (the first mission to have an onboard computer); James Lovell’s Apollo 8 Flown Life Vest on a plaque from the backup crew (great story behind this one); Rusty Schweickart’s Apollo 9 Flown Scissors, Lanyard, Snap, and A7L Pouch; an Apollo 14 LM Flown Lunar Bible presented by Edgar Mitchell to Bob Hope; John Young’s Apollo 16 Flown Flashlight; and Jack Lousma’s Flown Entry Pocket Checklist Book from STS-3.
Space Exploration Auction
Autographs: This auction is rich with more than 200 lots of autographed material. For those who enjoy displaying autographs on your walls, there are some absolutely stunning large signed images here. To name just a few lots: a large (14″ x 10.25″) color litho print signed by all three Apollo 1 crewmembers; a verynicely-matched set of Apollo 11 signed white spacesuit color photos; and alarge (20″ x 16″) Apollo 17 lunar surface photo signed extensively by Gene Cernan with provenance photos of him signing it.
Space Exploration Auction
