SkyMan says, "There's Gold in them thar skies". (Caution many pix).

[SkyMan]

I just got back from Tucson where there was a fun 3 day space related convention called SpaceFest III. Here's a friend of mine from the show.

 

(It's a flown Russian suit).

 

Previous to this show, I had only heard/known about 1 flown US gold coin from the whole Mercury, Gemini, Apollo (MGA) era, a $2.50 Liberty that flew on Gemini 4. I own that coin. Recently Bob Campbell was kind enough to image it. Here are the pix. I think he did an EXCELLENT job.

 

 

 

There have been various gold medals etc. flown, but to the best of my knowledge the only MGA flown US COIN was the 1/4 Eagle. I've gotten well enough known to the auction houses as a (cough, cough) "authority" on flown US coinage that at least one house has taken my advice on certain matters. Anyhow, given that, I was told some "backstage" information at the recent convention, about the now Second Known MGA flown US gold coin.

 

It seems that one of the Wrigley heirs knew Neil Armstrong in some capacity. The heir got Armstrong to take a circulated double eagle (I don't yet know if it's a Liberty or a Saint) on Gemini 8 in 1966. This piece will theoretically be coming up for auction within the year. I was given some other information about it that I can't disclose. Needless to say, the double eagle is of interest to me... the largest US gold coin, flown, with Armstrong provenance.

 

For those of you that are just interested in coins, that's the end of this post, but for those of you that are interested in space memorabilia (SM) here's some other stuff.

 

There were 19 astronauts at the convention including 6 Moon walkers and another 5 guys who went to the Moon (out of 24 astronauts IN TOTAL who went to the Moon). In addition to the astronauts there were a wide variety of other vendors selling art, pictures, telescopes, meteorites, books etc. The major auction firms in the field (Heritage etc.) were there. Gary Lockwood and Keir Dullea, the main actors from, "2001 a Space Odyssey" were also there, as well as many writers and scientists who gave talks in an adjoining auditorium. The convention was put on by Novaspace: link

 

Just like a coin show, it was fun to get to meet other collecting junkies. I now know several people in the Bay Area that I'll be keeping in contact with. Of particular fun, since this was my second time to one of these things, was just sitting down and yacking with the astronauts, especially in the bar after the "official" show hours. I REALLY enjoyed talking about the pranks they played on each other.

 

During part of the convention, Heritage had, on-site, one of it's twice-yearly space memorabilia auctions. There were two items I was most interested in. The first was an Apollo 14 Robbins medal (roughly the size of a half dollar) that I got blown completely out of the water on (it should have gone for about $5,000 and it went for FAR more than that). The second item I bid on, and IMO the most interesting item of the sale, was the Grumman corp. handwritten manufacturing log from June 1968 - December 1968 of LM-5. You might know this spacecraft by another name... the Eagle, the Apollo 11 lunar module. I had the good luck to be able to read a good slug of the log and it was a fascinating, and obviously unique, historical document. Unfortunately I did not win it. I was the underbidder.

 

Given that the two items I was most interested in fell through, I bid on one further item in the auction. I had always wanted a complete set (e.g. US flag, NASA "meatball" patch, Mission patch, and name tag) of flown spacesuit worn patches for a given mission from the MGA era, however, these tend to go in the tens of thousands of dollars. For whatever reason, many people tend to think of SkyLab as an afterthought, even though it was the first true space station, and the astronauts flew from Earth to SkyLab in Apollo spacecraft. I was able to win a complete set of patches worn by Jack Lousma on SkyLab II. Granted, these are not spacesuit worn, but interior jumpsuit worn patches, but I was pleasantly surprised by what I ended up having to pay for them. FWIW the mission patch itself shows the three things that the mission was most interested in doing research on... sun experiments, earth experiments, and human biology experiments.

 

 

I talked to Jack Lousma the following day. He was a VERY gracious and pleasant person to talk with, and that was BEFORE I told him I was the winner of his patches. He was even more outgoing afterwards. In an interesting twist of fate, it turns out that after I had finished my Ph.D. he had worked with the Chair (head professor) of my Doctoral Committee on a variety of projects.

 

Having won the patches I decided WTF and decided to get him to sign a picture of himself in a spacesuit, and have him and Alan Bean (the mission commander, and also 4th Man on the Moon) sign a picture of the SkyLab. To my surprise Jack wrote a nice long inscription on his personal picture.

 

 

 

 

 

During the previous day I also had Alan Bean and Gordon (both crew members on Apollo 12) sign a large picture of the Apollo 12 landing site. When people become NASA astronauts they are given a small silver astronaut pin. When they complete their first flight they may buy a gold astronaut pin. Bean took his silver pin to the Moon and threw it into Surveyor crater. Gordon a couple of years ago sold his silver pin and I was lucky enough to win it. I decided that since Bean had tossed his on the Moon, and the two were linked as crew mates (and as VERY good friends), that it would be fun (and, the good Lord willing, eventually profitable) to frame Gordon's pin with a signed picture of the site with an inscription from Bean about where he threw his pin. You'll be able to see the inscription about the location of the pin to the left of the lunar module in the picture.

 

 

While obviously I'm into collecting space memorablia mainly because I LOVE it, I also believe that over the long term it will be a profitable investment. (However, I only spend disposable income on it... a lesson I learned the hard way via coin collecting). It's my opinion that buying items that, while cool in themselves, are not well displayed, and adding some visual highlights, make it a MUCH more valuable package. I've seen comparable items that have nice imagery and/or documentation sell for MUCH more than comparable stand alone items. I'll probably not only include Gordon's silver pin with the above picture, but an Apollo 12 envelope "cover" that contains a bit of Moon dust scraped from an Apollo 12 spacesuit, making a completely unique item that will be a joy to own and display (and, the good Lord willing, well down the line, a profitable item). Here's the cover:

 

 

In the same manner as the above for increasing the value of a SM item, one of the most important aspects of collecting space memorabilia is the provenance trail. In the last year I purchased a (lucite enclosed) metallic emblem produced by the Bendix corp. having to do with the deployment of the Apollo 14 ALSEP (Apollo Lunar Surface Experiments Package). It was flown to the lunar surface in the LM. It is signed on the side by Ed Mitchell, the Lunar Module Pilot of Apollo 14, and on the bottom has printed information by Bendix Corp. about it's history. Here's a view of it from the top:

 

 

Before the convention I went into NASA online archives (which are public domain) and copied a picture of Mitchell deploying the ALSEP. At the show I had Mitchell sign the picture. While signing the picture he inscribed, "The ALSEP at work". I then had a picture taken of him holding the cube with the picture in the foreground.

 

 

 

Again, it's just nice for MYSELF, to have these new pix to flesh out the lucite entombed ALSEP piece, and prove the absolute provenance of the piece, but it hopefully should also increase the value of the item when I eventually sell the item and pictures together.

 

Gene Cernan, commander of Apollo 17 and father of one child, a daughter, was kind enough to write a long inscription to me on his signed picture when he found out that I have a daughter working on a BS in Mechanical Engineering. He was thrilled about that. He told me the inscription was really for her and my other daughter if they keep the picture after I die. The essence of the inscription is that "Impossible Dreams" really do come true if you work at them. He was very proud of the inscription mentioning a couple of times that he had never written that before.

 

 

Two final things, first I had a LOT of fun with Gordon when he found out I had won his Apollo 12 flown Playmate picture (the first Playmate to the Moon). Let's just say, I can't mention what we talked about on these boards.

 

 

Second, I probably started out as a collector because my father was one. He collected maritime stuff and eventually founded the Philadelphia Maritime Museum (which has morphed into the Independence Seaport Museum). In our family we only halfway jokingly say that he either had to move his collection out of the house or move his family out of the house. He was always much more interested in the sailors than in the boats. He wrote a book published circa 2000 called, "Jack Tar: A Sailor's Life, 1750 - 1910". It was well enough received that if you've seen the movie, "Master and Commander", you'll see an acknowledgement in the credits at the end of the film. Basically the book allowed the prop and costume people to know what things looked like, and the writers how sailors acted/worked during the Napoleonic era.

 

Anyhow, I brought to the convention a lithograph called, "A Sailor's Progress", that was used in the book. The lithograph shows a sailor starting off as a landlubber, proceeding through a career of carousing and fighting, and eventually ending as a retired guy on land spinning tales. I figured the naval astronauts might be interested in it. They were, and Jim Lovell, the commander of Apollo 13, was the one that was the most interested in it. When he then found out that I was also the person who owned his matched pair of Annapolis/West Point cufflinks (the West Point cufflink was Ed White's) that he took with him on Apollo 8, the First trip to the Moon, after I had a picture taken with him, he had his assistant take a picture of us with his own camera to keep. I gotta' say, that was a nice feeling. Here's my somewhat out of focus picture. You can see the lithograph in the foreground.

 

[BKW]

AWESOME post SkyMan - fun and extremely informative! You have some great collectables there. Must have been cool meeting all the astronauts.

[robec1347]

Hey Sy, that's just like Forest Gump. Isn't CGI wonderful?

 

Actually that was an awesome opportunity you had to meet these National treasures. I'm sure the Space Wing of your museum has a prominent spot to display these memorable souvenirs.

[nunfa0]

Awesome post!! There will be people falling over each other to get their hands on your collection when you are finished with it.

[Bruceswar]

Great post. I love reading these things!

[bsshog40]

Great post Sy. I would have to think that with all the memorabilia that you have, you would have to have a spare room for it.

[cpm9ball]

Thanks for posting this, Sy. I always look for to your "space missions".

 

By the way, I caught a segment of "Pawn Stars" last night, and a man sold a photo signed by a whole slew of astronauts from the Gemini and (future) Apollo missions. The only names that were mentioned that I can remember were Armstrong, Grissom & White.

 

Chris

[Old Pueblo]

I live in Tucson and heard nothing about this event.

I would have to say the event was poorly marketed to the locals. Wish I could have been there.

 

Get pictures and information.

 

 

 

 

OP

[Broc Mitchell]

This was a great read! I wish you luck with your endeavor to acquire the double eagle!

 

Now to find Bean's silver pin, with moon dust already on it

[Buffalo Head]

WOW!! Very cool to say the least. I like that gold piece even if it didn't go into outter space. I know you have a great collection, Sky, congrats on the new pick-up and what a great post....Joe

[SkyMan]

Thanks eveyone! I'm glad that you find this stuff interesting/fun too!

 

OP I wish that I knew that you lived in Tucson. We could have gotten together. As to finding more info, try the Novaspace link above. They are actually located in Tucson.

 

WOW!! Very cool to say the least. I like that gold piece even if it didn't go into outter space. I know you have a great collection, Sky, congrats on the new pick-up and what a great post....Joe

 

Joe, the piece pictured above DID go into space on Gemini 4. The Armstrong piece flew on Gemini 8.

[kryptonitecomics]

Always entertaining posts Rocketman....errr I mean Skyman

[Coindude]

Great post, I rarely read long posts beginning to end, with the exception of Charmy's show reports, but yours was very informative and interesting. You have great dedication to your hobbies!

[Hard Times]

Nice post Sky, lovely quarter eagle, I envy any photo Bob takes! Is there a reason for the piece they took up being 1903 or was this random selection?

 

Best, HT

[SkyMan]

Nice post Sky, lovely quarter eagle, I envy any photo Bob takes! Is there a reason for the piece they took up being 1903 or was this random selection?

 

Best, HT

 

The piece is actually a 1902, so I would say it was random selection. If it was 1903 then I would say there was a reason in that that was the year the Wright brothers first flew.

[fishfinder]

Thanks for the post Sy, I sure enjoyed reading it. Good luck with that Double Eagle.

[tenacious]

You've got a cool collecting niche SkyMan. I enjoy your posts.

 

I'm 52. In elementary school, in the 1960's, whenever there was a launch all of the students would bring their chairs to the cafeteria. And we would watch the launch on the only TV (black and white) in the school.

 

It was a very big deal and very exciting.

 

That excitement seems to have gone. Now, some people don't even know there's a space station.