Neil Armstrong memorabilia fetches $7.5 million at auction

[Omaha Steve]

Source: ABC-AP

Memorabilia that belonged to the first man to set foot on the moon, Neil Armstrong, has fetched more than $7.4 million at auction.

Dallas-based Heritage Auctions says the item that sold for the highest price, $468,500, at Saturday's auction was Armstrong's spacecraft ID plate from Apollo 11's lunar module Eagle. Also sold were a fragment from the propeller and a section of the wing from the Wright brothers' Flyer, the first heavier-than-air self-powered aircraft, which each sold for $275,000.

The flight suit Armstrong wore aboard Gemini 8, the 1966 mission that performed the first docking of two spacecraft in flight, brought the astronaut's family $109,375.

Meanwhile, in a separate auction, a gold-colored Navy aviator's helmet once owned by John Glenn, the first American to orbit the earth, sold for $46,250.


This undated photo provided by Heritage Auctions shows a helmet worn by John Glenn during the history-making flight, dubbed Project Bullet, in which the future astronaut set the transcontinental speed record in 1957. Artifacts owned by the late Neil Armstrong will be offered for sale by Dallas-based Heritage Auctions starting Thursday, Nov. 1, 2018, including pieces of a wing and propeller from the 1903 Wright Flyer the astronaut took with him to the moon in 1969. (Courtesy of Heritage Auctions via AP)

Read more: https://abcnews.go.com/US/wireStory/neil-armstrong-memorabilia-fetches-75-million-auction-58958669

[YOHABLO]

1. Where does the money go, other than Heritage Auctions?

[eggplant]

3. I believe it was auctioned off by his family, so it goes to them.

[appalachiablue]

2. Very impressive items, TY.

[DFW]

4. I know the people at Heritage Auctions very well. Definitely NOT Sotheby's or Christie's

One time, an Iraq vet in Ohio somewhere had bought some old pamphlet at a garage sale for $8. At some point, someone told him it looked like a really old item and he should get it checked out. He sent it down to Heritage, who authenticated it as a rare original copy of the Federalist Papers from the year 1800. They auctioned it off, and it brought $88,000. When they learned the guy was penniless and this was all the money he had in the world, they waived their seller's fee and gave him the whole hammer price.

Several years ago, one of their employees fell victim to Christian fundamentalism. The guy started preaching to everyone at work, his wife left him, and they had to let him go. However, since he had been there a few years, they kept him on the books as a nominal employee so he wouldn't lose his health insurance until he found another job.

The Armstrong family is in good hands.

[KY_EnviroGuy]

5. More info and photos can be seen here....

Memorabilia from astronauts Armstrong, Glenn up for auction
By JULIE CARR SMYTH
November 1, 2018

Link: https://apnews.com/108af4ac27ff487b9632692fce959a97

(Snips)

A series of auctions involving some 2,000 artifacts and mementoes owned by Armstrong, the first person to walk on the moon, begins Thursday and runs through November 2019.
-------
As with the Glenn helmet, Armstrong’s items landed in the lap of the next generation after the famed astronaut died in 2012. Carpenter died in 2013 and Glenn followed in 2016, at age 95, the last surviving Mercury Seven astronaut. An estate sale of his belongings took place in March.

When the Carpenters discovered Armstrong’s sons had organized a sale of their famous father’s memorabilia, Matt Carpenter said the helmet seemed like an ideal fit. An effort to auction it earlier this year had been unsuccessful.

“Obviously, we’d love to get the most money realized for it, but also we’d love to get somebody who’s going to appreciate it,” he said. “I think it’s a very special thing.”

Carpenter, now 40, and his brother Nick, who turns 39 this week, would like to use some of the proceeds to help underwrite a documentary they are producing about the Glenn-Carpenter friendship. Matt Carpenter said they interviewed both astronauts in 2012 and hope to release the film in 2019.

Its working title is the famous Glenn quote, “Zero-G and I feel fine.”

............ ...............

[OnDoutside]

6. Back in the late 70s when Neil Armstrong worked for Marathon Oil, he was part of a group visiting

their office in Cork City, before being driven to the airport to get a helicopter to one of their offshore rigs. Someone I knew was the driver, and Sean was someone who needed glasses before his time (!), consequently his driving wasn't the best. Anyway, Neil got into the passenger seat beside Sean, in the 8 seater van, and off they went. Sean hadn't a clue who was sitting next to him, but after a while of his erratic driving, he noticed Neil has hanging onto his seat belt for dear life. Rather than realising it was HIS driving, he turned to Neil and said, "Are you nervous about flying ?"

And that's pure true !

[DFW]

8. Even extraordinary people are still people.

I knew a guy who was invited out to dinner by Warren Buffet. He got into the car and Buffett started driving. He drove like any other guy in his mid-80s, i.e. like Mr. Magoo. He was shaking in terror of the trip back by the time they got to the restaurant.

One time, I was at a gathering in Charleston, SC, and there was one seminar that involved a short film. I got there a bit late, and all seats looked to be taken. A woman I knew was near the front, and saw me come in. She motioned for me to come sit beside her. There a chair free, but some books and papers were piled on it. The guy next to it, to whom the stuff belonged, cleared them off for me so I could sit down. I said thanks and sat down. The woman asked me if I realized who had just cleared off my seat. I looked. It was Ted Turner!

[OnDoutside]

13. Excellent ! You're so right.

[rsdsharp]

7. John Glenn was a marine. Ted Williams was his wing man in Korea.

I know the marines are part of the naval service, but I'm not sure why his helmet would be labeled "Navy" instead of "Marines."

[YOHABLO]

9. Well that's an old helmet and perhaps back then they still recognized Marines as part of the Navy.

Not sure. Just speculating. Myself a Navy vet, worked right along side the U.S. Marine Corp. men and women. Although on base we were segregated to our own dorms / barracks.

[rsdsharp]

10. The marines have always been part of the navy.

They still are, but marines have always maintained their own identity. Calling a marine enlisted man "sailor" would not elicit a good response.

[ga_girl]

11. Navy and USMC

From the auction website:

[rsdsharp]

12. You can't be in both the navy and marine simultaneously, but Wikipedia may have solved the mystery.

When the United States entered World War II, Glenn quit college to enlist in the U.S. Army Air Corps.[21] He was never called to duty by the Army, and enlisted as a U.S. Navy aviation cadet in March 1942. Glenn attended the University of Iowa in Iowa City for pre-flight training and continued at Naval Air Station Olathe in Kansas for primary training, where he made his first solo flight in a military aircraft. During advanced training at Naval Air Station Corpus Christi in Texas, he accepted an offer to transfer to the U.S. Marine Corps.[22] Having completed his flight training in March 1943, Glenn was commissioned as a second lieutenant.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/John_Glenn#Military_career

It may have been his original navy helmet from flight training.