Moon Name Tag for Dallas Space Auction
Last Updated on Thursday, 8 April 2010 01:40 Written by a2e Thursday, 8 April 2010 01:40
A cloth name tag that was a part of the spacesuit worn by Dr. Edgar D. Mitchell while he spent more than nine hours on the lunar surface during the Apollo 14 mission on Feb. 5-6, 1971, is the unrivaled centerpiece of Heritage Auctions’ April 21 Grand Format Space Exploration Auction live in Dallas and online at HA.com. It is estimated at $75,000+.
There have been only 12 men thus far into human history that have walked on the moon. Of their 12 spacesuit name tags, two – those of Neil Armstrong and Buzz Aldrin – are on permanent display in the Smithsonian, while Alan Bean fragmented his for use in his truly cosmic space art. That leaves nine extant, and on the rare occasion that these spacesuit name tags have ever sold, it’s almost always as part of a set of four including the name tag, a NASA logo patch, an American flag, and the mission insignia patch.
“The prices for these sets have reached $350,000 more than once,” said Michael Riley, Senior Cataloger and Chief Historian at Heritage Auctions. “It’s been a number of years since any other lunar surface-worn name tag has been offered to the public and it will likely be many more years before another becomes available. Clearly, this would be the centerpiece for any serious space collection.”
HA.com
