Forty-seven women have flown in space, and from time to time, items from those flights appear at auction. The latest is a 1990’s Russian training “rescue” suit that American astronaut Shannon Lucid wore at times during a six months visit to Russia’s orbiting space station, Mir. Designed to be donned in the event of spacecraft depressurization, Lucid’s suit is the featured offering at Bonhams Space History sale in New York on April 26th, when it’s expected to fetch $30,000-$50,000.Along the way, Lucid bagged a couple of records, including the most hours spent in space by a non-Russian and by a woman. Her suit has all its bells and whistles, including pressurized hood, sleeves with adjustable articulating cables, and umbilical interfaces, with related cables and hoses. In the past, it’s been exhibited at Space Center Houston, the International Space Symposium in Colorado Springs, and the George W. Bush Presidential Library.
Astronaut Shannon Lucid’s Space Suit At Bonhams
April 17, 2012
Milton Berle’s Jokes Laugh To The Bank
May 8, 2013For $158,000 a bidder got Milton Berle’s library, including books and boxes of bound scripts and personal correspondence, but he didn’t get the comedian’s thousands of one-liners and jokes carefully catalogued over the decades. That file went for another $65,000 at Bonham’s Entertainment auction this week.
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1952 Vincent Black Shadow Rules Field At Bonhams
April 29, 2013Mechanical failures prevented a specially equipped Vincent Black Shadow from setting a new 24-hour speed record in 1952 at Monthéry in France, the race for which it had been created. Nothing stood in the restored ex-works bike’s way, however, at Bonhams International Motorcycle sale at Staffordshire, where it sold yesterday for $175,860. Another bike posting a solid result was a 1914 Indian Model F, formerly owned by screen icon Steve McQueen. A European telephone bidder claimed it forjust under $50,000, well above its $43,000 high estimate.
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16th Century Bottle Sells for $683,000
April 24, 2013Together, two bottles and a rare temple step accounted for almost $2m at Bonhams’ Islamic and Indian art sale in London yesterday. The bottles, as one might imagine, were very special, 16th century Iznik vessels from the Ottoman Empire. One made a new world record at $683,000, and the other sold for $460,000. Both were from the collection of a Deputy Governor of the Bank of England, who paid $765 for them back in 1919.
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Rising Value of Unrestored Cars
By Malcolm Welford, Vintage Car Specialist
