Pieces from the Wright Brothers' first flight carried on the Apollo 11 Lunar mission and autographs from stars such as Marilyn Monroe, Walt Disney and Steve Jobs are among this week's top auctions.
As always, cllct's Will Stern and Darren Rovell preview the lots and provide analysis.
Apollo 11 Lunar Module flown piece of the Wright Flyer propeller and Section of the Wright Flyer's Wing Fabric
Heritage sold the “Armstrong Family Collection” in a series of auctions from 2018 to 2019, led by CAG-encapsulated pieces from the Wright Brothers’ first successful powered flight in 1903 at Kitty Hawk, North Carolina, which were carried aboard Apollo 11 during the first Lunar landing in 1969.
Armstrong was allowed to retain a portion of the material, which was later “excised” and authenticated by CAG. In the initial auction, two propeller pieces sold for $275,000 each, while a piece of wing fabric fetched $162,500.
Stern: This has to be the most history per square inch found in any collectible ever sold. I particularly love that, since Armstrong carried fragments to the moon in the first place, it means these relics were not created through the destruction of an intact piece of history.
The impact of these two pieces on aeronautics is obvious, however, since there are a handful of examples out there, none of which from previous sales match the relics selling this weekend, population could be of concern.
However, with bidding at $32,500 and $40,000 for the wing fabric and propeller respectively as of Thursday morning, there appears to be no shortage of demand — even if the lots will ultimately fail to live up to the records set by their peers’ inaugural auctions. A similar piece of wing sold for $81,250 at Heritage in December 2023.
No pieces of propeller from the collection have sold since the original 2018 sale.
Rovell: Having bid on these, I realize how special they are. No other word comes to me other than “mind-blowing.” Neil Armstrong carrying pieces of the Wright Flyer to the moon.
Pieces of the Flyer that didn’t go into space sell for $3,000 to $5,000 all day long, but these are a different animal.
Having watched these since the 50th anniversary of Apollo 11 (July 2019), I, too, am baffled at the prices, at least as an investment. With no population, as you mention, it’s very hard, in my opinion, to spend this kind of money despite how remarkable they are.
If you gave me the entire propeller piece, instead of it cut up, and that single piece was on the Flyer and went to the moon? That’s a $5 million piece. But CAG should have noted how many cuts they made here.
Apollo 11 crew-signed "Type Three" insurance cover
Before departing for the unknown, Armstrong, Buzz Aldrin and Michael Collins signed insurance covers, meant to be sold in the case of disaster as a source of funds for their families.
These are quite common pieces to see at auction, but nonetheless, they remain incredibly powerful as a reminder of the massive stakes taken by the crew members of that famous mission.
Stern: Last month, a comparable example sold at University Archives for $4,750. The only factor I can imagine playing a role in producing a materially significant difference in the result here would be the increasingly-close July 20 anniversary of the moon landing, but that feels like a stretch.
Rovell: Love these, too. Despite the cool story, however, I would rather pay the same price to have the three on something substantive as I have done.
The 50th anniversary was the time for sellers to sell and buyers not to buy. If you want one, the 55th anniversary isn’t going to spike it, but again, almost none of these were tossed and the population is unknown as they were not numbered.
1940 Walt Disney-signed "Fantasia" large hard-cover book
Nice one here at Goldin, which has never hung its hat on rare books (not that the auction house has attempted to). There’s some nuance here: It’s not like a typical book as it is more of a “companion copy” to the more well-known 1940 film.
Stern: Walt Disney is not the author of the book, which makes his signature, while certainly relevant and a credible value-add, less desirable than it otherwise would be.
Another important point to note is this example, despite being in tremendous condition, lacks its dust jacket. In rare books, dust jackets are unspeakably important to a book’s collectibility and value.
In this case, the missing dust jacket is particularly unfortunate given the beautiful illustrations present on intact copies. It is not noted in the lot description other than saying “early example,” so it’s not clear this is actually a first edition, however, comparisons to explicitly labeled copies appear to pass an eye test.
Though I’ve gotten into the weeds on the details here, this is a truly excellent Disney autograph, and it comes without inscription or added names, which adds to the appeal. In 2021, RR Auction sold a first edition example, including dust jacket, signed by Disney as well as inscribed to an unknown person for $5,050.
A great way for autograph and Disney collectors to grab a piece at a low (in the context of Disney) price point, and I hope Goldin continues down this path of curation for future pop culture auctions.
Rovell: You are talking to one of the biggest investors in Disney in the last five years. At one point, I had six signatures, and I now own four. Over that time, the value of Disney autographs has had a ridiculous ride. A great Disney autograph used to cost $2,500. Now a great one costs $9,000-plus.
Why? Like John Hancock and George Washington and a few others, you are paying for how remarkable his signature is, plus how relevant Disney continues to be.
I’ve gotta disagree with Will here. This signature of Disney is not that great. It’s a PSA 6, in my opinion, and most people don’t want it inside a book. Disney is one of those guys who you would rather have a cut for.
At almost $4,000 as of this writing, there’s not much upside to go.
1987 NES Nintendo Mike Tyson's Punch-Out!! (WATA 9.4 A+)
Tyson's Punch-Out is one of the big titles for video-game collectors. During the peak of the market, Heritage sold a later production, Wata 9.8 A++ copy for more than $300,000.
Stern: The market has obviously changed since the last sale, but rarities remain rarities — Punch-Out early productions are “No Rev-A,” of which Wata has graded just five total. Among them, white bullet copies are first print, while orange bullets are second.
Either production is incredibly scarce, and this is an exceptional copy, with just one other example from its variant at the grade with none higher.
Goldin actually sold the other copy at this grade in November 2023 for $115,900. That was a great result. If this can cross six-figures, I call that a win.
Rovell: I loved the video game market in 2020 and Tyson was my grail. I got a CIB in 8.0 for a couple thousand. Since then, my interest has severely waned.
I think in order to get the big numbers, you have to have adoption outside of the niche and no one has done a good job with the Rev This and Rev That and these color bullets and hangtab and blah blah blah. I’m not sure this market has another up.
Taylor Swift signed early, self-produced CD
Stern: There’s something super cool about a truly necessary piece of physical media from a musician who has become wildly popular in the digital age.
Yes, she sells vinyl and CDs today, but those are for the sake of collecting. This demo was on a CD because that was how it worked back then.
2023 Topps Transcendent Collection Cut Signature Marilyn Monroe 1/1
Stern: Imagine spending $25,000 on a box of cards and pulling this 1/1? Monroe autos are awesome, but I could have been told this was a Mickey Mouse signature and I wouldn’t raise an eyebrow. Why is this hard?
Rovell: I’m going against you here, Will. To a point. Anyone who collects Monroe, knows that’s Monroe. Anyone who collects Monroe also knows that her signature is rare in any great condition due to bad pens of the era.
As of this writing, this card is at $4,000. Any decent Monroe signature on a meaningless piece of paper is $6,000. Normally people are paying a 3x to 5x premium for pack-pulled. If you get this in the $6,000 range, it’s actually a decent buy.
1992 Sports Illustrated for Kids Mia Hamm rookie card PSA 10
Stern: S.I. for Kids cards are extremely difficult to find in high grade, given that they were issued on pages within the magazine and required collectors to carefully extract single cards along their perforated edges without tearing any of the tiny “teeth.”
The best SIFK cards belong to athletes overlooked by mainstream manufacturers due to their sport, or, in this case, gender. This is one of the great SIFK cards ever made.
It’s a pop 6 out of 461 total PSA examples, and we’ve seen only six comparable sales since 2019, with the high reaching $34,400. The last sale came about a year ago for $13,800. I think this could benefit from a mini-catalyst in the form of the upcoming Olympics.
Rovell: Love your reasoning here, and as an original SI For Kids consumer, I totally get how taking out cards created a scarcity that is now appealing for magazine collectors.
I’m just going to express my skepticism for magazines as a market. Go to eBay and look at how many highly graded magazines aren’t getting minimum bids at low prices. That’s really concerning to me.
Jayson Tatum 2017-18 National Treasures RPA FOTL /15 BGS 9.5
Stern: Last comp was $50,400 in December 2022. Even with Tatum's seemingly-inevitable first NBA championship on the horizon, I don’t see this hitting $35,000.
Rovell: For the 8 millionth time, cards are complex. It’s not single factor fantasy basketball!
Steve Jobs signed real-estate document
Rovell: This document is a cut anyway, as there’s no valuable substance to the land agreement. And as a cut, it looks spectacular, especially for Jobs, who is a lefty.
I think this is a PSA 8 in a land of Jobs signatures that are 5s, 6s and 7s, and as such is easily a $10,000 piece.
Stern: Regarding the substance of the document, Iconic tries to tie it to the naming of Apple, but it takes about five too many steps. But a Jobs signature is a Jobs signature, whether it’s on a "Pirates of the Caribbean" movie ticket or a random real-estate document.
1919 World Series Type 1 photo
Rovell: This is a great photo of the starting pitchers of Game 1 of the 1919 World Series. Minutes later, Eddie Cicotte of course, hits the first batter, famously signaling to mobster Arnold Rothstein that the “fix is in.”
Like almost everything in this auction that closes Thursday night, it’s sitting at well below its estimate, which is a major warning sign for Type 1 photos.
Stern: I don’t know how much more I can say about Type 1s. Supply has far outpaced mainstream interest.
I think it’s a cool photo, but, at this point, I can’t pretend like I have a clue about the low- to mid-end market for Type 1s. It feels like a random number generator is printing out values for most of this stuff.
Will Stern is a reporter and editor for cllct.
Darren Rovell is the founder of cllct.com and one of the country's leading reporters on the collectible market. He previously worked for ESPN, CNBC and The Action Network.