Author
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Topic: 110829750462: Apollo 14 surface-flown $20 bill
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MrSpace86 Member Posts: 1618 From: Gardner, KS, USA Registered: Feb 2003
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posted 02-22-2012 10:36 PM
What would the eBay fees on this be? Why on Earth would Ed Mitchell get rid of this item when it can sell for half a million dollars?! |
benfairfax Member Posts: 199 From: NSW Australia Registered: Jan 2011
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posted 02-23-2012 12:13 AM
I think they are about $450,000 over the price it is worth! Jim Irwin's patches with moon dust only went for $358,000. |
garymilgrom Member Posts: 1966 From: Atlanta, GA Registered: Feb 2007
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posted 02-23-2012 06:12 AM
What has made the LAUNCHED FROM EARTH and LANDED ON THE MOON text on the currency? I've never seen these before. |
Tykeanaut Member Posts: 2212 From: Worcestershire, England, UK. Registered: Apr 2008
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posted 02-23-2012 08:31 AM
Just my humble opinion, but that price is crazy! |
SkyMan1958 Member Posts: 867 From: CA. Registered: Jan 2011
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posted 02-23-2012 04:47 PM
I could certainly be wrong, but to the best of my knowledge the most expensive numismatic item flown on the Apollo flights that was publicly auctioned was a Peace dollar flown to the lunar surface by Buzz Aldrin on Apollo 11. It sold for ~ $30,000 - $35,000, somewhere around 2006. I would think this $20 bill would go for less than that. |
steelhead fly fishing Member Posts: 29 From: Cape Canaveral, FL Registered: Aug 2010
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posted 02-23-2012 05:16 PM
WOW! I wouldn't pay a penny over $475,000. I wonder what the camera (that created all the fuss for Dr. Mitchell) from Apollo 14 would have gone for on the open market? |
MarylandSpace Member Posts: 1336 From: Registered: Aug 2002
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posted 02-23-2012 05:53 PM
Just looked it up. The Buzz Aldrin flown 1923 Peace Dollar sold for $30,070 including buyers premium at a Heritage Auction. Wow. |
JasonB Member Posts: 1091 From: Registered: Sep 2003
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posted 02-23-2012 09:08 PM
Wow cool item. I dont know what it would actually sell for, but I could see this item, with all its documentation, selling for $50,000 or maybe even more at a big auction. |
p51 Member Posts: 1642 From: Olympia, WA Registered: Sep 2011
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posted 02-23-2012 09:47 PM
One possibility nobody else has thought of is that maybe the seller doesn't want to get rid of it, and put a ridiculous price on it to say later to the wife, "It must be the market, you saw I put it on eBay but nobody wanted it, I guess we'll just put it back on the wall and wait a few years..."Can't say if it happens with space stuff a lot, but I know for sure it happens often with other collectible types because I've known guys who have done exactly that... Yes, I know the eBay vendor in question has a lot of other stuff in his listings, just saying it could always be the case where you see an obscene amount of money asked on a eBay listing... |
Spaceguy5 Member Posts: 427 From: Pampa, TX, US Registered: May 2011
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posted 02-24-2012 01:14 AM
I can't really say much on the topic as I'm not a currency collector, but a lot of the seller's other items seem to be priced rather crazily. Such as ~$3000 for a $1 bill with the serial 12345678 (and I thought I was eccentric for collecting space shuttle hardware). I'm sure his specialization with currency is the reason he's selling this. |
rjurek349 Member Posts: 1190 From: Northwest Indiana Registered: Jan 2002
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posted 02-24-2012 09:14 PM
My thoughts, for what they are worth: I am with Skyman on the price range for this bill.Currency has cross-over appeal to non-space collectors. (I can't tell you how many "crazy offers" -- crazy by space collector standards, not so crazy by numismatic standards -- I get each year on the flown $2 bill collection...) So this bill has to be looked at through the lens of the space collector and the lens of the numismatist who might be interested in it, or both. For the space collector -- it is a unique piece, one of a kind that was lunar surface PPK. If you go by the going rate of about $10,000 for the Apollo 15 surface covers and other items of similar size, you start to have a base. Go with the fact that it is one of a kind, from Shepard, great provenance, etc -- 15K or a little higher is not out of the question. For a numismatist, whomever did the certification work on this piece originally ruined that value by placing those silly stamps on it on the left and right hand side. That bill was almost pristine, and numismatists prize not only the rarity and the story of an item, but also condition. Stamping this bill was akin to someone taking a rare coin and "colorizing" it or marking it up with scratches or trying to "clean" it; or a first edition book collector, taking a rare first edition and stamping it. Very sad, from that perspective - so it will get a mixed reaction from the numismatic community. (And it wasn't necessary - that stamping was not contemporary to when the bill was flown -- that was a much later affectation of the person who made the presentation.) So I think the crossover to the purist numismatist will be limited on the upside of price. Still -- one can never underestimate what would happen at an auction if two deep pocket bidders who really want it go at it... but I think Skyman's pricing comments are right on the money. Again, just my two cents worth on the piece. |
rjurek349 Member Posts: 1190 From: Northwest Indiana Registered: Jan 2002
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posted 03-15-2012 10:18 AM
quote: Originally posted by Spaceguy5: Such as ~$3000 for a $1 bill with the serial 12345678 (and I thought I was eccentric for collecting space shuttle hardware).
Turns out the bill sold for considerably more. Never underestimate the cross-over appeal into markets where much higher prices are the norm. On March 6 a collector from Los Angeles County, Calif., purchased, along with written documentation, a Series 1963A $20 Federal Reserve note that flew on Apollo 14, landed on the Moon and returned to Earth. The price was an "undisclosed amount well into six figures."...when asked about the initial asking price of $495,000, Bart said that establishing a value for such an important space relic is hardly easy. He said the initial eBay listing was "priced rather aggressively and the actual value is closer to 50 percent of the listing price. It seems as though everyone asks 'what's it worth?' and the truth is more like $250,000 to $300,000 than the price shown on eBay," he said before the note was sold to its new owner. |
SkyMan1958 Member Posts: 867 From: CA. Registered: Jan 2011
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posted 03-15-2012 09:04 PM
In the linked article, the seller mentioned that this is the first piece of space memorabilia that the new owner has purchased. My best guess is that the new owner is going to be grabbing his/her ankles in a few years time. I feel sorry for the poor bugger. On the flip side, the current owners of flown bills can be happy. |