posted 09-22-2008 10:27 PM               

I have been observing the many space auctions that have sprung up over the last 10 years -- some do it fairly well and others not so well. Although there have always been nice items for auction, it has always distressed me to see the seemingly large number of suspect or misrepresented items in the catalogs. I feel I can do a better job, because I do know what I'm doing from being active in the space-collecting and space-dealing field for 20 years now. So I would like to announce the first semi-annual Lunar Legacies live auction to be held in March of next year at the first "home" of the Original 7 astronauts, the Cocoa Beach Holiday Inn in Cocoa Beach, FL. And indeed, it will be called Lunar Legacies. The dates will be Saturday March 14, 2009 and Sunday March 15, 2009.

I wish this auction to be aimed at not only the high roller collectors, such as the Heritage auction format, but also at the average collector such as myself and many of you. My most important goals will be professionalism, excellent customer service, accurate and thorough descriptions of each lot, and timely response, payment and shipping to customers. I wish to keep the fees charged to buyers and sellers at a level lower than can be found at other auction houses. Fees will be 10% to sellers and 10% to most buyers. The fee charged to internet winning bidders, by necessity, will be 15% to compensate for the 5% fee charged by the internet live auction provider. In the future, we wish to buy the software outright and obtain the expertise thus eliminating this extra 5% fee altogether.

This letter to the cS message board is certainly not the first step that has been taken to achieve success for this auction. The Cocoa Beach Holiday Inn has been contacted and is ready and willing to host the event and provide special room rates for anyone in attendance, a contract has been signed with an internet auction company to allow real-time live bidding of all auction lots for internet users, the services of a professional auctioneer has been obtained, a State of Florida auction license is being obtained (routine) and many nice auctions lots are already being identified and collected. Additionally, former astronauts and space workers are being contacted, and all attempts along these lines are being pursued.

However, this auction cannot be a total success without your kind assistance. I am requesting quality consignments from anyone who wishes to participate in this auction. I believe a realistic minimum value per lot should be $50. All consignments will be insured and kept in a secure location until viewing and auction time, and necessary consignment contracts will be supplied. At this point, I cannot speculate about how many total lots there will be, but space has been obtained for a two-day auction at the Holiday Inn. Pre-viewing of all lots will also be available the week of the auction at a convenient location to be determined.

All lots will be available for viewing online at lunarlegacies.com at least one month before the auction. However, due to the high printing cost of a catalog, and in an effort to keep the initial overhead costs low, anyone who registers and requests a catalog of the lots will receive a self-loading CD in the mail complete with all the auction lots. The CD catalog format will not only help keep buyer and seller fees low, but will also extend the time by almost a month that consignments can be accepted. There is another advantage a CD will provide in that many additional and different views will be available on the CD for most lots, as opposed to just one photo per lot in a catalog.

If you wish to consign an items or items or need more information, please feel free to contact me at lunarlegacies@gmail.com, and I promise a prompt response. For obvious reasons I do not wish to publish my cell phone number on this forum, but will gladly give it out to anyone who requests it through this email address, and will look forward to speaking with you. Any input will be welcome and appreciated. Thanks very much for your consideration of my request.

posted 11-06-2008 09:07 AM               

I will be at the Cape Canaveral Radisson Friday evening and also behind Ken Havekotte's table all day Sunday at the show (thanks Ken!). I look forward to a good time and especially meeting everybody this weekend. See you all there.

posted 11-11-2008 03:51 PM               

It's great to hear from you again and congratulations on this exciting venture. I look forward to being among the first to bid in the Lunar Legacies auction.

posted 11-17-2008 06:32 AM               

Good to finally meet you (and Ken) at the show last week. Looking forward immensely to the auction.

posted 11-17-2008 01:12 PM               

quote:

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Originally posted by gliderpilotuk:
Good to finally meet you (and Ken) at the show last week. Looking forward immensely to the auction.

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Let me echo Paul's words. It was great to finally meet you and I am eager to see what your auction will have to offer!

Mark

posted 02-05-2009 04:42 PM               

I would also like to post a reminder of the benefits for joining the US Spacewalk of Fame as a member. With your membership, you can help keep space history in alive in Titusville and assist in the Apollo Memorial project now being undertaken. Memberships start at only $100 per year and the benefits can be seen on their website, spacewalkoffame.com or by clicking on the Spacewalk logo at lunarlegacies.com. Your consideration will be greatly appreciated.

posted 02-24-2009 10:36 PM               

Additionally, pre-bids can now be entered at Proxibid. The minimum for a pre-bid for every lot is only $15.00, and if you decide to pre-bid, it could save you an extra 5% if you win. If there is an auction lot on which you wish to pre-bid that has a red capital "R" next to it, then that means that there is a reserve on the auction lot. The red "R" will turn green when the reserve is met or exceeded.

Thanks again for looking and hope to see you there.

posted 03-05-2009 03:07 PM               

1. an Apollo 11 Flown Kapton Foil Lucite. Production was limited to 50 pieces and the one up for bid is number (34 of 50). See lot #239.

2. an "all original" in great condition Grumman Lunar Module Contractor model. The model has all 16 thrusters and the hard to find dish antennas. See lot #156.

posted 03-05-2009 03:09 PM               

quote:

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Originally posted by Tomy1:
an "all original" in great condition Grumman Lunar Module Contractor model.

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posted 03-11-2009 02:54 PM               

Only a few days left until the auction to register on Proxibid! Pre-bidding can be done at anytime up to or during the auction until that lot goes off. In order to bid on the internet, you must register at Proxibid.com with a user name and a password at any time before the auction.

Starting bids will be about 50-75% of the minimum estimate listed on the Lunar Legacies website, unless there are multiple pre-bids, mail-in bids or a reserve, in which case starting bids will determined by those.

The lowest starting bid possible will be $15 for any particular item, since we believe our lowest minimum estimate is $25.

We have over 650 lots representing everything from the Mercury program to the Space Shuttle. Highlights include an Apollo 11 signed launch pass, a Gemini 3 crew-signed spacecraft model, STS-51L and STS-107 signed items, a Liquid Oxygen control cabinet from LC-36B, and much more.

If you wish to bid live over the telephone, please call 321-848-3337 to make those arrangements. For early bids you can also fax to 321-985-0323 or email to lunarlegacies@gmail.com.

Please make sure you send us a email to verify that we have received your fax.

While at the Lunar Legacies website, please check out the terms and conditions. Feel free to contact us at any time with questions or comments.

Space Walk Of Fame

I would also like to post a reminder of the benefits for joining the US Spacewalk of Fame as a member. With your membership, you can help keep space history in alive in Titusville and assist in the Apollo Memorial project now being undertaken.

posted 03-14-2009 08:03 PM               

And of course, my computer decided to download a Windows update in the middle of the auction, telling me every 10 minutes that it was going to reboot itself if I didn't tell it not to. To top it off, I had some sort of Java error (the Proxibid site ran the live bidding through a Java window) which made me have to restart my browser several times. But anyway...

I thought most items went for a pretty reasonable price, at least from a buyer's standpoint. Some items had reserves that were too high to get the bidding started. For example, an STS-51L crew signed cover started at $16,500 and got no bids, despite the auctioneer's assurance that "your wives called and said it was ok to bid :-)". There were many more "pass" items than I expected, some that I would have gladly bid on had they opened even $25 lower.

Many signed photos of the astronauts were fetching bids far below what they're charging to sign nowadays - e.g., Buzz photos at $100 and below.

I picked up some nice items that have completed parts of my collection ... now to decide what to start looking for next!

Congratulations on putting together a fine show, Donnis!

posted 03-14-2009 08:46 PM               

Lot 57, Deke Slayton's "Turtles" card, went for a bargain price. And a 1963 hand-drawn, fascinating plan for the spacecraft for the lunar landing will look amazing on someone's wall. I must be more daring in putting in pre-bids... just in case!

EDIT: OK, my "watched lots" list on Proxibid was a little behind: I just went to the lots directly, and I now see that the Turtles card was "passed" so it didn't meet a reserve, and the 1963 drawing did go for a price I would think was more reasonable (i.e. out of my price range). No more kicking myself for not trying for them.

posted 03-14-2009 09:31 PM               

When will the next auction take place?

posted 03-14-2009 10:18 PM               

What do we do next? Will we receive an invoice soon?

Thanks. It was an amazing auction.

posted 03-15-2009 02:11 AM               

quote:

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Originally posted by ilbasso:
For example, an STS-51L crew signed cover started at $16,500 and got no bids, despite the auctioneer's assurance that "your wives called and said it was ok to bid :-)".

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I think the starting bid on that one was $6,500, not $16,500 (lest anyone get the impression they expected a price that high), but I also got a chuckle out of the wife comment.

posted 03-15-2009 08:46 AM               

I am still wondering what to do next. I have not received any emails or anything and want to make sure I do everything properly!

posted 03-15-2009 12:38 PM               

Proxibid, as is their usual practice, wanted to charge the credit cards immediately, as per the agreement when someone registers. However, I did not allow them to do this because I wanted confirmation before charging anything. So if you've won something, please send me an email confirming that I can do that if that's how you wish to pay (lunarlegacies@gmail.com).

As for the next LL auction, I am thinking about every 4 months, making the next one a week before or a week after the 40th AP11 anniversary - mid July or early August.

As a further announcement, I will also be opening up my Lunar Legacies website again, much as it was before with items and their prices listed, and that will be up and running within 30 days. It would be sooner but I have 2 or 3 weeks of invoices and packages to do! I am always accepting consignments for that site as well. So in the future, when you go to lunarlegacies.com, you will have a choice to go to the straight sale website or to view the next auction lots.

Thanks again for all your kind words and support.

posted 03-16-2009 02:07 AM               

The Proxibid software was great and very easy to use.

Delighted to hear that LL Auction is going to be a regular feature.

posted 03-16-2009 03:55 PM               

quote:

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Originally posted by garymilgrom:
I tried to bid several times but the system would not work on my Macintosh computers.

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posted 03-17-2009 03:35 PM               

So no problems here.

Andrew