Sotheby's Bidders Grab Soviet Space Gear
- By Unknown
- Mar. 19 1996 00:00
Sotheby's estimate for Einstein's 72-page paper, handwritten in German in 1912, was $4 million to $6 million; it sold to a private American collector in 1987 for $1.2 million. But the sales room was silent Saturday as auctioneer David Redden started the bidding at $2 million. He gave up at $3.3 million. There was no bid above the secret minimum price set by the seller and Sotheby's.
Earlier in the day, a dog space suit fetched $22,000 and a hunk of Sputnik I sold for $14,000 at an auction of space memorabilia from the Soviet Union.
But a space capsule got no takers. "What on earth would you do with it?" wondered George Glazer, a globe dealer at the sale.
More than 400 lots were for sale; sellers included cosmonauts, engineers and companies that designed and produced space gear. Among the bids:
?The 1959 dog space suit, which was sold for well above its presale estimate of $10,000 to $15,000.
?The fragment of an oxygen tank from Sputnik I, launched Oct. 4, 1957. Its $14,000 hammer price eclipsed the estimate of $1,000 to $1,500.
?A lunar globe, marked in red ink to denote spacecraft landings; estimated at $600 to $800, sold for $10,000.
?A 2 meter wide Vostok 3KA-2 capsule, estimated at $800,000 to $1 million. The auctioneer passed it at $500,000.