JG. Limited's Frontiers of Flight Auction, Oct. 18, Celebrates 100+ Years of Space & Aviation History

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Bidders will look to the skies during JG.Limited’s online-only Frontiers of Flight auction, online now (at www.JG.Limited) and ending on Tuesday, October 18th. Subtitled “Celebrating Over 100 Years of Space & Aviation History”, the auction is packed with 400 lots of many of the most famous names in air travel – from Neil Armstrong to the Wright Brothers.

Categories in the sale include aviation, beta cloth patches, astronauts, cosmonauts, international space figures, flown artifacts, flown Soviet covers, National Chicle Sky Birds cards and official NASA support crew and ephemera. JG.Limited is the auction arm of collectibles powerhouse JG Autographs, Inc. It held several other auctions this year, all of which were highly successful.

Several items figure to finish in the top 10-selling lots. One is an actual fabric swatch from the Wright Flyer, flown by the Wright Brothers on its maiden trip into the skies in Kitty Hawk, North Carolina on Dec. 17, 1903. The fabric is about .5 inches by .875 inches at its longest points and has been authenticated and encapsulated by CAG. It should reach $5,500-$8,500.

Another is a first day postal cover from September 9, 1969, commemorating the Apollo 11 moon mission in July of that year and signed in black felt tip marker by three astronauts from the mission: Neil Armstrong, Michael Collins and Buzz Aldrin. The cover is in pristine condition, with completely flawless and bold autographs. It carries a pre-sale estimate of $2,500-$3,000.

A third is an original front page newspaper printing plate from the Monday morning, July 21, 1969 issue of the Milwaukee Sentinel, with the screaming headline, “Men Walk On the Moon! Triumph for Mankind”. The semi-cylindrical drum, 14 ¼ inches by 14 inches by 7 inches, weighs 40 pounds. It’s accompanied by an actual copy of the newspaper (est. $6,000-$7,500).

A fourth is an Amelia Earhart 2 inch square piece of fabric from the Lockheed Vega 5B she flew in 1932, making her the first woman to make a solo flight across the Atlantic. The presentation was created by the National Air and Space Museum. The swatch is mounted onto a 12 inch by 15 inch sheet, with a printed photo and a full history of the crew and the flight (est. $2,000-$2,500).

One of the more interesting items in the auction is an official NASA photograph from Nov. 14, 1981, signed by Ronald Reagan during a presidential visit to the Johnson Space Center. Reagan hand-signed the photo and inscribed it, “To Anatole Forostenko / With Best Wishes! Ronald Reagan”. Included is Forostenko’s original letter to the President, asking him to sign some items.

Dr. Anatole Forostenko (b. 1939) was born in the Soviet Union and moved to the U.S. in 1949. He joined NASA in 1974 and became involved in the Apollo-Soyuz test project as Chief Russian Language Instructor for NASA’s astronauts, helping them communicate with cosmonauts during the mission. Other Forostenko items are also in the auction. The photo should sell for $500-$750.

Speaking of the Wright Brothers, a bank check filled out and signed by Orville Wright, dated June 28, 1923 and made payable to “Mabel Beck” in the amount of $20, in fine condition, is expected to change hands for $500-$750. Skipping ahead a bit, a half-inch square, flight-flown swatch of fabric from the Spirit of St. Louis, the custom-built, single-engine, single-seat plane flown by Charles Lindbergh on the first non-stop transatlantic flight should bring $1,200-$1,500.

Astronaut Deke Slayton’s typed, unpublished, 169-page manuscript sent to Anatol Forostenko on July 30, 1986, in excellent condition, with the original mailing envelope and an Apollo-Soyuz Mission photograph hand-signed by Slayton, is estimated to realize $400-$500; while a collector’s edition hardcover copy of the book We Seven (Eaton Press), hand-signed by astronauts Scott Carpenter, Gordon Cooper and John Glenn, should command $300-$500.

An Apollo 16 flight-flown beta cloth netting material coated with lunar dust from its trip to the lunar surface April 16-27, 1972, in fine condition with a COA and affixed to an 8 inch by 10 inch photographic display, has an estimate of $800-$1,200. Also, an Apollo 11 flight-flown Kapton heatshield foil swatch from the Command Module of Columbia, along with a secondary piece of Kapton foil from the lunar module Eagle removed prior to flight, should hit $400-$500.

A beautiful commemorative cover representing Thiokol rocket motors and space systems in an illustrated cachet that lists on verso the various motors, rocket boosters, and propulsion systems developed by Thiokol, with many signers, should reach $1,000-$1,200; while an 8 inch by 10 inch NASA lithograph photograph from January 1980, signed by all 21 astronaut candidates from the year’s class of space-travel hopefuls, is expected to find a new home for $1,250-$1,500.

A 3 inch by 5 inch card hand-signed in black felt tip marker by astronaut Neil Armstrong, as bold today as when it was originally obtained in the late 1960s by its original recipient, has a pre-sale estimate of $1,000-$1,200. Also, a Project Gemini artifact display, featuring ten certified flight-flown artifact segments (one flight-flown artifact is represented from each of the 10 Gemini missions), encapsulated in a handsome acrylic display, should sell for $650-$750.

“The ability for humans to board a transatlantic flight, never mind a transcontinental one, is underrated in today’s modern world,” said Jared Gendron, president and founder of JG.Limited. “Sending a package express from Boston to London for 8 am delivery the next day should be viewed with amazement. Traveling into space in any capacity is captivating every single time.”

Mr. Gendron added, “In the past year, a few fortunate citizens launched into space with Jeff Bezos as part of his Blue Origin mission initiative. Without similar dreamers, innovators, inventors, risk takers, pilots, and astronauts – many of whom are featured in this auction – the thought of flight would have seemed impossible. To quote Anatole Forostenko, ‘The long-term prospects of Space Exploration, beyond Mars and Moon colonies, are truly mind-boggling.’” 

Bidders please take note: 30-minute extended bidding starts on October 18th at 8 pm Eastern time. The clock will then reset for another 30 minutes each time a bid is placed. The 30-minute clock reset is unique for every lot; each has its own unique countdown during extended bidding.

To learn more about JG.Limited and the Frontiers of Flight auction online now and ending on Tuesday, Oct. 18, or to register online to start bidding and buying, please visit www.JG.Limited.