Auction

At the "Buzz Aldrin: American Icon" auction yesterday, Sotheby’s sold the jacket worn to the moon by Apollo 11 astronaut Buzz Aldrin yesterday for $2,772,500, smashing all sorts of auction records in the process.

On July 16, an extremely rare and historically important thermometer made by Daniel Gabriel Fahrenheit, inventor of the mercury thermometer and the temperature scale that bears his name, sold for just US$93,750.

A "lost" artifact from the dawn of the age of the personal computer is going up for sale. Steve Job's original, hand-soldered "Apple Computer A" prototype built in 1976 to support Apple's first big contract is on the auction block at RR Auction.

It’s hard to find a cooler collectible than the skeleton of a long-dead predator. The latest to hit the auction block is a Gorgosaurus, a distant relative of T-rex, which will be offered for sale by Sotheby’s New York in its Natural History sale.

Vienna’s Leitz Photographica Auctions celebrated its 20th year in business this week when it sold the camera of the man who invented 35-mm photography for €14,400,000, smashing the previous world record of €2,400,000.

The collector car marketplace commenced 2022 on a high note. At its annual New Year Kissimmee (Florida) event, Mecum Auctions significantly increased the world record gross for a single automotive auction event with a total of $217 million in sales.

Nikola Tesla was one of the world's most important innovators and evidence of the gravitas of the Tesla name was on full display at an auction at Remarkable Rarities (RRAuctions) this week when a four-page autograph letter by Tesla fetched US$341,295.

2021 is proving as big year for both the science fiction genre and movie memorabilia. This week Marty McFly's Hoverboard from "Back To The Future Part II" sold for $501,200, while Captain Kirk's Phaser Rifle from "Star Trek" fetched $615,000.

In a live online sale on November 6, Auction Team Breker offered one of the four remaining CIAM-NASA Hypersonic Flying Laboratory (HFL) "Kholod" hypersonic test bed missiles, which sold to an undisclosed European company for €27,700 (US$32,100).

A near-perfect 2016 Honda RC213V-S MotoGP replica with just 161 kilometers on the odometer has sold for US$237,700, eclipsing the previous record held by a rare 1968 Honda CB750 prototype to become the most valuable Japanese motorcycle in auction history.

A very prominent space suit “accessory” worn on the Moon by the last Apollo moonwalker – Commander Gene Cernan – is being auctioned on the internet with bids closing later this week, and it looks like records will be broken.

The most valuable comic in the world has always been Action Comics #1 … until a few hours ago when a copy of Amazing Fantasy No. 15 sold for US$3,600,000 at Heritage Auctions, representing tectonic movement within the massive comic collecting industry.