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SkyMan talks about Dimes and Drift.
SkyMan
Posts: 9,603 ✭✭✭✭✭
Well, the last major space memorabilia (SM) auction of the year just finished. Yours truly bid on 4 lots and managed to win 3.
One lot I did NOT bid on was a Mercury dime recovered from the 2nd US manned spaceflight; a Mercury capsule named Liberty Bell 7 (LB7) piloted by Gus Grissom. The flight was suborbital, lasted about 15 minutes and traveled roughly 300 miles from Cape Canaveral. The actual spaceflight was a success, but the hatch blew when the craft was in the Atlantic waiting for recovery and LB7 sank in ~15,000 feet of water.
No one knows for sure what happened to cause the hatch to blow. Grissom claimed that it just blew off. Tom Wolfe in his 1979 book, "The Right Stuff", claimed that according to the medical records (Grissom was wired up during his flight), Grissom was in a highly nervous/excited state, and Wolfe believes Grissom blew the hatch. Since then various people have come to Grissom's defense. It was known that actuating the explosive hatch would cause the user to get bruises on his hand, essentially from the "blowback", and Grissom's hands did not show this pattern. Also, the helicopter pilot that was tasked to pick up LB7 mentioned that only after the spacecraft was semi-lifted out of the water would Grissom emerge from the craft, since before the craft was semi-lifted the hatch would have been partially below the waterline. Given that Grissom was well trained in this recovery procedure, and had gone through it with the helicopter pilot during training, it is difficult to believe that with Grissom being able to see water/waves surging above the hatch that he would blow the hatch.
It is well know that Grissom brought dimes with him on his flight. Specifically he brought 100 dimes in 2 rolls. Of the 3 dimes that I have seen all have been 1961-D Roosevelts. I own one of them (ex. Jerry Hammack, a well known NASA person). LB7 was recovered in 1999. While restoration work was being done on it 52 Mercury dimes were recovered in the spacecraft. It is now believed that these dimes were NOT brought along by Grissom, but were instead smuggled on board LB7 by McDonnell technicians (McDonnell was the manufacturer of the Mercury spacecraft). From the location of the dimes it is believed that the dimes were placed in the pocket on the front of the periscope. One of these dimes, a 1936, just went up for auction today. It clearly is heavily circulated, shows a shipwreck effect, and has II35 carved on the reverse, most likely to help the technician who placed it there determine his coin. It was estimated that the coin would go for ~$1,200 - $2,400. While the coin was of interest to me, given it's condition, and given that I own this coin (which cost me ~ $2,300)...
... I was only willing to spend at most $200 - $300 on the Mercury. By the beginning of the auction this price had already been comfortably exceeded, so I did NOT bid on the Merc. So, here's the 1936 Mercury, how much do you think it went for?:
I understand that when the bidders were bidding on this coin they were contemplating it's history, not it's condition. I CERTAINLY have the SM bug as bad as any other junkie out there. Still, barring a one of a kind space flown coin, I can't see spending big bucks on a coin in this condition. This Mercury went for $3,585.
As mentioned above, I did win three lots. Two of them are your basic autographed pictures:
Gemini 12 (Jim Lovell, Buzz Aldrin).
Apollo 12 ("Pete" Conrad, Dick Gordon, Al Bean).
The third item was a little metallic plate (.875" x .75") encased in lucite (~2.75" x 2.75"). It was created by the Bendix corp. as a memento for the Apollo Lunar Surface Experiments Package (ALSEP), and was carried to the Moon's surface by the Apollo 14 crew. The ALSEP package included such scientific equipment as a seismometer, a charged particle detector, a Laser Ranging Retroreflector (LRRR) etc. All experiments aside from the LRRR were powered by a central power unit that utilized the heat from the radioactive decay of plutonium-238 to generate electricity.
Basically "Flown" Apollo items have various levels of difficulty to find/purchase. From easiest to most difficult it would go:
Earth orbit (from Apollo's 7 & 9), Lunar orbit, Lunar surface (in the LM), and, finally, used on the Lunar surface. This is the first time I've ever seen anything relating to the ALSEP up for auction. Given that it has, at a minimum, gone to the Lunar surface, and given my scientific background, I'm very happy to have won this sucker... and for about half of the low end estimate of what it was thought it would go for.
Top.
Bottom.
Outer box.
The power source for the ALSEP burned out (decayed) long ago, but one item/experiment, since it is a passive item (e.g. the power is supplied by another source), is still functioning and should continue to function (barring a meteorite strike) well after the human race goes belly up. It is the LRRR. By aiming lasers at it from many areas on the Earth's surface we are able (amongst a variety of several other things) to determine the actual rate of Continental Drift.
Here are two images of the ALSEP on the surface at the Apollo 14 Fra Mauro site. The person in both pictures is Edgar Mitchell, the same guy who signed the box. The object in the foreground of the first image is the LRRR. It can also be seen about 1 - 2 o'clock to the gold covered item in the second image.
One lot I did NOT bid on was a Mercury dime recovered from the 2nd US manned spaceflight; a Mercury capsule named Liberty Bell 7 (LB7) piloted by Gus Grissom. The flight was suborbital, lasted about 15 minutes and traveled roughly 300 miles from Cape Canaveral. The actual spaceflight was a success, but the hatch blew when the craft was in the Atlantic waiting for recovery and LB7 sank in ~15,000 feet of water.
No one knows for sure what happened to cause the hatch to blow. Grissom claimed that it just blew off. Tom Wolfe in his 1979 book, "The Right Stuff", claimed that according to the medical records (Grissom was wired up during his flight), Grissom was in a highly nervous/excited state, and Wolfe believes Grissom blew the hatch. Since then various people have come to Grissom's defense. It was known that actuating the explosive hatch would cause the user to get bruises on his hand, essentially from the "blowback", and Grissom's hands did not show this pattern. Also, the helicopter pilot that was tasked to pick up LB7 mentioned that only after the spacecraft was semi-lifted out of the water would Grissom emerge from the craft, since before the craft was semi-lifted the hatch would have been partially below the waterline. Given that Grissom was well trained in this recovery procedure, and had gone through it with the helicopter pilot during training, it is difficult to believe that with Grissom being able to see water/waves surging above the hatch that he would blow the hatch.
It is well know that Grissom brought dimes with him on his flight. Specifically he brought 100 dimes in 2 rolls. Of the 3 dimes that I have seen all have been 1961-D Roosevelts. I own one of them (ex. Jerry Hammack, a well known NASA person). LB7 was recovered in 1999. While restoration work was being done on it 52 Mercury dimes were recovered in the spacecraft. It is now believed that these dimes were NOT brought along by Grissom, but were instead smuggled on board LB7 by McDonnell technicians (McDonnell was the manufacturer of the Mercury spacecraft). From the location of the dimes it is believed that the dimes were placed in the pocket on the front of the periscope. One of these dimes, a 1936, just went up for auction today. It clearly is heavily circulated, shows a shipwreck effect, and has II35 carved on the reverse, most likely to help the technician who placed it there determine his coin. It was estimated that the coin would go for ~$1,200 - $2,400. While the coin was of interest to me, given it's condition, and given that I own this coin (which cost me ~ $2,300)...
... I was only willing to spend at most $200 - $300 on the Mercury. By the beginning of the auction this price had already been comfortably exceeded, so I did NOT bid on the Merc. So, here's the 1936 Mercury, how much do you think it went for?:
I understand that when the bidders were bidding on this coin they were contemplating it's history, not it's condition. I CERTAINLY have the SM bug as bad as any other junkie out there. Still, barring a one of a kind space flown coin, I can't see spending big bucks on a coin in this condition. This Mercury went for $3,585.
As mentioned above, I did win three lots. Two of them are your basic autographed pictures:
Gemini 12 (Jim Lovell, Buzz Aldrin).
Apollo 12 ("Pete" Conrad, Dick Gordon, Al Bean).
The third item was a little metallic plate (.875" x .75") encased in lucite (~2.75" x 2.75"). It was created by the Bendix corp. as a memento for the Apollo Lunar Surface Experiments Package (ALSEP), and was carried to the Moon's surface by the Apollo 14 crew. The ALSEP package included such scientific equipment as a seismometer, a charged particle detector, a Laser Ranging Retroreflector (LRRR) etc. All experiments aside from the LRRR were powered by a central power unit that utilized the heat from the radioactive decay of plutonium-238 to generate electricity.
Basically "Flown" Apollo items have various levels of difficulty to find/purchase. From easiest to most difficult it would go:
Earth orbit (from Apollo's 7 & 9), Lunar orbit, Lunar surface (in the LM), and, finally, used on the Lunar surface. This is the first time I've ever seen anything relating to the ALSEP up for auction. Given that it has, at a minimum, gone to the Lunar surface, and given my scientific background, I'm very happy to have won this sucker... and for about half of the low end estimate of what it was thought it would go for.
Top.
Bottom.
Outer box.
The power source for the ALSEP burned out (decayed) long ago, but one item/experiment, since it is a passive item (e.g. the power is supplied by another source), is still functioning and should continue to function (barring a meteorite strike) well after the human race goes belly up. It is the LRRR. By aiming lasers at it from many areas on the Earth's surface we are able (amongst a variety of several other things) to determine the actual rate of Continental Drift.
Here are two images of the ALSEP on the surface at the Apollo 14 Fra Mauro site. The person in both pictures is Edgar Mitchell, the same guy who signed the box. The object in the foreground of the first image is the LRRR. It can also be seen about 1 - 2 o'clock to the gold covered item in the second image.
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Btw cool pics.
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I was ten or there abouts at the time of Mercury 7 and around sixteen/seventeen/eighteen when all of the initial moon stuff was happening. Your post brings back some memories. By the time Apollo 17 happened I was in my third semester of college and barely aware that it was going on (of course, it did take place during finals).
I did get the chance to meet Harrison Schmitt in my in-law's living room one Christmas (around 1990/91) - it was a real treat. My wife and Jack's wife grew up knowing each other in Los Alamos. The Schmitts made a habit of dropping in on my in-laws every year or two just to catch up. Very nice folks. Some very unique life experiences that man, and all of the others, have had.
–John Adams, 1826
Greg
Not really looking for much these days but if I were, it might be a toner.
I actually would rather have the 61 Roosie instead of the Merc. here because that is the date of the flight.
Really neat!
TTT for the morning crew.
U.S. Type Set
In honor of the memory of Cpl. Michael E. Thompson
You convinced me! I'm taking my meager coin collection, sticking it in my homemade rocket (lots of duct tape), and launching it 100km straight up. If I'm lucky enough to recover it after it lands, it's straight to the BST with a gigantic Space Premium!
<< <i>You convinced me! I'm taking my meager coin collection, sticking it in my homemade rocket (lots of duct tape), and launching it 100km straight up. If I'm lucky enough to recover it after it lands, it's straight to the BST with a gigantic Space Premium! >>
Actually, even if you did do that, there are a fair amount of flown numismatic items out there these days. There are quite a few coins that have flown on the shuttle, and the Russians also bring a bunch of stuff up there with them.
One thing that you have to understand is that the shuttle is immense compared to the earlier spacecraft... particularly the Mercury and Gemini spacecraft. In those craft the astronauts had essentially as much space as within a phone booth. The shuttle can fit a school bus back in the equipment bay (granted, the human habitable part of the shuttle is forward of the equipment bay, but a lot of stuff that isn't pressure sensitive gets stuck back in the equipment bay). Also don't forget that only 6 Mercury craft flew, while there have been over 125 shuttle flights (the next one will be 133). Basically, stuff that is flown on the shuttle or on Russian Soyuz's is relatively common.
So, realistically, barring you sending your numismania to the Moon or Mars, post-Apollo numismania is relatively inexpensive.
U.S. Type Set
I can think of a couple..........
1. History
2. Memorabilia
3.
Any others?
Leo
The more qualities observed in a coin, the more desirable that coin becomes!
My Jefferson Nickel Collection
Did about M1 in an F4 . . . but these guys did that on their way to work!
Great post!
Drunner