Amelia Earhart's goggles up for auction

Mon Sep 21, 2009 6:41 pm

From Profiles in History, that auction house that previously brought you the P-40 miniature from Flying Tigers and the script from Tora! Tora! Tora!, comes the pair of goggles Amelia Earhart wore when she flew the Atlantic:

http://www.profilesinhistory.com/index. ... 2&id=16757

OK, let the TIGHAR jokes commence...

They also have a TTT production sketch showing Cmdr. Fuchida's plane landing on a carrier with a reference to the USS Valley Forge - they've screwed that up to mean he's strafing it... :roll:

Mon Sep 21, 2009 6:48 pm

They don't happen to have any of Amelia's shoes or a rather beat up P-38 for auction do they? What about a TBD?

Wow, those goggles are going for between $ 100,000 to $ 150,000. What a bargain! Anybody here want to trade in their T-6 for those goggles?

Mon Sep 21, 2009 7:00 pm

At that price they better come with an Electra, a fixer upper, granted...... :wink:

Mon Sep 21, 2009 7:44 pm

actually TIGHAR is going to buy them, then they will show up buried on some island in the Pacific as proof that TIGHAR found where she crashed...................

Mon Sep 21, 2009 10:53 pm

Matt Gunsch wrote:actually TIGHAR is going to buy them, then they will show up buried on some island in the Pacific as proof that TIGHAR found where she crashed...................

I wouldn't be surprised. It never ceases to amaze me how much money Gillespie is able to pull in over the years despite a lack of any shred of credible evidence or results. His organization seems to be a public relations machine that is a cash cow.

Tue Sep 22, 2009 12:56 am

I wouldn't be surprised. It never ceases to amaze me how much money Gillespie is able to pull in over the years despite a lack of any shred of credible evidence or results. His organization seems to be a public relations machine that is a cash cow.

He's actually brilliant, he's probably created a good paying job for himself complete with expenses paid travel!

Tue Sep 22, 2009 7:39 am

under normal circumstances those goggles wouldn't bring jack crap at any auction!! but the fact that they are linked to amelia makes it a different scenario. i'm a little skeptical as to the provinence of the item. 1st, a statement by amelia's sister proves nothing, because i'm sure her eyes never saw the goggles up close prior. it's like stating amelia's sister said ........hey amelia!! 'let's see those great goggles!! 2nd, an error on amelia's behalf.... the cushion around the goggle base is most likely to be mouton fir, as w/ wool she'd scratch her schnozz off!! just because item is at a high profile auction house does not etch the item's history in stone. as to the autograph by amelia, i had a chance to buy 1. the guy even sent it to me not knowing me from adam. i studied that sig for weeks, & it was the real deal!! problem was it was written in pencil, the plague to most autograph collectors. anything in pencil can be altered, hence i passed. that doesn't mean any autograph in pencil isn't worth much , but it must be considered with amelia's fame / notoriety. signed , doubting thomas!! :wink:

Tue Sep 22, 2009 8:55 am

ahhhh.., this is just the beginning of the Hollywood drumroll up to the release date of this movie.

Boring subject..,great actors.., but terrible full length feature film topic.

Tue Sep 22, 2009 5:39 pm

tom d. friedman wrote: as to the autograph by amelia, i had a chance to buy 1. the guy even sent it to me not knowing me from adam. i studied that sig for weeks, & it was the real deal!! problem was it was written in pencil, the plague to most autograph collectors. anything in pencil can be altered, hence i passed. that doesn't mean any autograph in pencil isn't worth much , but it must be considered with amelia's fame / notoriety. signed , doubting thomas!!

Amelia's autographs are a dime a dozen and not particularly rare in the grand scheme of things. I have about 10 of her signatures. The average price for one of her signatures now is about $500 from what I've seen on Ebay as well as other auction and dealer sites. The "bible" of autograph collecting - the Sanders guide - puts her plain autograph at a value of $ 558. An autograph in pencil is actually much more valuable than one in pen or ink for the simple fact that pencil does not fade with exposure to time, UV light or fluorescent light. Ink does and consequently it won't last as long as a pencil autograph. For this reason, typically pencil autographs command higher prices than ink ones. As far as the "altering" aspect of pencil, I've never heard of that being an issue before. Any authenticator or veteran autograph dealer can usually tell when something has been altered. In my many years of collecting autographs, I've never personally seen an "altered" pencil signature.

Tue Sep 22, 2009 11:21 pm

i got my info from r&r autographs. supposedly the top authority in sigs in the country. to look at their catalog requires a drool cup!!

Wed Sep 23, 2009 4:16 am

warbird1 wrote:Amelia's autographs are a dime a dozen and not particularly rare in the grand scheme of things. I have about 10 of her signatures.

I'd be happy to give you a dime for one of her sigs - possibly even more!

Wed Sep 23, 2009 11:07 am

tom d. friedman wrote:i got my info from r&r autographs. supposedly the top authority in sigs in the country. to look at their catalog requires a drool cup!!

I'm a bidding pre-registered member of the R&R auction site. They are a neat company with many very rare and unique items. I don't like buying from them for the simple fact that most of their items are over-priced, especially when you consider that they add a 20% buyer's premium on top of the winning bid price. That can get very expensive. Every once in a while you can get good deals there, but most of the time it is not.

I've had my best luck at buying off of Ebay. There are many people who sell items that either they bought at garage sells, or are selling off "grandma's attic" and don't know the value of what they have. It's especially a good time to buy now as people are selling off family heirlooms due to the bad economy and to make ends meet. As an example, I bought an autographed Earhart book for $ 500, when the going rate was probably about $2000 for such a book. I got the book authenticated and got a signed, letter of provenance from the seller writing that his grandmother bought the book personally from a book store that Amelia had visited back in the early 30's. There are lots of deals out there, you just have to find them.