Collectables from outer space

While recently working on a local estate sale, we came across a variety of “space” collectibles. This is really quite a broad term for collectibles because there are so many categories from which to collect. Perhaps the most popular is anything from the heyday of lunar travel. The baby boomers remember watching those first footsteps on the moon on the black and white television. Even I remember watching the later Apollo missions on television with my little sister. Mom would make us a special bologna sandwich, which will ever be known as a “rocket ship” sandwich in the Spaulding household!

A great entry-level item for collectors that doesn’t take up a lot of space is the mission patch. Each NASA mission had its own patch that depicted the goal of the mission. These patches are all different and collectible and can be displayed easily on a wall or in a display case.

Of course with the movie made about the Apollo 13 mission, a new generation of people became interested in the “space race” and related collectibles. There are so many from which to choose such as stamps, actual space artifacts, astronaut autographs or commemorative medallions.

The younger generations are also now collecting items related to the Space Shuttle program now that it has been retired. Unfortunately, the most desirable items are those related to the tragic missions such as the Challenger and Columbia shuttles and crew. As with most collectibles, when the person passes away, the items related to them often go up in value.

Not only are the “real life” space collectibles wildly popular and readily available for the most part, but also the fictional space collectible branches such as robots, “Star Trek,” “Star Wars” and any other outer space item has its own group of enthusiasts. We will have to save those subjects for separate articles!

The rarest and most expensive space collectibles are items that were actually in space such as astronaut suits, pieces of equipment or dust or rocks brought back from the moon. A flight plan signed by Neil Armstrong recently brought $51,000 at an auction gallery. Make that if you are going to by high end items that they come from reputable dealers and have provenance and are professionally certified by experts. Just because something has a “certificate” doesn’t mean that it is real.

I hope that this topic has piqued your interest in one of the many genres of space collectibles. Anyone thirsty for some Tang? Happy Collecting!

Jillinda Falen has been buying and selling antiques for over 30 years. She is a licensed REALTOR and estate liquidation specialist. You can contact her through the HHJ or via email at jcfalen@gmail.com.

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