Astronaut’s Omega Speedmaster could fly to $350K at RR Auction, Oct. 20

Wally Schirra’s 18K solid gold Omega Speedmaster Professional watch, estimated at $250,000-$350,000

BOSTON – RR Auction‘s Fall Space and Aviation sale closes on Thursday, October 20. This high-flying auction features more than 800 items, ranging from the dawn of aviation to the commercial spaceflight of today. Lots include astronaut and cosmonaut autographs, hard-to-find vintage space models, early NASA hardware and literature, and more. View the fully illustrated catalog on LiveAuctioneers.

Among the standouts is the electronic communications module worn inside Gene Cernan’s Snoopy cap during the Apollo 17 mission. This lunar-flown headpiece — worn by Cernan during all three of his EVAs (extra-vehicular activities, aka spacewalks) — was inventoried and placed into NASA-bonded storage shortly after the Apollo 17 crew returned to Earth. The artifact was later deaccessioned from the Government via GSA auction. It has an estimate of $50,000-$75,000.

Communications module worn by Gene Cernan during the Apollo 17 lunar mission, estimated at $50,000-$75,000

Also on offer is Wally Schirra’s 18K solid gold Omega Speedmaster Professional watch, a one-of-a-kind timepiece that was presented exclusively to NASA’s earliest astronauts.

Recognized as the first model of gold Speedmaster that Omega created, the watch features an 18K gold case with the same design cues and dimensions as the regular steel Speedmaster Professional. Omega presented 26 of these gold commemorative watches — known as the Tribute to Astronauts watch — to NASA astronauts, with the case back of each watch specially engraved with a quote, the name and missions of the astronaut, and a unique number relative to when the astronaut flew into space. Schirra’s Omega Speedmaster Professional watch carries an estimate of $250,000-$350,000.

The Space Exploration Auction from RR Auction will conclude on Thursday, October 20. For more information, go to www.rrauction.com.

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