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| Appraisal ID: | 63669 | |
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| Appraised On: | 02-02-2005 | |
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| Title: | Skylab 1-limited edition display piece | |
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| Date/Era/Period: | 1979 | |
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| Item URL: | Click Here To View | |
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| Description: | It is a Limited Edition Display piece of Skylab 1 that crashed to Earth in Australia in 1979. Encased in Plastic with 1 copy of an actual letter from NASA dated November 20, 1979 to Mr Norton and finally signed by Raymond L. Gause, PHD--Leader of NASA Skylab Team. ALso 1 display card that explains the importance of Skylab 1, launch date, what happend to it = info etc. and 1 display card of the actual larger piece that mine came from showing the couple that found it standing next to it. The plastic encasing need some buffering other than that Excellent condition. Still colorful pictures. Slighty burned from re-entry back to Earth you can see the burned edges. The Skylab piece is about 2" long by 3/4' in height. Gold in color with some slight re-entry burns from outer space re-entry. It is Entire display is 4 1/2 " high and 2 1/2 in diameter. Very Fine condition when polished up and scratch marks removed. Flash shows glare. | |
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| Grade: | Fine | |
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| Condition: | The plastic enclosure has some scratches that can be easily removed. It is a solid piece of plastic with everything perfeclty set in the plastic. Good color on the color portions of the cards inside, Very fine detail and completely readable copy of the NASA letter. Perfect. | |
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| Origin: | I purchased it for 1$ at a swap meet about 10 years ago. | |
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| Provenance: | No idea how many were made, have never seen one in 10+ years. But it was released by NASA as a display piece of Skylab 1. Original | |
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| Appraised By: | Elizabeth Parodi |
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| History Of The Item: | Skylab 1 was launched into orbit on May 14, 1973 by a Saturn V booster. Almost immediately, technical problems developed due to vibrations during lift-off. A critical meteoroid shield ripped off taking one of the craft's two solar panels with it; a piece of the shield wrapped around the other panel keeping it from deploying.
Skylab was maneuvered so its Apollo Telescope Mount (ATM) solar panels faced the Sun to provide as much electricity as possible. Because of the loss of the meteoroid shield, however, this positioning caused workshop temperatures to rise to 52 degrees Celsius (126 degrees F). The launch of Skylab 2 was postponed while NASA engineers, in an intensive 10-day period, developed procedures and trained the crew to make the workshop habitable. At the same time, engineers "rolled" Skylab to lower the temperature of the workshop. |
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| Appraiser Tips: | I would add not to try and take the little globe apart and touch the fragment, as the acid on your fingers could cause damage to the metal. |
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| Research Sources: | You happened upon an appraiser whose husband works at Caltech in Pasadena and helped put together the Mars Rover. All information put together is from personal knowledge as my husabnd also collects space memorabilia. |
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| Appraiser Comments: | I am not sure where you live, but if you are interested in space and science, and collect space memorabilia, JPL in Pasadena, California has an open house every spring (usually around April) for people to come and learn/parcipate/explore all of the advances that have been accomplished in space travel and exploration. It is a three day event, and it takes a good part of all day to see most everything. JPL is built on a hillside, so be prepared for a little hike, and wear comfortable shoes! Now for the good news: Your $1.00 "space chunk" is now worth about $750.00! |
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This online appraisal is an expert's opinion of the item(s) depicted above based solely on images and information supplied by our customer. Additional information, not shown on this certificate, may have been taken into account for this online Appraisal. Please Note: Our service strives to include the best international authorities in their respective fields. While the appraiser may be an expert in rendering the valuation, please understand that they may not be completely fluent in English. * Current Fair Market Value is the amount someone might receive when selling their item to a dealer or at auction. It is also the amount most government tax agencies (IRS, Revenue Canada, Inland Revenue, etc.) recognize as the tax deductible amount were the item donated to a charitable organization. ** Replacement Cost is the retail amount one might reasonably pay to purchase the item from a dealer, gallery, store, etc. It is also the amount for which one may want to insure an item. For currency conversion go to http://www.xe.net/ucc/full.shtml Whatsitworthtoyou.com |
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