By Alicia Powell
(Reuters) – Unique and historical artifacts dubbed “Remarkable Rarities” will be up for grabs at RR Auction in Boston on June 23rd, featuring items from kings, presidents and the moon in the live and online sale.
“The item that I’m most excited about is this Apollo 11 scientific experiment where they fed cockroaches lunar material from Apollo 11,” said Executive Vice President Bobby Livingston of RR Auction.
“This is the material, the lunar material that was digested by the cockroaches during destructive testing. This moon dust was eaten by cockroaches. And this is the remnants of it,” he added.
The early estimate for the dust, cockroaches and memorabilia is set at $400,000.
Autographed items from Baby Ruth, Henry VIII and Sitting Bull are expected to fetch top dollar.
“If it wasn’t signed, it’s still very valuable,” said Livingston of the Sitting Bull photo with his family.
“But he’s applied his signature to the bottom Sitting Bull, and you just don’t get photos of him autographed. “We expect it to see for around $30,000.”
Other highlights in the 50 item auction include an 1943 German Enigma machine that’s estimated at $275,000 and an Elon Musk signed dollar bill listed at $5,000.
(Reporting by Alicia Powell; editing by Diane Craft)
