Art News

Swatch from Moon-Bound Flag Unsold at Ira & Larry Goldberg Coins & Collectibles

LOS ANGELES, CA (AP).- It was one small step for man, and one small price that just wasn’t enough. A strip of fabric shorn from the American flag before it went to the moon with Apollo 11 astronauts pulled in a top bid of $60,000 at a Los Angeles auction on Sunday, but didn’t meet the auction house’s minimum reserve price of $95,000 and was not sold. For now it will stay in the possession of owner Tom Moser, the retired NASA engineer who rescued it from the trash in 1969. “When you’re dealing with a unique item there’s no way to anticipate either value or interest, so it’s really a blind item,” said auctioneer Michael Orenstein. “I would say we established a market.” Orenstein had earlier expressed hope that the strip from what he called “the most-viewed flag in American history” along with a photo bearing Neil Armstrong’s autograph would fetch $100,000 to $150,000.