Neil Armstrong memorabilia brings more than $4 million in first day of Dallas auction

A space suit on display at the Neil Armstrong auction at Heritage Auctions in Dallas on Wednesday, Oct. 31, 2018. A space suit on display at the Neil Armstrong auction at Heritage Auctions in Dallas on Wednesday, Oct. 31, 2018. Photo: Elizabeth Conley, Houston Chronicle / Staff Photographer Photo: Elizabeth Conley, Houston Chronicle / Staff Photographer Image 1 of / 69 Caption Close Neil Armstrong memorabilia brings more than $4 million in first day of Dallas auction 1 / 69 Back to Gallery

UPDATE: When the first day of bidding came to a close at 12:20 a.m. Friday, people had spent more than $4.5 million on the Armstrong Family Collection.

DALLAS — Space enthusiasts stirred by Astronaut Neil Armstrong’s venture to the moon spent more than $4 million in just the first day of a rare auction of Armstrong’s personal collection of memorabilia.

The top seller by late Thursday was a plaque that held the Apollo 11 lunar module’s ID plate, which went for $468,500. Other big-ticket items were a 12-by-18-inch flag, a medal honoring the astronauts who died in the Apollo 1 fire two years prior and a piece of the Wright Flyer. All three went to the moon with Armstrong in 1969 and all three went for $275,000 each.

“It seems like it’s going well,” Mark Armstrong, Neil Armstrong’s son, said earlier in the day.

The auction will continue Friday by Dallas-based Heritage Auctions, which has held auctions for 20 astronaut families. Neil Armstrong, however, the first man to walk on the moon, is the “holy grail,” said auctioneer Mike Sadler.

Armstrong died in 2012 at age 82.

The auction is the first major sale of Armstrong’s personal collection that comes amid a growing demand for space collectibles as the 50th anniversary of the July 20, 1969 moon landing approaches. Two other auctions of Armstrong’s collection are planned in the next year: one in May and another in November.

Mark Armstrong said he and his brother, Rick, said they want to use the money for good — “to make mom and dad proud.”

Some of the money will go to charities and organizations, he said, and some of it will go toward a foundation he is creating that will be environmentally focused.

“Even though he was a scientist, dad was really environmentally conscious,” he said. “He always said Earth was our spaceship … We couldn’t build a better one so lets take care of the one we have.”

Only about 20 buyers gathered in the audience in Dallas, with the majority of the winning bids going to those participating online or by telephone. Heritage could not provide the total number of bidders Thursday.

One person in the room, Julie Ahlers, nabbed a flight suit worn by Armstrong during the Gemini program. Ahlers dropped more than $109,000 on the suit, which will be on display at the Neil Armstrong Museum in Armstrong’s hometown of Wapokoneta, Ohio. A piece of history like that should be viewed by everyone, she said, and what better place than Armstrong’s hometown.

Ahlers couldn’t hide her exuberance after winning the bid, and when the clapping died down, a man with her jokingly said, “She’s wearing it to bed tonight.”

She also spent $11,875 for a July 21, 1969 Newsweek magazine that has Armstrong on the cover and still includes the address level that was used to deliver it to his home in Texas. That, too, will go in the museum.

Another highly coveted item sold Thursday was an envelope signed by Armstrong, astronaut Buzz Aldrin and their third crewmate, Michael Collins. The envelope was considered “insurance cover” that family members could sell if the astronauts failed to return. It sold for $18,750.

Other items sold include a stainless steel throwing knife that went for $21,250, a Navy Aviator notebook for $18,750, and a crayon drawing of flowers Armstrong created for his mother that sold for $15,000.

Also popular among bidders were Armstrong’s Boy Scouts of America cap and his NASA patches.

The bidders weren’t just people with large pockets. Sandra and Gary McClellan, for example, nabbed several items related to Armstrong’s experimental test pilot phase, when he flew the X-15, a hypersonic rocket-powered aircraft operated by NASA and the U.S. Air Force. The pieces were important to the Fort Worth couple, Sandra said, because Gary was an experimental test pilot, like Armstrong.

“We appreciate things that came from back then,” Sandra McClellan said. Gary jumped in, finishing her train of thought.

“No one else is the first guy” on the moon, he said.

The couple bid with enthusiasm Thursday, Sandra’s hand shooting up so quickly for items — such as a plaque presented to Armstrong for the final X-15 flight — that several times she accidentally tried to outbid herself. They celebrated each win with a kiss, which always generated applause from the small crowd.

The couple has a solid collection of space memorabilia, Sandra said, and the items they took home Thursday would make it even stronger.

Bill Cress, CEO of SpaceExcess.com, a website that sells space-related items, also was bidding in Heritage’s Dallas showroom Thursday. He specifically was looking at the Wright Flyer pieces, as well as Armstrong’s vintage cameras.

“I saw some things that were interesting enough to peak my interest, both personally and for my company,” said Cress, who came all the way from New Jersey to attend the auction.

alex.stuckey@chron.com