On Sunday, September 11th, Clars Auction Gallery featured an important collection of Amelia Earhart memorabilia as part of their September 10th and 11th Antiques and Art Auction. This collection gained worldwide media attention with special features on local, regional and national TV shows including Today on NBC. The importance of the collection, fueled by the strong media interest resulted in over over 23,000 catalog views at the Clars website. The collection, which consisted of 30 lots, achieved $31,000 overall with the most sought after being her famed Luxor No. 6 flying goggles.
The goggles came to the block with impressive provenance. Worn by Earhart when she experienced her first crash in July 1921 while learning to fly with Neta Snook, the goggles still evidenced a cracked lens. The bidding on this lot opened at $10,000 and quickly escalated to a final sale price of $17,775.
While the goggles were the highlight of the collection, there were also over 20 never before seen photographs that were given to by Earhart to the consignor’s mother. These unpublished gelatin silver prints sold for solidly within estimate with some going well over high. The two photos in particular which captured the hearts of collectors were a silver gelatin print of Earhart, signed and inscribed by her and dated 1937. This photo sold for $2,100. The second photo that tripled its high estimate was another photo of Earhart, signed and inscribed “To my friends of the radio audience.” This photo sold for $3,200.
Clars September 10th and 11th Antiques and Fine Art sale earned $1.5 million ranking as the 5th largest sale in their history.
For a complete list of prices realized on the Amelia Earhart Collection, please visiti www.Clars.com.
Bidding for Clars auctions is available in person, by phone, absentee and live online @ www.clars.com, and through www.liveauctioneers.com. To register to bid and for more information, call Clars Auction Gallery at (888) 339-7600, or email: [email protected]. Clars Auction Gallery is located at 5644 Telegraph Avenue, Oakland, CA 94609.
