Aldrin also loaned the pen and the broken light switch to the Smithsonian. “Destination Moon” mobile exhibition Apollo 11 with the command module “Columbia”. The tour visited five U.S. cities over two years, including the 50th anniversary of the first moon landing in 2019.
Location of the engine arm circuit breaker on the Apollo Lunar Module that broke off on Apollo 11.
Credit: NASA
Location of the engine arm circuit breaker on the Apollo Lunar Module that broke off on Apollo 11.
Credit: NASA
A Law adopted in 2012 It confirmed that Aldrin and his fellow Apollo-era astronauts legally owned the spacecraft and other crew equipment they kept as souvenirs from their missions. The pieces are theirs to own, sell, trade or donate as they wish.
This was at least the second release of the pen and key. In 2022, Sotheby’s listed the same set as part of its “Buzz Aldrin: American Icon” sale. Despite bids of up to $650,000, the lot failed to reach its reserve and passed.
This time, the bids reached $670,000 and it was sold on behalf of the Buzz Aldrin Family Trust. The total of $857,600 includes a buyer’s premium assessed by Sotheby’s. The winning bidder was not identified as a telephone participant.
Not a record holder
While the sale price was impressive, the pen and key did not make the top 10 list of highest prices at public auctions for space artifacts and memorabilia. This rating starts at $1.625 million, in 2015 a Bulova watch is worn outside It matches the $2,882,500 spent on the lunar surface during the Apollo 15 mission in 1971 and the former Soviet Union’s Vostok 3KA-2 space capsule auctioned by Sotheby’s in 2011.
The broken circuit breaker that nearly ended Apollo 11 and the pen that Buzz Aldrin used to save himself and Neil Armstrong.
Credit: Sotheby’s
The broken circuit breaker that nearly ended Apollo 11 and the pen that Buzz Aldrin used to save himself and Neil Armstrong.
Credit: Sotheby’s
By comparison, the second-highest price for a space-flight artifact was $2,772,500. Aldrin’s Apollo 11 flight jacketSotheby’s sold it in 2022.
Wednesday’s “Space Exploration” sale was part of Sotheby’s annual Geek Week science and technology-themed auctions. The sale offered 134 lots, including more than 40 items from Aldrin’s collection. It grossed $2,862,336 in total.
A contemporary Moonshine gold Omega Speedmaster chronograph, one of 24 consigned by the Aldrin Family Trust, sold for $70,400. The same 2026 model still retails from Omega for $53,500.
Another selling point, and the only item other than the pen and key to sell for six figures, was the pressure hatch of the Skylab III command module that flew to and from the first US space station in 1974. It sold for $192,000.
