Quote:
Originally Posted by Tennis13
I literally was looking for some of her stuff the other day, and I had never searched for her cards, but was curious what was out there. I love history -- and have always sort of checked out astronaut stuff on the fringes, but have yet to buy anything there, either.
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I always look on eBay to see what Earhart stuff gets listed. Here is a link to her PSA set registry: The owner of the registry in the link is a member here.
https://www.psacard.com/psasetregist...shedset/141443
The 1933 Orami Heroes of the Air card looks like such a cool card, with Earhart looking at a model plane with a young girl. But PSA has only graded three of that card, and I have never seen one for sale/auction. There appears to be an error in the images, however. The 1938 Mars Confections card depicts a signed Earhart check instead of the correct card.
One of the other Earhart items that shows up from time to time and is pretty cool comes from the Smithsonian. In the 1970s, the Smithsonian reskinned several of the famous planes in their possession and made small pieces of the plane's fabric available to the public. Now, it seems amazing that the Smithsonian would actually do such a thing. But some of the Earhart samples from the Lockheed Vega she used to cross the Atlantic in 1932 do show up from time to time on eBay and typically sell for a few hundred dollars.
https://www.ebay.com/itm/Smithsonian...gAAOSwlBhanugS
I am not an autograph guy at all, but Earhart was a prolific signer. Her autograph is not rare, just expensive. She would frequently takes covers with her on many of her famous trips, autograph them, then sell them to the public after the trip ended. At some of her speaking engagements, she would give give brief plane rides to members of the crowd or well-connected patrons. The autographed cards also show up from time to time on eBay and will list the person's name and what number the person was in line for the chance to take a brief ride with Earhart that day.
https://www.skinnerinc.com/auctions/2764B/lots/24
It is has been speculated that one of the reasons Earhart left her trailing antenna behind in Miami on her ill-fated final flight was because she did not want to carry the nine-pound antenna along. She was obsessed with saving weight on the plane, yet carried hundreds of covers with her that were postmarked/autographed during her flight and were contracted to be sold for a total of $25,000 once the around the world flight was completed. Not taking the trailing antenna with her greatly reduced Earhart's ability to communicate with the Coast Guard cutter Itasca when she was unable to locate Howland island. She also did not have adequate knowledge of Morse Code, and repeatedly showed no interest in learning the skill.