Lapel Pins Lot 3 (Challenger)

Description

I was still in college on 28 January 1986, and that morning turned on the TV news to see how the Shuttle Challenger launch was going. It didn’t go well. The pin on the left is that mission’s lapel pin (and shoulder patch design). A few years(?) after the accident, NASA reissued the pin with a black, rather than white, border. By then I was working at JPL and thought that was a very touching tribute, so when they came out I immediately went to the employee gift shop and got the black one to go with the white one I already had. I’ve kept these two together since. The third pin is not related to that incident per se, but is a cool 3-D representation of the Shuttle in launch configuration.

The lettering on the black pin looks like it’s smeared, but that’s a photographic anomaly: I inspected both pins with a loupe and the lettering on both is very clear.

At Auction

How much is this worth? No idea whatever, hence the auction. I will also provide a signed letter describing the provenance. The starting price is $20, the increment is $7.50, and there is no reserve. It’s sold “as-is,” and domestic shipping is a flat $10 (Priority with tracking number).

Do not depend on email notifications of being outbid: come back at closing time and refresh every few minutes if you are intent on winning this one. Note that last-minute bids will delay the close of bidding by a few minutes.