OK, which one of you did this?!?

[Ozone]

Amelia Earhart's flight cap sold for over $800,000!!!!!
Who bought it? Fess up!

article on the cap: https://www.nytimes.com/2022/02/10/nyregion/amelia-earhart-aviator-helmet.html

 

[Lowflynjack]

It was me. Tired of all of the bald jokes. I'm going to wear it all the time.

 

[SkyDog58]

Are you sure you don’t have an extra zero in there?

 

[Lowflynjack]

Are you sure you don’t have an extra zero in there?

Agree. Predictions were that it would sell for $80K.

 

[PaulS]

I thought about it, but she had a puny head, didn't fit me.

 

[Zeldman]

So, they found Amelia's flight cap but not Amelia.??

 

[DaleB]

Are you sure you don’t have an extra zero in there?

Agree. Predictions were that it would sell for $80K.

NYT Metro on Twitter: "Amelia Earhart's iconic leather aviator helmet — recently discovered after nearly a century missing — was sold at auction yesterday. Bidding started at $20,000 and was expected to go as high as $80,000. In the end, the winning anonymous bid was $825,000. https://t.co/cHqppWH8jL" / Twitter

 

[Lowflynjack]

NYT Metro on Twitter: "Amelia Earhart's iconic leather aviator helmet — recently discovered after nearly a century missing — was sold at auction yesterday. Bidding started at $20,000 and was expected to go as high as $80,000. In the end, the winning anonymous bid was $825,000. https://t.co/cHqppWH8jL" / Twitter

Wow!

 

[SkyDog58]

Thanks for that info. I did a search and only saw the $80K prediction, I didn't see the actual final sale price. One would have to be a real fanatic to pay that much money for it. Strange story though about how it was rediscovered.

 

[Zeldman]

Strange story though about how it was rediscovered.

Maybe someone needs to check under the floorboards for bones...

 

[BrianNC]

So, they found Amelia's flight cap but not Amelia.??

Good question!

 

[Rock714]

It was AOPA

 

[lsaway]

One would have to be a real fanatic to pay that much money for it.

Museums with wealthy benefactors would buy this. There are often multiple museum curators at these auctions.

 

[GaryM]

Maybe someone needs to check under the floorboards for bones...

TIGHAR needs to re-orient their search grid and redouble their fundraising efforts!

 

[lsaway]

So, they found Amelia's flight cap but not Amelia.??

Its not the cap she was wearing on her final voyage. Its reported to be a cap she wore at the Women's National Derby in 1929.

 

[luvflyin]

So, they found Amelia's flight cap but not Amelia.??

Nope. But maybe if they follow the money, they will find her.

 

[SkyDog58]

Museums with wealthy benefactors would buy this. There are often multiple museum curators at these auctions.

While a museum might want it if it was truly authentic, I doubt if they’d pay that much for it. It simply isn’t that historically significant of an item.

 

[Half Fast]

Its not the cap she was wearing on her final voyage. Its reported to be a cap she wore at the Women's National Derby in 1929.

And she finished third in that race.

Wouldn't the cap of race winner Louise Thaden be worth more than that of a third place finisher? Yet we don't hear nearly as much about Louise, or any of the other great women aviators. Amelia gets all the press. I'm convinced that Amelia's real talent lay not in aviation, but in promotion.

 

[RingLaserGyroSandwich]

800K would buy a lot of airplane and/or fuel/mx. No way I'd buy someone's hat.

 

[Lindberg]

Its not the cap she was wearing on her final voyage.

How can we be sure?

 

[DavidWhite]

Maybe someone needs to check under the floorboards for bones...

For Amelia or Jimmy Hoffa?

 

[woodchucker]

And she finished third in that race.

Wouldn't the cap of race winner Louise Thaden be worth more than that of a third place finisher? Yet we don't hear nearly as much about Louise, or any of the other great women aviators. Amelia gets all the press. I'm convinced that Amelia's real talent lay not in aviation, but in promotion.

Not to be crude, but she’s no longer alive. Kinda wrong to blame her on the cap. In any case that self-promotion thing lives on in this day and age.

At least she never bailed out of a perfectly good airplane to score dollars … unlike some of our new age people.

 

[Capngrog]

And she finished third in that race.

Wouldn't the cap of race winner Louise Thaden be worth more than that of a third place finisher? Yet we don't hear nearly as much about Louise, or any of the other great women aviators. Amelia gets all the press. I'm convinced that Amelia's real talent lay not in aviation, but in promotion.

Amelia was married to George Putnam, the publisher, who managed the promoting of Amelia.

 

[lsaway]

While a museum might want it if it was truly authentic, I doubt if they’d pay that much for it. It simply isn’t that historically significant of an item.

You can't underestimate the irrational things billionaire donors may buy. They don't think the same way we do.

 

[SkyDog58]

You can't underestimate the irrational things billionaire donors may buy. They don't think the same way we do.

You are right about that. I have often marveled at the ingenious and brilliant ideas that some billionaires came up with to get rich only to be stupefied by how they spend their billions.