Lunar Base Demonstration Kit, ca. 1964

Appraised on: July 24, 2010

Appraised in: Biloxi, Mississippi

Appraised by: Rudy Franchi

Category: Collectibles

Episode Info: Biloxi, Hour 2 (#1514)

Originally Aired: May 9, 2011

IMAGE: 1 of 5  

Appraisal Video: (2:22)

GUEST: My father was the program manager for Advanced Space Studies for Boeing. And I know he worked on this project. This is the model for a 1964 lunar base. NASA had asked their various contractors to come up with ideas for lunar bases. My dad took this model all over the world-- to Warsaw, to France-- to try and promote international conferences, the idea of building a lunar base.

APPRAISER: How many people were supposed to be living here?

GUEST: According to the manual that I found among Daddy's things, it said four to six people would originally live on the moon, and then they would bring in more people with a Saturn Five rocket. It was part of the Apollo program, actually. These two halves go together.

APPRAISER: Yes, they fit together.

GUEST: You would put this half here and then, actually, there's a cone that fits on top, I assume for landing purposes.

APPRAISER: Right. Now, these are smaller versions of that, is that correct?

GUEST: That's correct. In the kit that I have, which has ten to 12 other pieces with it, there are lots of the smaller, which I assumed... that it would be like a lunar city, eventually. And this was going to be a moving laboratory.

APPRAISER: And this is a version of the lunar rover.

GUEST: That's correct. That's about two years after this model was made and a couple years before the lunar rover.

APPRAISER: And this is a picture of your dad?

GUEST: That's my father on the right. I think that was possibly at Marshall Space Center. It was someplace where he was working with some of the NASA personnel.

APPRAISER: It's really a masterpiece of model building, of industrial model building.

GUEST: It's great.

APPRAISER: The model is made of wood and metal. Approximately when was it made?

GUEST: Approximately 1964.

APPRAISER: It was very ambitious to begin with. It was a series of compromises. They had to keep on losing parts of it just to get somebody up on the moon. But you have to start off big if you're going to end up with anything. This is a fascinating chapter in the whole space program. Space collectibles are increasing constantly.

GUEST: Are they?

APPRAISER: Oh, yeah. And I would put a value on this whole entire package... I mean, this is the main thing, of course, the model, but I would say between $4,000 and $5,000 at auction.

GUEST: Really?

APPRAISER: For this particular table full of materials.

GUEST: Thank you so much. My dad would be really excited.