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Description

BEEP BEEP!

Apollo 14 Flown Back-Up Crew Mission Patch on Signed Mat Originally from the Personal Collection of North American Aviation President William B. Bergen. A 4.25" x 3.75" oval patch mounted to a printed parchment paper certificate of 13.5" x 10.5" (sight size), framed to an overall 19" x 16". Printed beneath the patch: "This Patch Reluctantly Carried/ to the Moon on Apollo 14/ to/ Bill Bergen/ from/ The First Team". Beneath are the names and original signatures of all three members of the backup crew for Apollo 14: "Gene Cernan", "Ron Evans", and "Joe Engle". Frame with some scratching, light toning to the mat, and the signatures have faded just a bit. Very fine otherwise.

The official insignia for this flight showed a gold astronaut pin traveling from the Earth to the moon with "Apollo 14" above and "Shepard - Roosa - Mitchell" below. The backup crew spoofed the patch with its own revised version with artwork showing the Road Runner cartoon character on the moon, holding a U.S. flag and a flag labeled "1st Team," as a gray-bearded (for Shepard, who was 47), pot bellied (for Mitchell who was pudgy), red furred (for Roosa's red hair) Wile E. Coyote flies from Earth. "BEEP BEEP" replaces the flight name above and the backup crew's names are below. Before the launch, the backup crew had complete access to the spacecraft. While setting switches and checking gauges, they stuffed every available nook and cranny with these "gotcha" patches. As Gene Cernan wrote in his book, The Last Man on the Moon, "...All the way to the moon and back, even on the lunar surface, whenever the crew opened a box, bag, or locker, out would float a First Team mission patch... Perhaps the most repeated phrase on the private radio loop during the flight of Apollo 14 was Shepard's annoyance when still another patch would suddenly appear. 'Tell Cernan,' he growled, 'Beep-Beep, his ass'..." A great opportunity to own one of these (in)famous Apollo 14 flown patches as well as three important autographs.


Auction Info

Auction Dates
May, 2012
12th Saturday
Bids + Registered Phone Bidders: 12
Lot Tracking Activity: N/A
Page Views: 1,546

Buyer's Premium per Lot:
19.5% of the successful bid per lot.

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Sold on May 12, 2012 for: $4,780.00
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