Peak season notice: Shipping for this category may take 14–21 business days after cleared payment. Thanks for your patience.
General Nikolai Kamanin: Photo Album Presented to Him by the People of Orenburg, Signed by Yuri Gagarin dated June 1961, from...
Description
General Nikolai Kamanin: Photo Album Presented to Him by the People of Orenburg, Signed by Yuri Gagarin dated June 1961, from Kamanin's Personal Collection. Nikolai Kamanin traveled with Yuri Gagarin to Orenburg, Russia, in June 1961 for a major public event following Gagarin's Vostok 1 flight. Contemporary Soviet sources and entries from Kamanin's diaries describe how, after Gagarin's successful world-orbit mission in April 1961, he and Kamanin embarked on multiple domestic and international appearances between May and September that year, including a ceremonial visit to Orenburg, the city where Gagarin had trained as a pilot at the First Chkalov Air Force Pilot School. The Orenburg visit occurred in June 1961 and featured a celebratory presentation honoring both Gagarin's achievement and the Air Force's role in the early space program, with Kamanin accompanying him in his official capacity as head of cosmonaut training and his de facto public mentor during the early post-flight months.Offered here is the photo album given to Kamanin as a souvenir of that visit. It is 12" x 8" x 1.5" and bound in green leatherette with a color postcard of Gagarin on the cover. Inside the front cover is pasted an 8.25" x 6.25" gold ink printed label in Russian: "To Nikolai Petrovich Kamanin/ from the people of Orenburg/ June 1961". It is signed in black ink: "Yuri Gagarin/ 15 June 1961". Inside are thirty-eight high quality 7" x 5" glossy B&W photos mounted to heavyweight pages, spanning the entire visit. A completely unique item. Binding loose, light wear to front cover, fine. From an important collection of Soviet-era Space history
Auction Info
Buyer's Premium per Lot:
25% of the successful bid (minimum $49) per lot.
This lot is in: 1 -
Signature® Floor Session (Live Floor, Live Phone, Mail, Fax, Internet, and Heritage Live):
(Lots 50001-50227) - 10:00 AM Central Time, Thursday, December 11, 2025.
[Proxy bidding ends ten minutes prior to the session start time. Live Proxy bidding on Heritage Live now starts within 2 hours of when the auction opens for proxy bidding and continues through the live session.]
Exhibition Viewing Times, Title Page, Floor Session and License Information
Additional Location Info:
Heritage Auctions
2801 W. Airport Freeway
Dallas, TX 75261
Terms and Conditions | Bidding Guidelines and Bid Increments | Glossary of Terms
** Lots bearing estimates and without Consignor Reserve shall open at Heritage Auctions' discretion (usually 25% to 60% of the low estimate).