GUEST: I started out at North American Aviation as an inspector, and I worked myself up to an engineer. I started collecting the photos after Apollo 1 burned up. When I went to the Cape, a-and the launch team, they sold us these jackets. I mean, we didn't have to buy 'em, but we just all wanted to wear 'em, so we all bought these jackets.
APPRAISER: Do you remember what you paid for the jacket?
GUEST: Yeah, I think it was 40 bucks, which was a lot of money in the '60s.
APPRAISER: Mm-hm.
GUEST (laughing): You know, so... So, but it was, it was worth every penny.
APPRAISER: What was your role with... with...?
GUEST (stammering): I was in quality control. I tested everything before the astronauts would come in the, in the spacecraft, and that's what I'm doing in that one picture there. I'm, uh, firing these rockets right here on the service module. This is command module, this is the service module, and I'm firing these little 100-pound thruster engines.
APPRAISER: If we pick this up, it's just, it's in a couple of pieces, but you can see that that's the...
GUEST: Yes.
APPRAISER: So you're in the command module?
GUEST: I'm in the command module.
APPRAISER: Firing that.
GUEST: This is the Apollo without the first and second stage rocket.
APPRAISER: How did you acquire this particular model?
GUEST: Oh, it was given to me years ago. Uh, I just earned it, like. And then, so I just started getting all the astronauts to sign it.
APPRAISER: You've captured 15 astronaut signatures...
GUEST: Yeah, yeah.
APPRAISER: ...on the capsule portion of this.
GUEST: Right.
APPRAISER: And so you were friends with them all and...?
GUEST: I was good friends with them, I met 'em in the early '60s. We had to go through classes together, so I got to know 'em on a personal basis, and they're crazy guys, so we had a lot of fun.
APPRAISER: Okay, and then this was a, a North American Aviation...
GUEST: Yes.
APPRAISER: ...Apollo spacecraft model-- it's the executive model, is what, is what it's referred to as.
GUEST: Yes, yes.
APPRAISER: Talk about the North American Aviation Group relative to NASA.
GUEST: Well...
APPRAISER: How did those two organizations work together?
GUEST: They gave us the contract, and we interpreted the contract and, and then had get the approval for the design and everything, and then we built it to their specifications.
APPRAISER: Okay, now let's talk about this burnt up sticker.
GUEST: What happens is when the spacecraft would come back to Downey, we would strip 'em all down, take all this stuff off 'em and make 'em pretty. And so this arrow, which is right here, they were scraping all this stuff off. They were throwing it away in a big pile. So I ju-just gave it to me. This label was, uh... Another guy gave that to me, and he gave it to me because I was the final person to stamp saying that, hey, we got a good product. This is the serial number, 107. So we called it 107, and then when it went to the Cape, it became Apollo 11 in this case.
APPRAISER: So that's the serial number sticker?
GUEST: Yes, for—
APPRAISER: Off of the Apollo 11 command module?
GUEST: Yes.
APPRAISER: You realize that space nerds everywhere are going crazy right now?
GUEST: Well, I hope so. (chuckles)
APPRAISER: Have you ever had it appraised? Or you have any, any clue as to what these things might be worth?
GUEST: No. No. None at all.
APPRAISER: Space stuff is hot. So the first thing I want to talk about is, is the jacket. So that was your jacket, you paid $40 for it?
GUEST: Yes.
APPRAISER: If I estimate it at auction today, I would guess it would sell for between $3,000 and $5,000.
GUEST: (chuckling) Really? Okay.
APPRAISER: This model is the executive model.
GUEST: Yes.
APPRAISER: They have come up at auction before. Uh, they have not come up with the signatures that you have. We see there's Walt Cunningham. There's Buzz Aldrin. Right up here, ever so faint, is Neil Armstrong.
GUEST: Yes.
APPRAISER: We see Alan Shepard. Alan's-Alan's one of the most well-known astronauts, but his signature is not worth that much because he signed so much stuff.
GUEST: (chuckles)
APPRAISER: It's fantastic. So if we estimated this at auction today, I think conservatively, it would carry an estimate between $20,000 and $30,000.
GUEST: (chuckles) Okay. I don't know if I really wanted to know that, but... (laughs) It just sits in my man cave.
APPRAISER: (chuckles) Well, that's a nice thing to have in the man cave.
GUEST: Yes, yes.
APPRAISER: We have the rescue sticker, and then this was the serial number label off the inside of the capsule door.
GUEST: Inside.
APPRAISER: If we offered the two stickers together...
GUEST: Mm-hm.
APPRAISER: ...you would see those with an estimate of between $30,000 and $50,000.
GUEST: (chuckles) Okay. I'm donating this to my niece, so she'll be happy to hear that. (laughs)
APPRAISER: The total here would be between $53,000 and $85,000.
GUEST: That's amazing.
