The halls of New York auction house Sotheby’s are filled with dinosaurs, meteorites and exhibits that have traveled to the moon and back during annual “Geek Week,” when hundreds of science-themed objects are auctioned off.
Participants can bid on the pin Buzz Aldrin used to ignite the Eagle lander’s failed engines during the Apollo 11 mission, a raptor’s “killing” foot claw and a piece of the moon’s surface that broke off during an asteroid impact.
There is also a beautiful tourbillon up for auction that was worn on the wrist of a civilian astronaut who launched into space and flew around the International Space Station last April.
This year’s Geek Week has four categories: natural history; Buzz Aldrin: American icon; Jacob & Co. Astronomia Bucherer BLUE; and meteorites.
Online bidding opened on July 20th and the live auction is scheduled to take place on July 28th.
Scroll down for videos
Auction house Sotheby’s hosts their annual Geek Week and this year’s auction features items from Buzz Aldrin’s personal collection, including this pen
The Natural History category contains a treasure trove of fossilized dinosaur remains, including a Stegosaurus tail spike that is 150 million years old.
The tip of the tail is more than 17 inches long and still reveals the nutrient foramina and canals that once aided the dinosaur’s blood flow.
There’s also a “killing claw” a Dakotaraptor used to slash open large herbivorous dinosaurs as it roamed the earth 66 million years ago.
This dinosaur was lightly built and sported feathers all over its body.
There is a Natural History category that includes fossilized dinosaur remains. Pictured (left) is a stegosaurus tail spike that’s 150 million years old, and on the right is a claw that belonged to a feathered dinosaur
The claw was discovered in the Hell Creek Formation in Garfield County, Montana.
Also included is a 66-million-year-old Triceratops skull estimated to sell for up to $35,000 and a 50,000-year-old extinct American lion skull that could fetch up to $600,000 at auction, along with the skull a saber tooth. Tiger” still showing his long, sharp teeth.
The Natural History group’s main event is a complete Gorgosaurus skeleton that could fetch up to $8 million. The highest bid on Friday is $3.5 million.
The fossilized dinosaur, which is a relative of the Tyrannosaurus rex, measures 9.5 feet tall and 22 feet long.
There’s an entire section of Geek Week dedicated to the second man to walk on the moon.
Other dinosaurs will be featured at the auction, such as this massive Triceratops skull, which could fetch up to $35,000
Also listed in the natural history category is a 50,000 year old extinct American lion skull
The auction will take place online for the first seven days and will end in person on July 28th. Pictured is the skull of a saber-toothed “tiger” that still has its long, sharp teeth.
Aldrin is auctioning off his personal belongings from the Apollo mission. Many people may have seen news of his iconic white aviator jacket for sale, but what may have gone unnoticed is a silver marker.
The pen has a dent in its body which Aldrin used to replace a faulty circuit breaker to fire the Eagle lunar lander’s engines.
The thrusters failed and if they had not been activated, Aldrin and Neil Armstrong would not have been able to leave the moon.
In an act of desperation, Aldrin quickly took control of the situation and pushed the pin to where the defective circuit was.
The Natural History group’s main event is a complete Gorgosaurus skeleton that could fetch up to $8 million. The highest bid on Friday is $3.5 million
‘Houston says, ‘Hooray, we’ve got a live link!’ Aldrin explained when speaking to his daughter Jan years after the mission.
The pen could sell for as much as $2 million – it currently has a $700,000 bid.
Also from Aldrin’s personal collection is the custom earpiece he wore during the Apollo 11 mission.
The object is over three inches long and was shaped to fit perfectly in Aldrin’s ear so he can hear from Mission Control in Texas while he’s in space.
And the earbud could fetch up to $12,000.
Another interesting piece is Aldrin’s Presidential Medal of Freedom, presented to him by President Richard Nixon on August 13, 1969, which has been estimated at up to $30,000.
The news that Buzz Aldrin’s flight jacket has been sold made headlines earlier this week. Aldrin wore the white jumpsuit during his mission to the moon
However, the pen has a much more interesting history. Aldrin used it to replace a faulty circuit breaker to fire the Eagle lunar lander’s engines
Also in Aldrin’s personal collection is the earpiece he wore in space. This allowed him to communicate with Mission Control in Texas while he flew to the moon
Another interesting piece is Aldrin’s Presidential Medal of Freedom, presented to him by President Richard Nixon on August 13, 1969, which has been estimated at up to $30,000
Another space-themed category includes pieces of meteorites that fell from the sky onto our planet.
One of them is a disk from the Allende meteorite that hit Earth on February 8, 1969.
A meteor shower blasted through the sky as a fireball and descended on the southern Chihuahuanian village of Pueblito de Allende, Mexico, while shedding parts of itself in the process.
According to scientists, the disc contains particles formed during a supernova explosion before our solar system formed – making it the oldest matter ever held by humans.
Then there is the stunning slice of Imilac Pallasite, complete with brilliant yellow and orange gemstones.
The pallasites are a type of stony iron meteorite.
Another space-themed category includes pieces of meteorites that fell from the sky onto our planet. One of them is a disc from the Allende meteorite that came down on February 8, 1969. This meteorite contains particles thought to be the oldest matter ever contained – they formed 4.5 billion years ago
Then there is the stunning slice of Imilac Pallasite, complete with brilliant yellow and orange gemstones
There is also a meteorite that took a piece of the moon with it when it hit the lunar surface and then crossed orbits without our planet
Imilac was found in the Atacama Desert in northern Chile in 1822 and is believed to be 4.5 billion years old.
Sotheby’s estimates a bidder will pay up to $5,000 to display the exquisite piece in their home.
And while one bidder takes home an item Aldrin brought to the moon, another could actually own a piece of the moon’s surface.
A sample of a piece of the moon ejected into an Earth-crossing orbit after an asteroid impacted the lunar surface could sell for as much as $85,000.
Geek Week’s final category, Jacob & Co., Bucherer BLUE, does not include artifacts but a single watch that is the first tourbillon to ever fly into space.
The face of the Astronomia Tourbillo has a background that looks like the darkness of the last frontier illuminated by thousands of stars.
Geek Week’s final category, Jacob & Co., Bucherer BLUE, does not include artifacts but a single watch that is the first tourbillon to ever fly into space
One of the hands of the clocks is designed as earth and the other is a sparkling crystal.
The tourbillon launched on the wrist of Eytan Stibbe, who was traveling to the International Space Station aboard Axiom Space’s four-person civilian mission.
The Astronomia Tourbillon Bucherer BLUE spent 17 days an hour and 37 minutes in space as the astronauts orbited the Earth 273 times at an altitude of 250 miles at nearly 17,500 miles per hour, covering a total distance of over 7 million miles.
Sotheby’s hasn’t provided an estimated bid for the watch, but the top bid is $130,000 on Friday.