<p>A strip of fabric shorn from the American flag before it went to the moon with Apollo 11 astronauts pulled in a top bid of USD 60,000 at a Los Angeles auction yesterday, but didn't meet the auction house's minimum reserve price of USD 95,000 and was not sold.<br />For now it will stay in the possession of owner Tom Moser, the retired NASA engineer who rescued it from the trash in 1969.<br /><br />"When you're dealing with a unique item there's no way to anticipate either value or interest, so it's really a blind item," said auctioneer Michael Orenstein. "I would say we established a market."<br /><br />Orenstein had earlier expressed hope that the strip from what he called "the most-viewed flag in American history" along with a photo bearing Neil Armstrong's autograph would fetch USD 100,000 to USD 150,000.<br /><br />Orenstein said sometimes there would be minimal interest in an item then, "I put it in the next sale and it goes wild. That's the nature of the auction business."<br /><br />Other items at the space-themed auction met or surpassed expectations including a Collier trophy the so-called Oscar of aviation that was awarded to the crew of 1962's Mercury 7 mission and sold yesterday for USD 12,500.<br /><br />Orenstein said the auction as a whole was a big success with a 95 per cent sell-through rate.<br /><br />But the hopes were highest for the 18 cm strip of red and white fabric on consignment from Moser, the retired NASA engineer who was tasked with designing the moon-bound flag in the weeks before Apollo 11's 1969 launch.</p>
<p>A strip of fabric shorn from the American flag before it went to the moon with Apollo 11 astronauts pulled in a top bid of USD 60,000 at a Los Angeles auction yesterday, but didn't meet the auction house's minimum reserve price of USD 95,000 and was not sold.<br />For now it will stay in the possession of owner Tom Moser, the retired NASA engineer who rescued it from the trash in 1969.<br /><br />"When you're dealing with a unique item there's no way to anticipate either value or interest, so it's really a blind item," said auctioneer Michael Orenstein. "I would say we established a market."<br /><br />Orenstein had earlier expressed hope that the strip from what he called "the most-viewed flag in American history" along with a photo bearing Neil Armstrong's autograph would fetch USD 100,000 to USD 150,000.<br /><br />Orenstein said sometimes there would be minimal interest in an item then, "I put it in the next sale and it goes wild. That's the nature of the auction business."<br /><br />Other items at the space-themed auction met or surpassed expectations including a Collier trophy the so-called Oscar of aviation that was awarded to the crew of 1962's Mercury 7 mission and sold yesterday for USD 12,500.<br /><br />Orenstein said the auction as a whole was a big success with a 95 per cent sell-through rate.<br /><br />But the hopes were highest for the 18 cm strip of red and white fabric on consignment from Moser, the retired NASA engineer who was tasked with designing the moon-bound flag in the weeks before Apollo 11's 1969 launch.</p>