Goldberg Coins and Collectibles

Sale 58

Manuscript, Collectibles and Aerospace Auction

Authors

Lot	Photo	Description	Realized
Lot 80		Gorky, Maxim (1868-1936) Russian author of novels, plays and an autobiography. He was involved in the failed 1905 Revolution and fled the country until 1914. Manuscript Letter Signed "M. Gorky" in Russian, one page, 10½ x 8½ in., n.p., Dec. 31 [1907]. Text in French in the hand of his wife, actress Maria Andreyeva (1868-1953). To Italian journalist Ugo Ojetti (1871-1946). The exiled writer says, in part, "…you know what it is like not to be at home, never do what one would like to do, we do nothing and at the same time, we are always so busy that the days go by like moments. We are leaving here tomorrow and the 3rd we will be at home in Capri and I will be able to work � what luck for a poor man who had not held a pen in two months… Ah � yes! Excuse me for having disturbed you, dear friends, I understand that the time is not favorable to publish even such a little thing because it is said that Nicholas is to visit the king of Italy. It is too bad that such a misfortune is happening to your beautiful country!…." On watermarked laid graph paper. Fine condition. Estimated Value $2,000 - 2,500. View details and enlarged photo	Unsold
Lot 82		*Lee, Harper - 1st Edition, Signed To Kill A Mockingbird.* Rare 1st Edition hardcover copy inscribed, signed, and dated "To Jean and Bill with best wishes, Harper Lee - Christmas 1988," J.B. Lippincott Co., Phladelphia & New York, 1960. Original dustjacket is present with several creases, small paper loss at front corners and spine ends, and tear at top center noted; a piece of tape, approximately 2 in. sq. is on verso. Inscription page is tipped in. The novel won the 1961 Pulitzer Prize and in 1962, Gregory Peck won the Oscar for his portrayal of Atticus Finch in the film based on the novel. In 2007, Harper Lee was awarded the Presidential Medal of Freedom by President George W. Bush for the book, which he said "has influenced the character of our country for the better." Estimated Value $1,000 - 1,300. View details and enlarged photo	Realized $3,840
Lot 83		Salinger, J.D (1919-2010) American author who withdrew from public life after the meteoric success of his novel, The Catcher in the Rye (1951). His letters are exceedingly rare and desirable and will become more so with his recent demise. The reclusive author responds to a letter from a woman who sympathizes with his desire for privacy, ironically beginning a series of letters and eventually, visits to his home. Archive of five original letters and a handwritten note from Salinger, with copies of four letters from his pen pal to him (New Hampshire), 1981-82. Salinger regularly used pseudonyms--"Jerry," "Armand," etc., in his correspondence with Mary Janet, later just Janet. (1) Typed Letter Signed, "Jerry," 2pp, 8½ x 5½ in., on goldenrod paper, with envelope postmarked from Vermont, March 12, 1981. Addressed to Mary Janet. Salinger attempts to explain a perhaps offensive remark in a previous letter then launches into a complex astrological reason for his ability and "comfort" in expressing his thoughts to her, "God knows I didn�t mean your mind is light or transitory, etc., but that one�s enthusiasms about astrology must in the end be, since it is so far from what passes in English for "reality." I just meant that Astrology, for me, is a prop and a tool for the dream we all live in, and that I didn�t think its importance, for you, would be different from what it is for me…I know several Leos pretty well, but have never known a Leo with a Capricorn ascendant…For that matter, I don�t know anyone else who has anything like your horoscope. Selfishly speaking, it�s phenomenally easy on me to type and mail thoughts to someone whose ascend. conjuncts my sun, moon, and Venus, whose Jupiter trine my sun, moon, and Venus, whose Venus conj. my Pluto and Jupiter in the Seventh House, and fascinatingly, a lot more than that…(signed) Jerry." Very fine condition with the usual folds. (2) Autograph Note Signed, "Armand," one page, 5½ x 4 in., on goldenrod paper, with envelope postmarked from Vermont, April 7, 1981, stapled to copy of a magazine article by Rene Dubois, "Nutritional Ambiguities, A diet suitable for one individual may be dangerously deficient for another." Addressed to Mary Janet. In full, "I thought the enclosed article might be comfort & solace To Tim [Mary Janet�s older brother]. (Maybe, To us all.) / Thine, / Armand." Fine with staple and fold. (3) Typed Letter Signed in type, "Chick," 2pp, 8½ x 5¾ in., on goldenrod paper, with envelope postmarked from Vermont, April 12, 1981. Addressed to Janet. Salinger opens the letter in typical humorous fashion, "Snug, provident to have the No. Berwick phone number, and Mom says she�s going to sew it into the hem of my pinafore," admits " I have whole drawerfuls of gloomy doubts, myself, that anyone ever comes on entirely natural with anybody," and sympathizes with her frustrations over her brother�s nutritional choices and their repercussions, "…Still, I dislike and dread feeling under par, inordinately tired or fragile, as I did most of my life, and I can�t imagine not deploring and despising outright stupid or unnecessary forms of abuse of these bodies we appear to live in, reside in…There has or ought to be a middle ground between the granola eaters and the Yodel and coke consumers. The bad fact is, it�s no cinch to find out what one definitely…thrive[s] on…with the enemy, the real menace, the mind." Salinger closes the letter on an upbeat, "Must close, Sister. May St. Nora (Patron Saint of the Lower Colon) be with you and the Mother Superior. / (typed) Chick." Very fine condition with the usual folds. (4) Typed Letter Signed in type, "Scott Weinfeld, Jr.," 2pp, 11 x 8½", on goldenrod paper, with envelope postmarked from Vermont, May 1, 1981. Addressed to Janet. Salinger responds to a short letter from Janet dated April 28, 1981 [a copy of which is part of this archive] in which she expresses concern that she hasn�t heard from him. Janet tells of consoling Sarah "who just last night broke the news that her father, married just 1½ years ago, is separating. His wife�s idea…I can see Sarah�s vision getting clearer…regarding her father. The hero is dead, to be replaced…by a very mottled and scared guy." Salinger responds that he is "O.K." then launches into a tirade about unsolicited mail, "…just too damn many pieces of curiously rotten mail on the desk, most of them from professed I-love-life types, who are second in my heart only to …healthier folk who love to blurt out that they love people…I throw most of that crap out before I leave the P.O., but sometimes, out of stupidity or because some goof is checking me out as I stand reading, I shove the mess into my briefcase and take it home, which is the worst thing to do with it. When it reaches a pile of a certain size…it automatically paralyzes me for days or weeks…I�d never even vaguely anticipated the freakishness, the coarse and really brutally self-interested incursion of unsolicited mail …the grosser ninety-five percent slowly kills." He goes on, "Have never known how to cope with it…thanks to the press and the adorable Time-Life Syndicate, it�s known where I hole up, and most fishy mail arrives here licketysplit…" Salinger offers some advice, then admits his dread of having workers on his property, "I�m having a woodshed built, starting tomorrow. I dread like poison having affable workers on the premises again. So strenuous trying to be not-a-bad-guy-really for a whole damn week…the all-around hideousness of constant arrivals and presences of alien creatures…" Very fine with folds. (5) Typed Letter Signed in type "Rory," 2pp, 8½ x 5½, on goldenrod paper, with envelope postmarked from Vermont, December 3, 1981. Addressed to Janet. Salinger is more upbeat in this letter, which is without harangues and full of his wisdom on single-parenting, "As for peanut butter jars left open, milk glasses parked anywhere, unrinsed-out, you can bet I�m familiar enough with that stuff. Much of that is the sole resident Parent�s appointed lot. Parents who come in pairs get it, too, but not in altogether seemingly retributive endlessness. It�s probably a good idea to suspect very strongly that a divorced or single parent�s very visible aloneness, or consortlessness, is pretty much a condition a kid considers contrary to approved herd ways. I wouldn�t be surprised if an imaginative kid might have worries (sunk way out of sight in the unsconscious [sic]) that some of that single parent�s singleness might rub off on her (or him)…Anyway, hell, I do think the solo parent can occasionally come through O.K., if it is a fact, or close to a fact, that he or she is reasonably consistent, and, maybe most of all, unreasonably affectionate in most, if not all, kinds of domestic/familial crises and blowups…." Very fine with folds. (6) Typed Letter Signed in type, "Juan Pedro," 2pp, 8½ x 5½ in., on goldenrod paper, with envelope postmarked from Vermont, January 28, 1982. Addressed to Janet. In Janet�s letter to Salinger eight days earlier, she expressed misgivings about writing a book one day about her brother and her. " Salinger�s reply reveals the value he places on privacy, and writing critiques, "Your hesitation seems to me eminently sound, reasonable. The living and the dead alike (among other considerations) have terribly subtle rights, many of which they themselves don�t recognize or honor, so others probably must. / About dialogue samples. If I were you, I�d never send samples of anything to anybody except, of necessity, some editor or publisher where you might want to place the writing. Otherwise, no one. All responses, "favorable" or otherwise, are misleading, damaging, interruptive, if not immediately, sooner or later." Very fine with folds. Other items in the archive include photocopies of a February 25, 1980 People magazine article on Salinger, photocopies of five letters Janet sent to Salinger, and a photocopy of a document in which Janet explains how the article in People prompted her to write to Salinger, expressing her brother Tim's and her concern about invasions of his privacy. To her surprise, Salinger answered. They corresponded, off and on, for over two years and she visited his home twice. Estimated Value $10,000 - 15,000. View details and enlarged photo	Realized $14,688
Lot 84		[Shakespeare, William] Fourtth Folio, 1685. Mr. William Shakespear's Comedies, Histories, and Tragedies. Published according to the true Original Copies. Unto which is added, Seven Plays, Never before Printed in Folio: viz. Pericles Prince of Tyre. The London Prodigal. The History of Thomas Lord Cromwel. Sir John Oldcastle Lord Cobham. The Puritan Widow. A Yorkshire Tragedy. The Tragedy of Locrine. The Fourth Edition. London, Printed for H. Herringman, E. Brewster, and R. Bentley…1685. Presumed first state, without Chiswell's imprint and with period after "Mr." Large folio (14½ x 9 inches). Engraved frontispiece portrait of Shakespeare by Martin Droeshout, with ten-line poem by Ben Jonson, entitled "To the Reader" underneath. Woodcut printer's device on title-page and decorative woodcut initials. Bound in black grosgrained morocco; wear to front joint. Spine decoratively tooled and lettered in gilt. Early owner's name on title page: "Elizabeth Young Her Book." Latin proverb: "otium sine literis mors est" [leisure without literature is death] with small Asian design on inside cover. First two pages loose at top but interior is tight from frontispiece on. Some errors in pagination; two pages with small paper replacement in margin; tiny holes in seven pages; small tear in lower right margin of p. 63. Interior is mostly clean but several pages with foxing or light stains, not affecting legibility. Custom-made case, black with bordeaux label and gilt lettering. Overall, a very good copy. Ex-libris of Thomas Jefferson McKee, a well-known bibliophile who died in 1899 and whose magnificent collection was sold at auction by John Anderson, Jr, 34 W. 30th St., New York. Part III of the collection consisted of "English Plays of the 16th, 17th, and 18th Centuries," and took place April 29 and 30, 1901. Shakespeare's Fourth Folio was lot 2602 and sold for $350. Estimated Value $25,000-UP. View details and enlarged photo	Realized $76,375
Lot 85		Shaw, George Bernard (1856-1950) Irish playwright and wit; Nobel prize winner (1925) and Oscar winner (1938). Three-page Autograph Manuscript with quotations by his wife, Irish heiress Charlotte Payne-Townshend, n.p., n.d. The manuscript, written by Shaw, appears to be corrections for a book. In part, the manuscript reads, "The long duration of this war has resulted from its hitherto undreamed of military machinery, less from the even more unprecedented wholesale fabrication of public opinion, than from the spiritual mechanism of errors and myths which the vastness, the identity of this war's dangers and sacrifices automatically set up in the minds of all the warring peoples. To the modern conscience in time of peace war is a monstrosity complicated by an absurdity; hence no one can believe himself to have had a hand in bringing it about.…Patriotism as a collective though compound passion, requires for its existence segregation, opposition, antagonism, and I venture to add; hostility ." Corrections to the manuscript are in Shaw's hand but quotations were made by Shaw's wife. Estimated Value $1,000 - 1,300. View details and enlarged photo	Unsold
Lot 86		Steinbeck, John (1902-1968) American novelist who frequently wrote about the plight of the misfits, the homeless and the hopeless in a fast-changing America. He was awarded the Nobel Prize for Literature in 1962. Typed letter Signed by "John Steinbeck," publisher "B. W. Huebsch," and screenwriter/director "Berthold Viertel," one page, 4to, New York, June 9, 1944. To a Mr. Smith, inviting him "to join with us in marking Lion Feuchtwanger's 60th birthday on July 7th by the presentation to him of an album containing appreciations of the man and his work." Very fine condition; one mailing fold affects the signatures. Feuchtwanger was a German-Jewish novelist who was imprisoned in a French internment camp in France, but later escaped to America, receiving asylum and settling with his wife, Marta, at Villa Aurora, in Pacific Palisades, California; Villa Aurora served as the center of social life for German and other European émigré intellectuals during World War II. Feuchtwanger's best-known work is the Josephus trilogy, completed in 1942. Estimated Value $1,000 - 1,200. View details and enlarged photo	Unsold
Lot 87		Twain, Mark - Samuel Langhorne (1835-1910) American humorist and author. Autograph Letter Signed with a double signature, "Samuel L. Clemens / Mark Twain," 1 page, 7 x 4½ in., Buffalo, Feb 14, n.y. A charming letter with a play on his pen name, to an unknown correspondent. In full: "Dear Sir: I am only too proud of the chance to help, with this the only Valentine I venture to write this day--for although I am twain in my own person I am only half a person in my matrimonial form, & sometimes my wife shows that she is so much better & nobler than I am, that I seriously question if I am really any more than about a quarter!" Somewhat faded, a few ink smears, and mounting remnants on verso. Rare content. Estimated Value $4,000 - 6,000. View details and enlarged photo	Unsold
Lot 88		Whitman, Walt (1819-1892) American poet. Book Signed "Walt Whitman born May 31 1819" on the 5¾ x 4 in. photo frontispiece, being the Author's Edition of Two Rivulets Including Democratic Vistas, Centennial Songs, and passage to India, Camden, New Jersey, 1876. 8vo, contemporary half calf with marbled boards, 120 pp plus one page of advertising for signed copies of Leaves of Grass and Two Rivulets. Covers rubbed; interior with light toning. BAL 21413. Estimated Value $2,000 - 3,000. View details and enlarged photo	Realized $2,350
Lot 89		Armstrong, Neil. Report of Neil Armstrong�s January 17, 1958 test flight of the Lockheed F-104A Starfighter #734 � 11 original documents including one filled out by Armstrong! 11¾ x 9 in., Edwards Air Force Base, CA Jan. 17, 1958. Manila folder tabbed "F-104A � 734 / Flt 14 / 1-17-58 Basic" containing 11 original documents relating to Neil Armstrong�s January 17, 1958 test flight of the F-104A #734 at the Dryden Flight Research Center at Edwards Air Force Base, California. Also present is a photocopy of Neil Armstrong�s official report of the test flight, filled out by him on an 8.5" x 11" printed form. Stapled to the inside is an official 10½ x 8 in. carbon of a typed report, stamped "CONFIDENTIAL" in ink at top and bottom, signed in type "Neil A. Armstrong / Aeronautical Research Engineer / and Pilot." In part, "At 40,000 feet with the heated gages energized with 30 volts, the airplane was accelerated from 0.90 to 1.80 IMN. After a 30 second stabilized run, the aircraft was further accelerated to 1.98 IMN and stabilized for 30 seconds. 1 and 2 g stabilized runs were obtained at 1.6 IMN. A deceleration to 0.90 IMN completed the recorded data…" In the folder are five printed forms, 10½ x 8 in., filled out in pencil with hundreds of figures relating to the Flight No. 14 that only a rocket scientist could understand. Four 33 x 14¾ in. computer printouts of numbers, three headed in ink, one in pencil, are present, titled "F-104 A 734# / Flight 14 Mach Numbers / [Old Calibration}," "Mach Numbers F-104A 734# [New Calibration] / Flight 14," "F-104A 734# / Flight 14," and "F-104A 734# / Flight 14 Angle of Attack." Also Included is a 10½ x 8 in. page of flight-related handwritten notes. Neil Armstrong has personally filled out in pencil, but not signed, an 11 x 8½ in. form headed "Zero Correction Sheet." Armstrong has handwritten the Flight Number "14" and the date "1/17/58" and corrected three "Angle of Attack" numbers writing "#1 (+.005 / #2 (-.005) / #3 (-.015)," three "Angle of Sideslip" numbers noting "#1 (Ø) / #2 (-.01) / #3 (-.005)," four "3 Component" numbers noting "#1 -.005 / #2 Ø Long / Ø Vert / Ø Trans," and, at the bottom, "A/8 Ø / Alt Ø." We are not certain if any of the 10 other documents in this archive are in Neil Armstrong�s hand. Included is a printed NASA photograph of the Lockheed F-104A � 734 Starfighter on a lakebed at the Dryden Flight Research Center, Edwards Air Force Base, California, November 16, 1960. Estimated Value $2,000 - 2,500. View details and enlarged photo	Unsold
Lot 90		(Cochran, Jacqueline) Trophy for 1937 U S Women�s Speed Record. Beautiful brass trophy topped by a replica of a prop plane (the propeller turns!), 16 in. high. With brass band engraved: "1937 U S WOMEN�S SPEED RECORD / Awarded To / JACQUELINE COCHRAN / 203.89 mph / By / Beech Aircraft." Made by Dodge Trophies. Chicago, IL. (the same company that made the Oscars until 1982). The brass dish measures 10½ in across and has a latticed cover, on which sits the prop plane. The brown plastic base is 7 in across at the bottom. Jacqueline Cochran (1906 � 1980) was a pioneer American aviator, considered to be one of the most gifted racing pilots of her generation. At the time of her death, no pilot, man or woman, held more speed, distance or altitude records in aviation history. Cochran flew her first major race in 1934. The only woman to compete in the 1937 Bendix race, she worked with Amelia Earhart to open the race for women. That same year, she also set a new woman's national speed record and received the trophy offered here. By 1938, she was considered the best female pilot in the United States, having won the Bendix and set a new transcontinental speed record, as well as altitude records. By this time, she was no longer just breaking women's records but was setting overall records. During World War II, she was an important contributor to the formation of the wartime Women's Auxiliary Army Corps (WAAC) and Women Airforce Service Pilots (WASP). She was the first woman to break the sound barrier, the first woman to fly a jet across the ocean, and the first woman to fly a bomber across the Atlantic (1941). She won five Harmon Trophies as the outstanding woman pilot in the world. After World War II, she began flying jet aircraft and set numerous records. Encouraged by Major Chuck Yeager, in 1953 she became the first woman pilot to break the sound barrier, flying a Canadair F-86 Sabre jet (borrowed from the Royal Canadian Air Force) at an average speed of 652.337 mph. She was also the first woman to land and take off from an aircraft carrier, the first woman to reach Mach 2, the first pilot to make a blind (instrument) landing, the only woman to ever be President of the Federation Aeronautique International (1958-1961), the first woman to fly a fixed-wing, jet aircraft across the Atlantic, the first pilot to fly above 20,000 feet with an oxygen mask and the first woman to enter the Bendix Trans-continental Race. The U.S. Air Force awarded her the Distinguished Flying Cross and the Legion of Merit and honored her with a permanent display of her achievements at the United States Air Force Academy. The French government awarded her the Legion of Honor and the French Air Medal; she is the only woman to ever receive the Gold Medal from the Fédération Aéronautique Internationale. In 1965, Jacqueline Cochran was inducted into the International Aerospace Hall of Fame, and in 1971into the National Aviation Hall of Fame. In 1996, the United States Post Office honored her with a 50¢ postage stamp, depicting her in front of a Bendix Trophy pylon with her P-35 in the background and the words: "Jacqueline Cochran Pioneer Pilot." Estimated Value $5,000-UP. View details and enlarged photo	Unsold
Lot 91		Lindbergh, Charles A (1902-1974) American aviator. He made the first solo transatlantic flight from Roosevelt Field, New York to Le Bourget Air Field, Paris, on May 20-21, 1927, in his monoplane, Spirit of St. Louis. Oversize Photograph Signed "C.A. Lindbergh / Mar 4, 1928," 13¾ x 9¾ in., no place. A sepia-toned, head-and-shoulders portrait of Lindbergh gazing intently into the distance. He wears his aviator jacket and helmet, goggles hanging around his neck. There is damage in the lower left background area, far from the signature and not affecting the image; light silvering, one faint mark just below Lindbergh's mouth, and a couple of specks in the upper background. A superb display piece. Accompanied by two bronze medals, both 2 5/8 in. in diameter; one commemorating Lindbergh's flight and the other Napoleon's death (May 5, 1821). The Lindbergh photograph was presented to Rear Admiral Charles G. "Count" DeKay (1905-1984), USN Ret. DeKay was a 1927 graduate of the U.S. Naval Academy at Annapolis. He spent 31 years in the Navy Supply Corp., was assistant naval attaché at the U.S. Embassy in Paris from 1938 until 1940, and was aboard the USS San Francisco at Pearl Harbor. In 1951 and '52, he served on the staff of Eisenhower's staff at Supreme Headquarters, Allied Powers Europe, in Paris, and commanded stations in Ohio and California before retiring in 1958. DeKay's mother was a first cousin of Lindbergh's mother. The consignor obtained the photograph from his great aunt, Harrison Griffith DeKay of Pebble Beach, California, who was married to Rear Admiral DeKay. A letter of provenance accompanies the lot. Estimated Value $1,500 - 2,500. View details and enlarged photo	Realized $1,586