The Bible that is least worth $50,000. See the reason why!
A Los Angeles auction firm is taking bids
on a microform, or photographically
reduced, King James Bible that went to
the moon on the 1971 Apollo 14 space
flight. Similar in appearance to a piece of
microfilm, the microform is certified as
containing the entire biblical text. Its print
is so small that one needs a microscope
to read it.
The tiny, space-traveling Bible was one of
11 that left Earth’s atmosphere in the
care of landing module commander Edgar
Mitchell, who died in 2016 on the eve of
the 45th anniversary of that lunar
landing. He carried them in a container
for personal items. A print Bible would
have been too heavy for a space mission,
but the lightweight versions posed no
obstacle.
Minimum bid for the rarity is $50,000,
according to the Nate D. Sanders auction
firm, which will close bidding at 5
p.m. Pacific time on Thursday (July 26).
Apollo 14, carrying astronauts Alan
Shepard Jr., Stuart Roosa and Edgar
Mitchell, lifts off from the Kennedy Space
Center on Jan. 31, 1971. Photo courtesy
of Creative Commons
According to auction house spokesman
Sam Heller, a similar lunar Bible flew
along for the famously aborted Apollo 13
mission of 1970, in which mechanical
malfunctions forced astronauts back to
Earth under hardship conditions. That
Bible sold for $62,500 last year despite
never having reached the moon. Heller
said the firm wouldn’t guess at a final bid
for this latest item, which is being offered
on consignment by an unnamed collector.
Mitchell’s lunar Bible was the creation of
a group known as the Apollo Prayer
League, according to the auction house.
John Stout, a NASA information scientist
and an ordained pastor, started the
league after the 1967 launchpad deaths
of Apollo 1 astronauts Gus Grissom,
Edward White II and Roger Chaffee. Stout
was close to White and they often prayed
together. Knowing that White wanted to
carry a Bible to the moon, Stout devised
the microform version as a way to fulfill
White’s vision.
Mitchell’s Bible-carrying mission wasn’t
the first time religious paraphernalia had
reached the lunar surface. Apollo 11
astronaut Edwin “Buzz” Aldrin, an elder at
Webster Presbyterian Church in Houston,
brought with him a small piece of bread
and miniature chalice. With holy elements
in hand, he took Communion on the
moon on Sunday, July 20, 1969.
The so-called lunar Bible measures 1.625
inches square. It is centered in a gold and
enamel setting measuring 4 inches by 6
inches.
The chance to own it could be tempting
for a Bible collector with deep pockets,
according to R. Michael Kuykendall, a
New Testament studies professor at
Gateway Seminary in Vancouver, Wash.,
and chief editor of the International
Society of Bible Collectors’ Bible Review
Journal.
“It has a place in Bible collecting,” he said
of the lunar Bible. “That’s publicity.
That’s an interest.”
While many of his group’s members focus
on finding the best-preserved editions of
older volumes such as the 16th-
century Geneva Bible, there are those
interested in finding more “esoteric”
editions, such as the moon-landed
microform Bible.
“There’s nothing else that would compare
to that,” Kuykendall said. However, the
$50,000 price tag might put off some
buyers.
“I build my own collection $50 at a time,”
he said.
Heller suggested a museum might also be
interested in the space-launched Bible.
The recently opened Museum of the Bible
in Washington, D.C., already has one of
the Apollo 14 lunar Bibles. The
museum tweeted out a video Tuesday
documenting the historic item.
on a microform, or photographically
reduced, King James Bible that went to
the moon on the 1971 Apollo 14 space
flight. Similar in appearance to a piece of
microfilm, the microform is certified as
containing the entire biblical text. Its print
is so small that one needs a microscope
to read it.
The tiny, space-traveling Bible was one of
11 that left Earth’s atmosphere in the
care of landing module commander Edgar
Mitchell, who died in 2016 on the eve of
the 45th anniversary of that lunar
landing. He carried them in a container
for personal items. A print Bible would
have been too heavy for a space mission,
but the lightweight versions posed no
obstacle.
Minimum bid for the rarity is $50,000,
according to the Nate D. Sanders auction
firm, which will close bidding at 5
p.m. Pacific time on Thursday (July 26).
Apollo 14, carrying astronauts Alan
Shepard Jr., Stuart Roosa and Edgar
Mitchell, lifts off from the Kennedy Space
Center on Jan. 31, 1971. Photo courtesy
of Creative Commons
According to auction house spokesman
Sam Heller, a similar lunar Bible flew
along for the famously aborted Apollo 13
mission of 1970, in which mechanical
malfunctions forced astronauts back to
Earth under hardship conditions. That
Bible sold for $62,500 last year despite
never having reached the moon. Heller
said the firm wouldn’t guess at a final bid
for this latest item, which is being offered
on consignment by an unnamed collector.
Mitchell’s lunar Bible was the creation of
a group known as the Apollo Prayer
League, according to the auction house.
John Stout, a NASA information scientist
and an ordained pastor, started the
league after the 1967 launchpad deaths
of Apollo 1 astronauts Gus Grissom,
Edward White II and Roger Chaffee. Stout
was close to White and they often prayed
together. Knowing that White wanted to
carry a Bible to the moon, Stout devised
the microform version as a way to fulfill
White’s vision.
Mitchell’s Bible-carrying mission wasn’t
the first time religious paraphernalia had
reached the lunar surface. Apollo 11
astronaut Edwin “Buzz” Aldrin, an elder at
Webster Presbyterian Church in Houston,
brought with him a small piece of bread
and miniature chalice. With holy elements
in hand, he took Communion on the
moon on Sunday, July 20, 1969.
The so-called lunar Bible measures 1.625
inches square. It is centered in a gold and
enamel setting measuring 4 inches by 6
inches.
The chance to own it could be tempting
for a Bible collector with deep pockets,
according to R. Michael Kuykendall, a
New Testament studies professor at
Gateway Seminary in Vancouver, Wash.,
and chief editor of the International
Society of Bible Collectors’ Bible Review
Journal.
“It has a place in Bible collecting,” he said
of the lunar Bible. “That’s publicity.
That’s an interest.”
While many of his group’s members focus
on finding the best-preserved editions of
older volumes such as the 16th-
century Geneva Bible, there are those
interested in finding more “esoteric”
editions, such as the moon-landed
microform Bible.
“There’s nothing else that would compare
to that,” Kuykendall said. However, the
$50,000 price tag might put off some
buyers.
“I build my own collection $50 at a time,”
he said.
Heller suggested a museum might also be
interested in the space-launched Bible.
The recently opened Museum of the Bible
in Washington, D.C., already has one of
the Apollo 14 lunar Bibles. The
museum tweeted out a video Tuesday
documenting the historic item.
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