I’m sorry, but how is this even a thing? Ridiculous.

“The vast majority of the collection is being seen publicly for the first time, having been hidden in archives for decades & viewed previously only by researchers [at JSC & Roscosmos].“ https://www.theguardian.com/artanddesign/2020/nov/11/nasa-photos-auction-first-selfie-in-space

I mean, the idea that these images are not mostly in the public domain already is nuts, not least all the Apollo images. OK, some maybe signed by the astros, but the whole thing smells like a scam, trying to persuade gullible folk they’re getting unique images no-one else has.

Here’s one example. A well-known, publicly accessible Apollo 11 image, printed out & predicted to garner £10,000-12,000. Nothing private, unique, or “special access” about it at all, despite the impression Christie’s are trying to give. https://www.lpi.usra.edu/resources/apollo/frame/?AS11-40-5930

Of course, it’s perfectly legal to sell NASA-supplied prints or make your own from the public domain online archives & sell them, but a major auction house claiming that these are somehow unique, unseen, & private in order to inflate the prices strikes me as obscene.

I know there’s a market for space collectibles, although personally I’ve never been interested in it. But taking likely free prints of public-domain & readily-accessible images into a major auction house & puffing them up to be somehow unique, unseen masterpieces? Shameless.