I live in a very old house by a beautiful river. Aside from the beauty I see every day when I step off my porch to go to work, the old house coughs up antique treasures from time to time. This weekend my wife and I are going through a room to remove the gross seventies era carpeting. In one corner there is a book shelf that was left behind by the previous owners, it is full of old magazines. The biggest surprise are that they date back to the 1930's. The oldest periodicals are women's magazines then up the line into 1940's Reader's Digest.
There are hundreds of periodicals. The articles are so interesting. I can't wait to read them all. The lower half of the cabinet are all National Geographic's starting in the 60's. To my surprise I would call most of them pristine. The reason I'm bring this up is because I am holding, in my hand right now, a copy of the December 1969 issue that fully outlines the first man on the moon mission from NASA.
Now I am of the generation that stayed up late to listen to the live program of the mission as it happened. We had a television but my parents had friends over to watch the only one television in the house and they didn't want the excited commentary us children were giving in their presence. My heart skips a beat remembering that incredible night. I think the radio commentators did a better job of describing the moon landing than the television personalities. They were just as engrossed as the public was in what was going on. The radio commentators still had a job to do. The next day I watched the moon landing at school, and on the news the following night, so I got a good round picture of how everyone did their job in broadcasting.
As you can probably tell I am a bit of a science buff. Anything space comes into view and I'm lost to the world around me. So you can probably guess what my feelings were like when I picked up this issue of the moon landing. I might even admit in certain company that I might have had tears in my eyes at the memories stirring within my heart.
Anyway, I had never seen this copy of National Graphic in person in my life, just the cover displayed elsewhere. The image is iconic. As I opened this copy I was brought back to my youth and the urges to become an astronaut begin to over take me. When I flip through the pages I see a special page that is made of a special plastic and is stamped into an album. Both sides are recordings of sounds of the space age.
For those who don't know what an album is, it is a recording that used to be cut into a piece of flat vinyl where a special needle would run over the grooves and reproduce the sound recorded. I am torn about ripping the record and listing to the sounds or to leave it so the magazine can stay pristine. Should I fall into my desires to relive an incredible time in mans history or should I worry about how much the periodical is worth. (Although I might have to tear out the album page and carry it around for a while until I find someone who still has a record player.)
Man has walked on one other celestial body, other then Earth, only 14 times in our history. Many other incredible events happened in science in the twentieth century but none are so bold or daring. Maybe one day before I die, I may witness a similar event but it will be on Mars it think. Maybe today I will relive one special day in my youth, as long as I can find someone with a record player.
I happened to look up what the magazine might be worth since I couldn't bring myself to ripping out the record inside. I discovered this little tidbit online.
ReplyDelete"The December, 1969 issue of National Geographic Magazine is worth $500 US at a minimum if the issue's enclosed record has not been removed and is undamaged, and the entire magazine has only average wear, including minor binding wear at the end of the spine of less than 1/4 in on each end. This minimal value is the result of the tragic passing of Neil Armstrong, the first human being to walk on the surface of the Moon.
Professional collectors, though, suggest that individuals hold on to their copies of this issue of the magazine. They are in almost unanimous agreement that the value will exceed $1000 US within the next six months, by the spring of 2013.
I suggest that individuals retain this invaluable piece of American history, and not sell it, in order to pass it down to their family members and future generations.