Edge of an area called the great black swamp. Im here to meet a family whos lived here for more than a 100 years. So when they unearthed their strange inheritance, they give it the code name the black swamp find. Im karl kissner. In 2011, my cousins and i inherited the family home from our aunt. She had left us a note we would find things in this home that we never knew existed. Karl, a 54yearold restaurant owner, has invited me to the family home in the small town of defiance, ohio. Karl . Hi. Im jamie. How are you . Very good. Pleasure to meet you. Nice to meet you, too. Thanks for having me. Is this the family home . This is grandmas home. Come on in. Ill show you around. The house first came into karls family in 1909. Neat old place, but needs a little tlc. Are you saying be careful . Yes. Okay. In 2012, karl and his cousins start the daunting task of cleaning out a home thats been lived in for more than a century. After several weeks of sorting through the house, only the attic remains. Karl and his cousin, karla, decide to tackle the project. Ladies first. Oh, my look at this place. The attic is empty now, but not that day in 2012. Karl and karla walk in to find a centurys worth of dusty boxes and family heirlooms. And literally filled to the rafters. Filled to the rafters, all the way up to about here and just a path down through the middle. After several hours, they uncover a box hugging the back wall. It contains something the two cousins have never seen before. It was a dirty, dusty old box, and i opened it up. And then its like, wow. Theres i dont know what it is. The cousins see what appear to be small cardboard photos tightly wrapped in twine. They recognize some pretty familiar faces. Were both looking at it. Its Baseball Players cy young, ty cobb, wagner but theyre not Baseball Cards, not to us. We get one out and we look at the back, and they look like Baseball Cards, just miniaturized, no stats, no who made it, no nothing. How many are we talking about . Hundreds. [ laughs ] amazing. So, you see the box. You take them out. What do you and karla say . Actually, we set them on a dresser in the hallway and dove back into the attic but soon, karl starts to ponder where the strange cards may have come from. Were they something aunt jean collected off a cereal box . Or maybe they go all the way back to his grandfather, carl hench. Hes a german immigrant and he works his way down through chicago and towards the ohio valley. Hes chasing the American Dream to own a home and start a business. Carls a butcher by trade, and by 1905, hes scraped together enough to open his own shop here in defiance the carl hench meat market. Along with meats and sausages, he sells candies and other grocery items. Was he successful in his shop . Very successful as a butcher in town, very wellknown. In 1909, he marries his love, jennie. They start a family and buy that dream home. By now, baseball has long established itself as the national pastime, and for decades, various companies have used Baseball Cards to sell their products. The first nationally circulated cards came inside packages of tobacco in the late 1880s and was actually one of the first opportunities for the average citizen to own a real photo. Candy Companies Jump into the game, too. The socalled caramel cards help sell the sweets and the top players of the day. Youve got honus wagner ty cobb, cy young, christy mathewson. Children love the candy, but the cards even more. Kids did what kids do. They played with them. They traded them. Theres cardflipping games that they did with them. All karl and karla know at this point is that the cards may have come from their grandfathers store. Our guess is that he would have given them away as promotional items, and like any good businessman, when you got leftovers, you save them for the next promotion. Beyond that, karl isnt sure what they have in the box, but he tells his cousin hell find out. The box sits on that dresser for a few days and almost gets thrown out several times before karl brings it to his restaurant to research the cards online. After a few days, he has some leads. I was looking at a 1909 caramel card and im going, okay, its not identical, but this is too close, and theyve got an estimated value on this card of . Around 15,000. Karl discovers that a similar ty cobb card, identified as a 1910 caramel card, recently sold for 40,000. And i got a box full of them, and theyre pristine. Thats amazing. Youre sitting on a bundle of money. Yeah. At that point the, the heart is starting to race, and im thinking to myself, oh, my god. I have 1 million sitting in a chair. A lot more than that. If, that is, karl can confirm his cards are real. Youre a little skeptical, but youre always looking forward to that one phone call that turns out to be gold. Thats next. But first, our strange inheritance quiz question. The answer when we return. Life isnt a straight line. And sometimes, you can find yourself heading in a new direction. But when youre with fidelity, a partner who makes sure every step is clear, theres nothing to stop you from moving forward. A partner who makes sure every step is clear, i am totally blind. And non24 can make me show up too early. Or too late. Or make me feel like im not really there. Talk to your doctor, and call 8442342424. Its c, the 1984 donruss don mattingly. He didnt have the hall of fame career some predicted, but mattinglys cards remain popular. While the grandchildren of carl and jennie hench are cleaning out the centuryold family home in northwest ohio, they find a dustcovered box containing what appear to be vintage Baseball Cards. I had went to some of the auction sites. Im seeing a ty cobb for 40,000. And im looking at the ty cobb that i have, going, ooh mines better. The box karl found in the attic not only contains cobb, known as the georgia peach, but all the greats of the era. And its not just one of each player its dozens. In all there, are 800 cards, most in pristine condition. It kind takes it out of a scope and a realm that you just youre not quite sure how to handle it. Step one find out if the cards are real. Karl reaches out to vintagesportscards expert Peter Calderon in dallas. I received a phone call, which was very cryptic. He didnt want to go into any details. On a daily basis, we receive phone calls from people who find cards. Its always reprints. Peter tells karl to text some photos of the cards, and hell take a look when he gets a chance. When i got that first picture, the first thing i thought of, this is gonna be filed in a toogoodtobetrue folder, but they looked amazing, and i saw nothing about them that suggested they werent real. So, i definitely the next plan was we talked about him sending me some sample of the cards. Karl overnights eight cards to peter, with a note attached, saying, call me before you open. When the box arrives at heritage auctions in dallas. I gave him a call, had him on the phone. And theres that moment of silence that feels like 10 minutes, but its actually a matter of seconds. I opened up the box and i pulled out a large plastic holder. And then theres the, oh [bleep] i was just floored, because i had no idea what a 100yearold Baseball Card looked like brandnew. Well, at that moment, i pretty much know that, yeah, these are real. Karl has one more bombshell. So, his next question is, do you have any more . Yes. Hundreds. I would have been happy if it was just the eight cards. There was when you realized, this is the find of a lifetime. Karl dubs the cards the black swamp find, after the nickname for this section of northwest ohio. Theyre quickly shipped to dallas on an armored truck and locked in the safety of a vault. The next step is to get each card officially graded on a scale of 1 to 10. Karl goes with professional sports authenticator. I meet up with joe orlando, president of psa, at the National Sports Collectors Convention for a crash course in grading Baseball Cards. Why is this one only a 1 . Babe ruth cannot be just a 1. So, if you look at the card, you can see all of the defects. Theres surface wear, multiple creases throughout the card. This is about as low as it can get. So, this one is higher. This is 8. Is that considered mint . This is considered almost mint. But when you look really, really close, you can see very little, tiny white pieces of wear on each corner. And thats the difference between an 8, a 9, or a 10. Those tiny imperfections can make a difference of thousands of dollars. If this is a psa 8, its worth roughly, you know, 100 or so. If it were a 9, its worth probably, you know, north of 1,000. And if its a 10, its worth north of 5,000. So, what about the black swamp find . Do karls cards make the grade . What was your reaction when you saw the first cards . It was just it was mindblowing. Before the black swamp find, the highest grade psa ever gave to a card in that series was a 7. Karls cards beat that in their first atbat. It was a ty cobb and it graded a psa mint 9. Little did we know that there were 15 more ty cobb 9s and, of course, hundreds of highgrade 8s, 9s, and even 10s in the set. Sounds pretty good, right . Not so fast. The collection doubles the known population of this type of card, and the unprecedented size and quality of the find could crash the baseballcardcollectors market. Will karls inheritance end up being too much of a good thing . If you were to flood the market with all of this at one time, it would certainly diminish the value of the entire find. Thats next. Heres another quiz question for you. The answer in a moment. Announcer there are everyday actions to help prevent the spread of respiratory diseases. Wash your hands. Avoid close contact with people who are sick. Avoid touching your eyes, nose and mouth. Stay home when you are sick. Cover your cough or sneeze. Clean and disinfect frequently touched objects with household cleaning spray. For more information, visit cdc. Gov covid19. This message brought to you by the National Association of broadcasters and this station. Of broadcasters the xfinity my account app puts you in control with Digital Tools to give you the help you need when you need it. Get fast and easy answers with personalized help 24 hours a day, 7 days a week. Change your wifi password to a phrase thats easy to remember. Even troubleshoot your services on your own. Were working to make things a little easier for everyone. Download the xfinity my account app today. Its b, 517,000 for a 1914 baltimore news ruth rookie card, sold in 2008. In 2012, in defiance, ohio, karl kissner discovers 800 vintage Baseball Cards in the attic of his old family home. Most of the centuryold cards remain in nearmint condition, which is rare among cards even half their age. Before the collecting craze in the 1980s, cards were simply fun toys to be used in bikewheel spokes or flipping games, like this one. So, im gonna toss a card, and itll land either picture or stats. Youre gonna toss a card. If you match my card, you get to keep my card and your card. If you dont, i get to go home with your cards. Okay, lets do this. All right . Here it goes. Stats. Stats up. Picture. Im a winner. Youre a winner. Fortunately for karl, his grandfather wasnt interested in such games, and the collection should easily be worth millions. If they play their cards right. You see, selling the socalled black swamp find all at once could flood the market and severely drive prices down. Because of the size of the collection and the quantity involved, there was a lot of concern about the value. If there was one of each player, that would have been ideal. So heritage auctions proposes a series of separate sales to maximize the familys take. We decided the best way to do it is to take your time, sell them by the set over a number of years. Karl runs the estate on behalf of the 20 grandchildren and divides the cards up into equal sets. Each Family Member can either join a consortium to sell the cards or keep his share as a family heirloom. Did anyone keep the cards . Yes, yes. Really . Some of them did. But most Family Members agree to team up and sell the cards gradually. Peter calderon tallies the numbers and comes up with what karl might expect, if all goes right nearly 3 million. For karl, its a staggering sum. Were stunned. This is something we almost threw in a dumpster. In august 2012, in baltimores camden yards ballpark, they put the first 37 cards up for auction. They were the best of the best. They were the bestgraded cards out of all of them that we had graded. Ladies and gentlemen, lets do lot 001. Its the 1910 e98. In bidding thats fast and furious, the family sees one lot of nine cards go for 40,000, a second lot of 27 cards goes for 286,000, but the real cleanup hitter of the night, the only psa gemmint10graded card of hall of Famer Honus Wagner in existence. Auctioneer 240,000 solid. I have the cut bid. Anyone else . Done 240,000 were flabbergasted. This is a wonderful gift from our grandfather and from our aunt. What more can you ask for . The familys total for the night . Its a very promising start, but theyve also sold their best cards. Does the black swamp find still have enough gas in it to get the hench grandchildren to their 3 million goal . Thats next. For farmers here, this is our lifes work. But when a recall happens, perfectly good food goes to waste. Now, weve got away around that. Looks good. Were on target. Blockchain on the ibm cloud helps pinpoint a problem anywhere from farm to shelf. Its used by some of the biggest retailers everywhere. A nice wedge. So more food ends up on your table, is that daddys lettuce . Yeah. And less food goes to waste. And essdear humans,o waste. This is an adoption campaign, but, its not for me or mr. Buttons or frank over there, its for you humans. This is a call to humans to adopt our movement to adopt our cause. This is not just about saving one of us, it is about saving all of us. Nearly 4,100 lives every single day. Its about support for every one of us four and sometimes not four legged best friends waiting to meet a best friend of our own, with best Friends Animal Society leading the charge. Shelter by shelter, city by city, we can make this entire country no kill. Join us. Together we can save them all. Now back to strange inheritance. Karl kissner and his family are slowly selling off their strange inheritance 800 rare vintage Baseball Cards. The collection is valued at around 3 million. An initial auction of their best cards has already brought in 566,000, and the family still has plenty of highgrade hall of famers to sell. In october 2012 and may 2013, two online auctions with some help from legendary manager connie mack rack up 419,000. Then, in august 2013, in chicago, a psa 8 miner brown pitches in to help the team ring up another 228k. And in the big apple, in february 2014, a psa 8. 5 johnny evers and mint 9 frank chance assist in a 300,000 haul. Two more online auctions raise the total to 1. 7 million. On july 31, 2014, i join karl and his cousin karla at the 35th National Sports Collectors Convention in cleveland for their latest auction. Weve got a firedup crowd here tonight. What do you think, karl . Its exciting watching everybody and listening to the onfloor bids. You just you get into the feel of it, the mood of it. Bid what you want. The last person standing with their hand in the air gets the item. Apparently, people have money. Apparently. [ both laugh ] and at the end of tonight, you may, too. Up first for karl and karla tonight, the georgia peach. This is a 1910 e98 set of 30 ty cobb, black swamp find, psa mint 9. Are you serious . Yes, we are serious. 26,000. Whos bidding 28 grand . 27,000 heritage live. 28,300. Fair warning, anybody else. When the auctioneer kind of slows down like that, you know its getting good. Yeah. Sold at at 28,000. Congratulations, guys. Thats awesome give me five on that. Yeah now stepping up to the plate, a psa mint 9 honus wagner. Go, honus. Yay come on. Yeah, come on, honus, baby. 32 1 2 on heritage live. Another bidder just jumped on. Lets sell this thing. 33,000. The bidding ends at 33,750. Yeah very good all right their weekend earnings, including online sales, total 133,000, lifting the black swamp find total to 1. 85 million. [ cheers and applause ] are you satisfied tonight . Im ecstatic. And you know the person thats buying it wants it and appreciates it, and hes gonna add it to his collection. And maybe hell pass it on to his family. A box stored and forgotten in the attic for over a century eventually changes a collectibles industry forever, along with the lives of the 20 hench grandchildren. So far, the black swamp find is like a slugger with 40 home runs at the allstar break well on track to surpass the goal set by Peter Calderon. Theres still 10 more sets to sell, and were still averaging almost 200,000 a set. And in the cardcollecting market, the games never over till the last man is out. What would grandpa say . I think grandpa would be stunned, amazed, and pleased. Im sure that he is, cause im sure that the whole family is up there looking down with big smiles on their faces. Was the black swamp find nearly historys most epic case of some guys mom throwing out his baseballcard collection . Karl thinks so. When he made his big discovery in the attic, he spied several wrinkled and grimy cards strewn among the rafters and the floorboards. Karl believes that they went flying during one of his grandma jennies cleaning purges, when shed pitch boxes of junk right out the attic window into a big mound below. Thank goodness she never got hold of that one box in the corner. Im jamie colby for strange inheritance. Thank you so much for joining us. And remember, you cant take it with you. Do you have a strange inheritance story youd like to share with us . Wed love to hear it. Send me an email, or go to our website, strangeinheritance. Com. Announcer the heroes of the space race capture the imagination of a young boy. We choose to go to the moon. The world was fascinated. The astronauts were superstars. These are the nations mercury astronauts. [ applause ] announcer it inspires him to collect all kinds of nasa artifacts. Thats one small step for man. Its one of americas greatest achievements, and i think its something which will continue to inspire. Announcer but when he dies too young. I thought, this cant be happening. Announcer . He leaves his widow an inheritance thats out of this world. Im jamie colby, and today, im driving through southern california, where so much of the groundbreaking work for nasas Moon Missions was done. Im going to los angeles to meet a woman who embraced the lifelong passion of her soul mate a love for all things outer space. My name is shelly cigel. And when my husband passed away, he left me with an incredible collection and a special gift from beyond the grave. Well, this is just a few Little Things that i took out. These nasa artifacts belonged to shellys husband, rick cigel, samples of a lifelong collection that includes everything from engine parts to autographs. And this is actually the flag that they had signed, and that was from apollo 12. Are these control panels . Look at this can i touch this . Absolutely. Please. Okay. Here we go. Can you imagine . Regulator bleed valve open. Check. M. O. M. Open. Check. Looks like it says mom to me. Mom. This is the button that tells mom were about to lift off. But i heard you have a monkey chair. We do. I have to see this. Because before humans went into space, primates were launched into orbit so scientists could investigate the biological effects of space travel. I hear they paid them in bananas. It looks small enough. You really think a monkey rode in here . Absolutely. Batteries and power switches. Look the battery from sears. Thats funny. Was rick proud of owning it . He loved telling everybody he had a monkey mobile. Rick cigel is born in 1956 in stevens point, wisconsin. Five years later, in 1961, a russian cosmonaut named Yuri Gargarin becomes the first human in space. President kennedy ups the ante and challenges america to be the first to put a man on the moon. This nation should commit itself to achieving the goal, before this decade is out, of landing a man on the moon and returning him safely to the earth. Alan b. Shepard. Im john glenn. Walter m. Schirra. To launch the space program, seven men are judged by nasa to have the right stuff and are enlisted into a Program Named project mercury. All systems are go. Their goal to complete a series of manned flights around the earth and pave the way for the Moon Missions to come. Thats one small step for man, one giant leap for mankind. Human space flight is special, because youre sending people with human eyes and Human Emotions to truly alien places. Keith haviland is a space historian as well as an executive producer of a new film telling the story of Astronaut Gene Cernan and the last voyage to the moon in 1972. Oh, my golly theres no substitute for human experience, human insight, and human ingenuity in exploration. And the awe and wonder felt that by that boy growing up in wisconsin back in the 1960s will last a lifetime. By 1990, rick is a successful l. A. Lawyer with the money to Start Building an impressive collection of space artifacts. At the time, nasa was getting rid of all this stuff. They had warehouses of these things, and they were just throwing things away. Rick tracks down big things and small, from a bottle of cocoa powder carried by astronauts on apollo 10 and a halfdollar flown on the 1965 Gemini Mission to a pair of soviet spacesuit gloves and a lifesize space capsule replica he buys from a former nasa engineer. This is a space capsule. Its being taken off of a tow truck, loaded into his warehouse. He has the biggest grin on his face, and like a kid in a candy store. Exactly. Shelly is ricks next major find. Actually, the 39yearold milwaukee native found him on the jewish dating website jdate. What was it about rick that caught your attention . Well, i had certain parameters i wasnt gonna go with. An attorney was one of the guys i would not date. But as i was looking through, i saw he was from wisconsin. And i sent him an email that said, you cant be that big of a jerk if youre from wisconsin. In 2007, rick and shelly move in together. Did you want to marry him right away . I actually told rick i would never, never, never get married again. I was married once before. But as the years went by, we were talking about it. Then, at the age of only 56, rick cigels health suddenly starts to fail. He suffers a stroke in 2012. The following year, theres more bad medical news. We were told he had stage 4 colorectal cancer. Did your life change in that instant . Yeah. Yeah, it did. I was never so scared of losing somebody in my life. His days numbered, rick knows he must prepare shelly to deal with what will become her strange inheritance. He doesnt want her to keep it all but to sell it, hopefully to space nuts like him. Thats when shelly comes to realize how vast and valuable ricks collection is. I heard it was enough to fill a warehouse. Yes. Theres a survival radio from mercury 9, a checklist from apollo 17, and this apollo hand controller for adjusting altitude. Then shelly clocks in this old camera, a hasselblad 500c. When i found it, i said to him, oh, i used to take pictures with a camera like this in high school. And he laughed at me. Said, oh, no. You definitely didnt take a picture with Something Like this. That and a lot more is next. Announcer but first, our strange inheritance quiz question. In a radio transmission from apollo 8, the astronauts reported seeing an object flying near them. What did they say it was . The answer in a moment. I am totally blind. And non24 can throw my days and nights out of sync, keeping me from the things i love to do. Talk to your doctor, and call 8442142424. Announcer so, what did the apollo 8 astronauts say was flying near them . Take a listen to command module pilot jim lovell. The stars align all too briefly for soul mates rick cigel and shelly lokietz. At the age of 57, rick learns he has stage 4 cancer and may only have months to get his affairs in order. In his life before shelly, rick amassed a huge collection of space memorabilia, now destined to become shellys strange inheritance. It includes hundreds of items youd expect to find in a nasa warehouse or a museum, like, for instance, the udvarhazy center in virginia, part of the smithsonians air and space museum. I asked curator Jennifer Levasseur how all those artifacts could end up in the garage of a guy like rick cigel. And nasa just let astronauts take home stuff from their missions . That tended to happen quite a bit more up and through the end of the apollo period. Astronauts often took home memorabilia. Afterwards, shuttle astronauts had to give everything back. For example, those cameras from the mercury missions. The first astronaut to take one to space was Wally Schirra on his mercury mission. He was an amateur photographer, and they got some more in order to train with them and then, of course, take them to space. How important was photography in space . Its really fundamental to everything that we understand as people who cant go their ourselves. Its a tremendous value to scientists who started to study weather from space. So, this is kind of the early phases of learning about the earth. Now theyre sought after by collectors, some selling for six figures. So, looking to provide shelly a cash cushion and a crash course in selling space memorabilia, rick cigel asks his friend, a New Hampshire auction executive, Bobby Livingston to unload his rare hasselblad. Thats the first time he told me that he he was dying, that he had cancer. Ill never forget it. Livingston knows ricks anxious to complete a sale quickly but must verify the camera is an original that flew into space. Turns out it isnt that simple. Rick bought it from mercury astronaut Gordon Cooper in 1995 for 19,000. And he gives the auction house two letters of authenticity to prove it, along with actual photos that the astronaut said were taken from space with that camera. I took the photographs with a hasselblad camera. The serial number on the camera body is tv 45279. But when the auction house submits the camera for expert analysis, the results surprise everyone. Did it end up being Gordon Coopers camera . It did not. Uhoh. Thats next. Announcer heres another quiz question for you. How many of the original seven mercury astronauts walked on the moon . Is it. The answer in a moment. Announcer so, how many of the original seven mercury astronauts walked on the moon . Only one alan shepard during the apollo 14 mission. Its 2014 in los angeles. Shelly lokietz and her longtime boyfriend, rick cigel, are stunned when rick is diagnosed with stage 4 colon cancer. Rick said he felt like Charlie Brown with lucy and the football. And i said, youre not gonna die. Were gonna were gonna get this youre gonna get better. But rick seems to know the end is near, and hes determined to give shelly a head start on dealing with the strange and valuable inheritance hell leave her a huge collection of space memorabilia. It took him decades to amass, and he may only have months to live. He really saw his mortality. He wanted these items to go to people that would appreciate them like he did. Of the hundreds of items, rick zeroes in on this hasselblad camera for a quick and easy sale. He bought it from astronaut Gordon Cooper, who stated, in writing, that he used it snap some of the earliest pictures from outer space in 1963. But it now appears that couldnt be true. The auction house gets a confusing report from the authenticator. What was the news . Its not authentic. A fake . Its the proper period, but this camera was not Gordon Coopers. How did you know that it wasnt Gordon Coopers . It came with a letter saying it was. This scratch right here thats the smoking gun. Houston, we have a problem. It takes precious days to solve the mystery. The key clue comes when the auction house compares ricks camera with the one Wally Schirra took into space the year before coopers flight. Our forensic expert, with photographic evidence, was able to find scuff marks that matched exactly to schirras camera. This is schirras camera, taken in 1962, and it matches exactly to the one that rick bought. So, rick thought he was buying Gordon Coopers space camera, but he was really buying Wally Schirras. But how could that be . They took home each others things, but both astronauts sold their cameras believing that this was schirras and this was coopers. Far from being a problem, it turns out to be a good thing. Schirra was the first guy to take it up in space. This is the most famous hasselblad there is. So, wait a minute. That sounds like its worth more. It is worth a lot more, not only financially but historically. I mean, this is the most important hasselblad ever made. When the auction is announced online, its no surprise the camera catches the eye of filmmaker and space historian keith haviland. Its the first such device that captured images of the quality necessary to give a sense of the world as it is the blue, fragile planet on which we live. Then comes the live auction in boston on november 13th, 2014. Our first item is the first hasselblad camera in space. Haviland makes the winning bid, a whopping 275k. Sold when it arrived, i mean, that was a magic moment, holding it in my hands for the first time. There will be one more strange twist involving that hasselblad. But not before, back in los angeles, ricks health worsens. He has time to get just one last thing done. He said, would you still want to get married, knowing that you could be a widow so soon . Mm. I said, i would rather be your wife for one day than to be your, quote, girlfriend of eight years. You ever regret the decision to marry with him being so ill . No, because i have his name. And that was the other thing i said to him. I want your name. The doctors remove his breathing tube for a few moments, and a justice of the peace marries the couple. Right before he died, he opened his eyes one last time. He looked at me, and he squeezed my hand. And that was it. His heart just stopped. On the same day she is a bride, shelly is a widow. And soon, she will have to deal with her strange inheritance. Theres no way i could go through everything. I think there were things that rick forgot he even had. But theres one thing rick did not forget. You get a call that he has another Little Something for you. Yes. Thats next. Whats your strange inheritance story . Wed love to hear it. Send me an email or go to our website, strangeinheritance. Com. Announcer and now, the conclusion of strange inheritance. In 2015, shelly cigel inherits the daunting task of dealing with her late husband, ricks, enormous space collection thousands of relics accumulated over a lifetime. I think there were things that rick forgot he even had. Having just watched a space camera rick bought for 19,000 bring in 275k, she reaches out to ricks friend Bobby Livingston for help. Theres no way i could go through everything. We had so many different things, even from the astronauts themselves. She starts small and puts 20 items on the auction block. Shelly follows the action from what is now her home in brentwood, california. What was that like for you . That was the first time i watched an auction by myself, without rick. Among the artifacts, a buzz aldrinsigned life magazine cover goes for 530. A piece of mercury 4 cable fetches 1,300. An apollo light meter 1,700. Michael collins slide rule 3,000. Gene cernans apollo 17 checklist 4,800. Gordon coopers command wings 6,000. A soviet cosmonauts soyuz 17 film cannister 13,000. And prices keep going up. Take coopers survival radio. In case he needed to communicate with nasa, should he be lost somewhere, if he crashed out in the desert. What do you think this sold for . 10,000 . Very close. A little under 15,000. And this apollo altitude controller fetches 74,000. I kept saying to rick, we did it. We did it. How much did you get . Um. A lot. A lot. Yeah. Shellys final tally for the auction over 100k. But a big part of shellys strange inheritance remains, like that monkey chair, nasa instrument panel, autographed photos, and fullsize replica space capsule, plus hundreds more artifacts. Shelly hopes to find a buyer for them someday. And who knows what it all might be worth . Do you feel that you fulfilled ricks wish in having the items you sold recently get into the hands of other people who will appreciate them as much . Oh, absolutely. You realize that these are people who know what theyre buying. These are onceinalifetime items. These things dont come up again. And now, that final twist we promised was coming. You get a call that he has another Little Something for you. Yes. It was just a few days after her husbands funeral. An email appears in shellys inbox. Its from an auction house telling her that, before he died, rick had bid on a rare wedding ring. An email popped up that said, congratulations. You won the ring by proxy bid. When rick was in the hospital, he put a secret bid in. Where everybody should be thinking about him, he was always thinking about me. Someone still had to pay for it, but it seems rick thought of that, too. Remember that space camera rick was so anxious to sell . Bobby livingston wires some of that cash, and just like that, a package arrives. I opened it up, and it was more beautiful than i imagined. Rick had good taste. Yeah, he did. Now, thats a strange inheritance story. One look at shelly and you can tell shes over the moon. Roger that, mission control. It is kind of amazing that more than half of americans living today werent even born when man last walked on the moon. Will we ever go back . Well, at least one spacetourism company is taking reservations for a tobedetermined blastoff date. Shelly wishes rick would have lived to see such a day. He would have done anything to get one of those boarding passes and no doubt return with some incredible photos and souvenirs for his collection. Im jamie colby for strange inheritance. Thanks so much for watching, and remember you cant take it with you. Maria good monday morning, welcome, thank you so much for joining us. Im maria bartiromo, monday april 6th, 6 00 a. M. On guidelines this morning, take a look at the numbers. President trump expressing hope after decline in daily coronavirus death in new york. Signaling support sently directly to americans. New treatments showing promise and the white house is asking people to avoid Grocery Stores and pharmacies this week as they are still rough times ahead. Market this is morning look like this. Futures indicating rally at start of trading, take a look, dow fut
vimarsana.com © 2020. All Rights Reserved.