5 Pricey Pieces of Aviation Memorabilia

John Lennon's Pan Am Bag

Those were the days. When first class travel meant you would emerge from your flight clutching a new bag, bearing your airline's logo. Airlines cut back on such freebies in the 1970s, which ensures these highly stylized, fashionable pieces of aviation memorabilia are rare today. Pan Am bags with the trendsetting carrier's distinctive “blue ball” logo are particularly desirable. The 1960s examples can make around $100. Add John Lennon into the equation — and the fact he used the bag on the Beatles' historic first visit to the U.S. — and you have a piece of real value. In fact, £4,700 ($7,900) was the price of the bag at auction this month.

Original Wright Brothers Sketches

Just 111 years ago Wilbur and Orville spent the morning of December 14, 1903, making aviation history. In those hours they set in motion a century of innovation that saw planes drop bombs in WWI, a man on the moon, and supersonic passenger flight. The brothers' pioneering achievements ensure their memorabilia is hugely popular with aviation fanatics: a collection of sketches produced by the Wright brothers of their early trials at Kitty Hawk, North Carolina, auctioned for $45,049 last year.

**_

Spirit of St. Louis_ Spare Parts**

Just 24 years after the Wright brothers took to the skies, Charles Lindbergh became the first person to fly non-stop from New York to Paris — turning "Lucky Lindy" into a celebrity overnight. Paul Fraser Collectibles recently sold a collection of spare parts from the Spirit of St Louis' historic flight, priced at £125,000 ($209,500). The sale demonstrates the world's continued fascination with Lindbergh, who found time to father children with three mistresses as well as his wife during his hectic life. The "survival kit" of flown spares included a rocker arm from the Wright J5-C "Whirlwind" engine, three shock absorber bungee cords and two spark plugs. (Photo: Paul Fraser Collectibles)

Concorde's Nose Cone

It was cramped, it was noisy, but it was wonderful. Those lucky enough to fly on Concorde during its 27 years in service, or even just see one overhead, knew they were experiencing aviation greatness. And while calls persist to get a Concorde back in the air, the financial reality suggests they will never fly again, which means memorabilia is the closest we'll get to reliving those days. It helps explain why the most iconic Concorde collectible imaginable — a piece of nose cone from a British Airways aircraft — sold for £320,000 ($538,600) in 2003.

**Amelia Earhart's Flying Goggles **

The first woman to fly solo across the Atlantic, Amelia Earhart's memorabilia would be valuable even without the mystery of her disappearance five years later in 1937. Two thirds of the way through her around-the-world flight of the equator, Earhart's plane vanished while en route from Lae, New Guinea, to Howland Island in the Pacific. Did she run out of fuel? Did she crash land on a Pacific island? Was she captured by the Japanese and executed as a spy? Earhart's plane has never been found. Fascination with her life and death endures. It's why a pair of her flying goggles auctioned for $17,755 in 2011.

Paul Fraser is founder of Paul Fraser Collectibles, which specializes in high-end memorabilia. It is currently selling a Charles Lindbergh-signed piece of fabric from the Spirit of St Louis.

Get exclusive online content like this delivered straight to your inbox by signing up for our free enewsletter.

We welcome your comments on flyingmag.com. In order to maintain a respectful environment, we ask that all comments be on-topic, respectful and spam-free. All comments made here are public and may be republished by Flying.