21/28 December 2019 | New Scientist | 81age. I think it’s just in the zeitgeist.”
Predicting what will make millions and
what will flop isn’t an exact science, however.
Hatton says she judges items on four key
factors: condition, rarity, story and impact.
Those last two are crucial.
“A really great example is Nobel prizes,”
she says. “They’re all worth about $10,000 in
gold, but when you engrave the name Richard
Feynman on it, [or] Crick or Watson, suddenly
that is transformed. You’re doing alchemy.”
When it comes to prices, brevity is key.
“The shorter the story, the more it’s worth,”
says Hatton. Venning agrees: “We sometimes
joke in the department that the auction appeal
of a lot is in inverse proportion to the number
of words you need to explain what it is.”
The three little words “taken to space” can
do a lot of heavy lifting. “Everyone knows who
Neil Armstrong and Buzz Aldrin are, no matter
where you are in the world, what language you
speak, how old you are,” says Hatton. “It’s a
democratic collecting field that has a muchBethan Ackerley is a trainee
sub-editor at New Scientist.
She is a sound investmentperhaps because of – the lingering smell of
tobacco. The same year, a first edition copy of
Ada Lovelace’s Sketch of the Analytical Engine,
which some claim contains the first computer
program, sold for £95,000.
What sets these particular items apart? “It is
quite natural that the great scientists should
increasingly be seen as the foundational
figures of our modern age,” says Thomas
Venning of Christie’s. “We live in a scientificLots to come?
Elon Musk’s unused rescue sub
Created to help 12 boys trapped in a
flooded cave in Thailand, Elon Musk’s
mini-submarine was never used but
sparked a vicious war of words between
him and a member of the rescue team.
The tech entrepreneur’s loyal fans might
well pay good money to own a piece of
his technology, however controversial.Wool from the first sheep to
survive in artificial uteruses
In 2017, researchers at the Children’s
Hospital of Philadelphia successfully
kept alive eight premature lamb
fetuses in artificial uteruses. Given the
revolutionary impact this technology
might have, their wool could one day
be knitted into a veritable golden fleece...
or a very valuable Christmas jumper.Chris Hadfield’s guitar
Canadian astronaut Chris Hadfield went
viral in 2013 for his videos from the
International Space Station. He also
became an unlikely pop star, using the
station’s Larrivée Parlor acoustic guitar
to record an album, including a cover of
David Bowie’s Space Oddity. The guitar
remains on the ISS – at least until some
crafty astronaut smuggles it to Earth.Greta Thunberg’s “SKOLSTREJK
FÖR KLIMATET” sign
Greta Thunberg, the teenage activist
whose protest outside the Swedish
parliament made her one of the most
influential environmental activists in the
world, came to prominence alongside
her hand-painted sign calling for a
school strike for climate. The original
item is a simple but potent symbol of
the fight against climate change.easier learning curve. There are low-risk items.
You can get small things that flew in space
for not a tremendous amount of money.”
As for the future of the scientific market,
experts are reluctant to speculate – but that
shouldn’t stop the rest of us from some
educated guesswork (see “Lots to come?”,
above). Some treasures may not be easy to lay
your hands on. But for those enterprising few
who are willing to think creatively, there are
no doubt riches waiting to be unearthed. ❚GIACOMOGAMBINERCO
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