Posted 13 years ago
MrsWilfong
(1 item)
These vintage photographs were hanging in our local drugstore for 70 years, they were closing down the store to put in a newer store and I bought them at an auction. They are on 1/4 inch thick 4ft. x 4ft. panels.I'm still trying to figure out what famous people are on them but I'm pretty sure they are of famous pilots. Amelia Arehart, Wright Brothers, ect. I have a total of 6 of them. I have always wanted to be a pilot myself someday so they are really interesting. I found a letter in between the walls of an old house that was built in the 1800's that we had bought and were tearing down the walls to renovate...it was dated 1857 and it mentioned the possibility of sending mail or even people thru the sky to travel faster. This was way before the Wright Brothers so it was very interesting, but it was very worn and the ink was hard to read the letter to find out who it was from.
last one is Charles Lindberg. Not sure but the bearded fella looks a little bit like Freud. I have seen the mustached man but I cant place him.
Oh my, I feel very old that you don't know some of these...
Third picture, middle guy - John Glenn, astronaut (First to orbit)
Third pic, last guy Wilber Wright (Wright Brothers)
Fourth picture, Charles Lindberg
First picture, the middle guy is Orville Wright (Wright Brothers). And yes, that's Amelia.
Not sure about the Freud guy.
Oh, and it's Earhardt, not Arehart.
The woman on the right in the first photo is Amelia Earhart. The man in the middle of that photo appears to be Orville Wright. The man on the right in the third photo appears to be Wilbur Wright. The guy on the left in the third photo appears to be John Glenn.
MAn I bet they are worth some big money..(original or not)
And a quick google search confirmed the old guy is Samuel P. Langley
Samuel Langley was an astronomer, who realized that power was needed to help man fly. He built a model of a plane, which he called an aerodrome, that included a steam-powered engine. In 1891, his model flew for 3/4s of a mile before running out of fuel.
Langley received a $50,000 grant to build a full sized aerodrome. It was too heavy to fly and it crashed. He was very disappointed. He gave up trying to fly. His major contributions to flight involved attempts at adding a power plant to a glider. He was also well known as the director of the Smithsonian Institute in Washington, DC
http://www.flyingmachines.org/lang.html
The old guy is Samuel Langley. Barbara is faster than me. Great stuff.
Thanks for all the great information, I really appreciate the feedback.
Does anyone know what these could possibly be worth or where to try to sell them??
I would email different auction houses. I would be careful about saying they are 70 years old though. John Glenn is 90, and his famous space flight was in 1962. My preference for auction places has always been Heritage.