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Friday, 17th July 2009 (1184 views)

A pair of gold-rimmed sunglasses that would have been worn by astronauts onboard the Apollo 13 spacecraft headed for the moon has sold at auction for $18,300 (£11,215).

The standard issue military sunglasses came in a fireproof case and surpassed their $4,000 selling estimate significantly at the Bonhams auction in New York, Bloomberg reports.

An unidentified phone bidder won the sunglasses. When asked why they sold for such a high price, Matthew Haley of Bonhams said: "The sunglasses were just really cool."

The auction was entirely dedicated to selling items relating to space exploration and was organised to coincide with this week's 40th anniversary celebrations of the Apollo 11 Nasa mission that saw Neil Armstrong and Buzz Aldrin become the first men to walk on the moon.

Gold is an important material in space exploration, with the precious metal being used to blacken the visors of the helmets worn by astronauts to protect their eyes from ultraviolet light.

 

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