Fascinating Piece Of Flight History Up For Auction......

1928-1929 Amelia Earhart Flight Worn Cap From First Crossing Of Atlantic Ocean By A Woman (as a passenger) --Photo Matched!



















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No doubt a fascinating piece of aviation history, but also interesting how it was "acquired"..........basically just found on the ground next to Amelia Earhart's plane (August, 1929) at the National Air Races in Cleveland where Ms. Earhart was competing (and find myself wondering if the guy that found it that day ever considered, you know, GIVING IT BACK TO IT'S RIGHTFUL OWNER !!), a little over a year after her first crossing of the Atlantic (6/18/1928) as a passenger (she would then go on to be the first woman to ever pilot her own plane across the Atlantic on May 20, 1932):










Tale is documented in Earhart's autobiography, "20 Hrs. 40 Mins. - Our Flight in the Friendship."



"Everyone has oceans to fly, if they have the heart to do it. Is it reckless? Maybe. But what do dreams know of boundaries?"




Somewhere near the equator, midway between the Asian and American continents, her mystery remains hidden, perhaps in the great depths of the Pacific, perhaps near the shoreline of the lonely, barren island she and navigator Fred Noonan desperately sought as the fuel gauge of her Lockheed L10 Electra crept toward empty. The 1937 disappearance of the world's most celebrated aviatrix remains one of the twentieth century's greatest unsolved mysteries, but Amelia Earhart's extraordinary legacy lives on, a towering figure in the long journey from Kitty Hawk to the far reaches of outer space.



Earhart's enormous celebrity during her brief but remarkable life left the collecting hobby with a sizable population of autographs, photographs and publications, but virtually nothing in the manner of flight worn gear, universally considered the pinnacle of desirability for any and all leading figures of aeronautics. Of course the Wright brothers and Charles Lindbergh found solid ground at the conclusion of their most famous flights, securing well-earned immortality for their airplanes at the Smithsonian Museum in our nation's capital, while tiny scraps of those planes' skins have commanded thousands of dollars in the collectibles marketplace.



The offered lot represents one of the most significant pre-war flight artifacts ever made available at public auction, the leather cap worn by Amelia Earhart as she became the first woman to cross the Atlantic Ocean by airplane. Just thirteen months after Charles Lindbergh's famous crossing, Earhart boarded the Fokker F.VIII "Friendship" piloted by Wilmer Stultz and Lou Gordon as a passenger for the twenty-one-hour journey between Newfoundland, Canada and South Wales. She would, with characteristic humility, describe her own experience as "a sack of potatoes," but the experience deepened her drive to make the journey alone one day, which she would realize four years later.



In multiple photographs of the joyous scene at the Welsh landing ground, this flight cap is unmistakable upon Earhart's head, though these images are used as supporting documentation for the definitive photo match to an undated image believed to have been shot on June 13, 1928, just days before the historic crossing. That photo match documentation is visible in full at our online lot listing.



But this cap became the possession of our consignor's family about fourteen months later, as Earhart participated in the National Air Races in Cleveland, Ohio in August of 1929. That letter of provenance is likewise visible at our online listing, and tells the story of the consignor's mother attending that event with some friends. "As the planes parked on the field," the letter reads, "one of her friends decided to leave the bleachers and ran to the landing field to greet the pilots. When he returned, this young man presented the flight cap to Elinor [the consignor's mother], stating he found the cap on the ground near Amelia Earhart's aircraft. The name "A. Earhart" was on the inside of the cap."



That handwritten black ink notation remains wonderfully bold, and the leather of the sleek cap still smooth and supple as it approaches its centennial. An inch-long tear just below the left ear communications pocket is the only condition issue worthy of note. An absolute dream piece for the advanced Earhart collector. LOA from Resolution Photomatching.





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