Shure model SM33 ribbon microphone.

The microphone was saved from a trash bin by "The Tonight
Show" chief boom operator Stan Sweeney.

An anonymous bidder in 2005 snatched a piece of TV history,
offering $50,787 for the microphone that sat prominently on
the desk of late-night king Johnny Carson until the 1980s.

The offer was about twice that expected at auction.

1938

On June 17, 1885, the dismantled Statue of Liberty, a gift of
friendship from the people of France to the people of America,
arrived in New York Harbor after being shipped across the
Atlantic Ocean in 350 individual pieces packed in more than
200 cases.

The copper and iron statue was reassembled and dedicated
the following year in a ceremony presided over by President
Grover Cleveland. It became known around the world as an
enduring symbol of freedom and democracy.