NEW YORK (AP) — Buzz Aldrin’s jacket worn on his historic first
mission to the moon’s surface in 1969 has been auctioned off to
a bidder for nearly $2.8 million.

The $2,772,500 paid for the Apollo 11 Inflight Coverall Jacket is
the highest for any American space-flown artifact sold at auction, according to Sotheby’s, which handled the sale. The unidentified
winning bidder, who participated by phone, outlasted several
others in a bidding that spanned almost 10 minutes.

Buzz Aldrin ( Edwin Eugene Aldrin Jr.) turned 92 in January.

DALLAS (AP) — Muhammad Ali’s championship belt from his
1974 "Rumble in the Jungle" heavyweight title fight was sold
at auction on Sunday for $6.18 million.

The winner of the competition for the belt was Indianapolis
Colts owner Jim Irsay, according to Heritage Auctions in Dallas.

In a tweet Sunday, Irsay confirmed he acquired the belt for his
collection of rock music, American history and pop culture
memorabilia that is currently touring the country.

The belt will be displayed on Aug. 2 at Chicago’s Navy Pier and
on Sept. 9 in Indianapolis.

Indianapolis Colts owner Jim Irsay.

Referee Zack Clayton, right, steps in after challenger
Muhammad Ali, second from right, knocked down
defending heavyweight champion George Foreman,
bottom, in the eighth round of their championship
bout on Oct. 30, 1974, in Kinshasa, Zaire. (AP Photo/File)

LAGUNA NIGUEL, Calif. (AP) — A jersey worn by Kobe Bryant
in his rookie season, including two playoff games, will be sold
at auction.

David Kohler of SCP Auctions said “the jersey from the 1996-97
season could fetch between $3 million and $5 million in an online
auction that begins May 18”.   

David Kohler, SCP Auctions

AP – A 17th-century masterpiece by Peter Paul Rubens,
Portrait of a Lady, at the DESA Unicum auction house
in Warsaw, Poland, sold for $3.4 Million  on Thursday,
February 17, 

Sir Peter Paul Rubens
(28 June 1577 – 30 May 1640)

Rubens was the most versatile and
influential Baroque artist of northern
Europe in the seventeenth century.

JUNEAU, Alaska (AP) — A gemstone, billed as one of the largest
gem-quality opals ever found, was sold for $143,750 at auction in
Alaska on Sunday.

The opal, dubbed the “Americus Australis,” weighs more than
11,800 carats, according to the auction house Alaska Premier
Auctions & Appraisals. It also has a long history.

Most recently, it was kept in a linen closet in a home in Big Lake,
north of Anchorage, by Fred von Brandt, who mines for gold in
Alaska and whose family has deep roots in the gem and rock
business.

The opal is larger than a brick and is broken into two pieces,
which von Brandt said was a practice used decades ago to
prove gem quality.

Von Brandt said the stone has been in his family since the late
1950s, when his grandfather bought it from an Australian opal
dealer named John Altmann.