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Lindbergh’s iconic aviator cap goes unsold at Paris auction

Published 1:30 am Wednesday, November 16, 2016

Lindbergh’s iconic aviator cap goes unsold at Paris auction
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Lindbergh’s iconic aviator cap goes unsold at Paris auction
The leather cap of Captain Charles Lindbergh is pictured at the Drouot auction house, Wednesday, Nov.16, in Paris. Lindbergh wore the aviation cap during his famous 33-hour transatlantic flight in 1927 from New York to Paris. (AP Photo/Christophe Ena)

Associated Press

PARIS — The iconic aviation cap worn by Charles Lindbergh during his famed 1927 trans-Atlantic flight to France went on the auction block Wednesday but failed to sell.

Bidding on the floppy brown leather cap that buttons around the chin reached 52,000 euros ($55,505) — below the minimum set price of 60,000 euros ($64,000) — the Druout auction house said.

Pre-auction estimates for what was billed as an exceptional sale went as high as $86,000.

The aviator cap was discovered by a Parisian family in their garden days after the 25-year-old Lindbergh flew his plane solo from New York to Le Bourget in the Paris suburbs. Auctioneer Nicholas Couvrand said the cap had fallen off during a later flight when Lindbergh did “a loop” in the air.

The cap kept Lindbergh warm during the grueling 33-hour air voyage that propelled the previously unknown air mail pilot to international fame.

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