1928 - 1930 R.E. Byrd Antarctic Expedition Group
GUEST: I brought in a couple of diaries from Elbert John Thawley, who was the second engineer on the supply ship for Admiral Byrd's expedition to Antarctica in 1928. Plus, he also received a gift from Mrs. Byrd, Christmas of 1928. And then this is his congressional medal that he was gifted at the end of the expedition. I found these diaries during COVID, and I started reading them, and they were a little spicy.
APPRAISER: And this gentleman is an ancestor of yours?
GUEST: So that is my husband's grandfather.
APPRAISER: The expedition leaves in October of 1928. He is on the supply ship that is sort of making runs back and forth, right, from...
GUEST: Yes.
APPRAISER: ...Antarctica to New Zealand.
GUEST: Yes.
APPRAISER: And he keeps two journals while on board. And what's the difference in these two journals?
GUEST: Well, it's my opinion that this journal is actually the one that he would show his mother.
APPRAISER: (laughing): Okay.
GUEST: (laughs): And then I thought, this one is, is a little more graphic and a little more spicy.
APPRAISER: And, and longer and more detailed.
GUEST: And longer.
APPRAISER: Right?
GUEST: And more detailed.
APPRAISER: So, yes, maybe this is the official one.
GUEST: Yes.
APPRAISER: And then this is the dirt.
GUEST: Yes.
APPRAISER: The one with the real dirt. Can you remember what some of the stories are that you uncovered?
GUEST: A, a couple of stories. One was a story where he had actually saved somebody who had fallen off the ice, and he had to kind of crawl out to the ledge as it was crumbling and pull this guy back up. So that was actually in National Geographic. Other stories were about people getting drunk and jumping off the boat, and boats running aground and just mayhem.
APPRAISER: One of my favorite pieces is this one. It reads "Mrs. R.E. Byrd, Christmas, 1928, Dunedin, New Zealand." And on the other side, it's personalized, "To Elbert Thawley, member, Byrd Antarctic Expedition." And then the last one is the congressional medal...
GUEST: Yes.
APPRAISER: ...that was given to all the members of the expedition.
GUEST: Yes.
APPRAISER: There are only about 65 of those out in the world. Polar exploration is really hot now.
GUEST: Mm-hmm.
APPRAISER: Admiral Byrd is one of the top...
GUEST: Yes.
APPRAISER: ...people that you would pursue. However, we also want other voices. You said there's information in here that doesn't appear in the histories. If we can shine the light on a story that hasn't been told yet, that's really terrific. We'll start in the middle. This one, the more mundane journal...
GUEST: Mm-hmm.
APPRAISER: ...it also isn't fully complete.
GUEST: Yes.
APPRAISER: I would say $1,000 to $2,000 auction value.
GUEST: Okay.
APPRAISER: But for the real one, with the dirt, I would estimate this at $5,000 to $7,000 for this one.
GUEST: Wow, okay! Wow!
APPRAISER: The, going down to the congressional medal, those have sold at auction recently.
GUEST: Okay.
APPRAISER: And I would put an estimate on that one at $5,000 to $7,000, as well. That's a great piece.
GUEST: Wow!
APPRAISER: The, the lighter, I think, is maybe your wild card piece.
GUEST: Hmm.
APPRAISER: It's the kind of thing I don't know that I would put a very expensive price on.
GUEST: Yeah.
APPRAISER: But it's such a fun, quirky piece, I would expect it might fly.
GUEST: Okay.
APPRAISER: So I would probably estimate it in the range of, like, $800 to $1,200.
GUEST: Okay. Wow, that's amazing. I had no idea.
$11,800 - $17,200 Auction
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