By Tim Binnall
A flight cap worn by pioneering aviator Amelia Earhart nearly a century ago sold for a staggering $825,000 at a recent auction. The incredible relic boasts a rather odd backstory beyond its obvious link to history. The piece had been handed down to a man named Anthony Twiggs by his mother, Ellie Brookhart, who had long shared a rather fantastic tale about how she had obtained it. According to what became family legend, the cap was given to her by a boy who had a crush on her back in 1929 when the pair attended an air derby featuring Earhart. During a scrum at the conclusion of the event, the mischievous scamp snatched the helmet from the aviator's head and gifted it to Twiggs' mother.
Following her passing, the man set out to see if the story was true and, if so, sell it at auction rather than keep it tucked away in a drawer in his home. After being rebuffed by skeptical experts, Twiggs was ultimately able to get the cap authenticated by way of photographic forensics. Amazingly, a specialist in the field was reportedly able to determine that not only was it the helmet worn by Earhart at the event in 1929, but that it was also the same helmet that she donned while making history as the first woman to fly across the Atlantic as a passenger.
Having been proven to be genuine, the flight cap went up for sale in an online auction that concluded over the weekend. Originally estimated to sell for around $80,000, the piece wound up going for a stunning ten times that price when the virtual gavel finally fell and an unnamed buyer purchased the piece for a jaw-dropping $825,000. With its new owner remaining anonymous, the fate of the historic helmet is uncertain. While one hopes that it can be put on display for the public, there is always the fear that the piece may have fallen into the hands of a private collector where, like Earhart herself, it could simply vanish never to be seen again.