Auctioneers look to the stars as space memorabilia comes under the hammer

SINCE Timothy Peake hitched a ride on a Russian rocket on December 15 to spend six months aboard the International Space Station, the UK seems to have become excited about space travel again.

Or maybe that was the effect of the latest instalment of the Star Wars franchise.

Major Tim is the seventh British-born person to go to space.

The first was Helen Sharman, who visited Mir as part of Project Juno in 1991.

The Russians, of course, have a long and proud space heritage – and the spirit of co-operation enjoyed today is a far cry from the bitter rivalry of the mid 20th century.

Central to the collection is a copy of Facing the Cosmos, a Cold War and Space Race relic about the Sputnik project, which the USSR produced for the 1958 Brussels International Exhibition.

Designed in the Socialist Realism style, printed in English, and clearly an attempt to wind up American rivals – who were still years from getting an astronaut into space – the piece of propaganda quotes the Father of Rocketry Konstantin Tsiolkovsky: “Man will not remain eternally on Earth: in pursuit of light and space he will venture at first timidly beyond the confined of the atmosphere, and then conquer all space in the region of the Sun.”

It includes pictures of Sputnik I, which had been launched in the autumn of 1957, and of Sputnik II, with the dog Laika, who became the first animal to orbit the earth later that year.

The pamphlet will be sold with various magazines and ephemera, along with a cased enamelled one rouble piece, produced in 1981 to celebrate the 20th anniversary of the first human space flight.

The coin features an image of Yuri Gagarin on one side, with the Hammer and Sickle emblem and the initials CCCP to the reverse.

The entire lot carries an estimate of £30 to £50.

From Russia to Japan, and a collection of oriental art includes an early 19th century woodblock triptych print of sumo wrestlers and spectators after an original design by Kunisada Toyokuni III (1786-1864) whose work is instantly recognisable to Western eyes today.

Also among the collection is a modern abstract piece by Hamada Taisuke (born 1932). Yozimbo is taken from the artist’s Samurai series of paintings, and the oil on canvas – featuring a splatter of blood red paint over a background of black – is said to represent the image of a samurai from the prone perspective of the viewer, who has been slain by the warrior and lies dying.

The pieces of Japanese art carry an estimate of £200 to £300 each.

Finally, from a violent death at the hands of a Japanese swordsman to a serene depiction of the four seasons decorating the front of a late 20th century Chinese cupboard.

The four door panels of the oriental hardwood piece are decorated with orchids, lotus, chrysanthemum, and plum blossom, denoting spring, summer, autumn and winter.

A bid of between £100 and £150 should secure the lot.

For a full auction catalogue, log on to mooreallen.co.uk/auction-house