A valuable document recording the history of the first cosmonaut’s foreign tour mysteriously ended up in the hands of private collectors and is now up for auction.
European auction house International Autograph Auctions has put up for auction the diplomatic passport of the first cosmonaut, Yuri Gagarin.
The document was issued to the cosmonaut on September 25, 1963, for one year. However, it was subsequently extended several times. It remained valid until at least 1967, as evidenced by numerous Soviet exit visas and border control stamps.
Judging by the marks, Gagarin used this document during his “Mission for Peace” tour from 1963 to 1967. Among the countries visited by the cosmonaut, one can discern stamps from France, Cuba, Mexico, the USA, Canada, Norway, Sweden, Bulgaria, Chile, and others.
How a document of museum value, which should be kept in the archives of former Soviet agencies, ended up in the hands of a private collector remains anyone’s guess.
The auction will take place on September 24 in Marbella, Spain. The starting price is 25000 euros (approximately 2.5 million rubles).
