Martian meteorite, alien, robo-bunny head go up for bid
Here's a rare chance to own everything from an Enigma machine to a life-size alien statue when Christie's Out of the Ordinary auction kicks off.
Collectors of animatronic bunny heads, rejoice! Christie's Out of the Ordinary 2014 auction is coming soon and it's stocked with oddities and items that will make geeks want to whip out their checkbooks. Whether you're into Victorian squirrel taxidermy or objects from space, Christie's has you covered this year.
One of the odder items on the auction menu is described as "A steel, plastic and synthetic fur 'Energizer Bunny' animatronic. Late 20th Century." It's just a head, though. The sunglasses-wearing pink head moves back and forth with a spring-loaded handle while the ears move under power from a battery-operated electric motor. It's both fascinating and terrifying. The auction estimate is $2,523 - $3,364 (£1,500 - £2,000). That would make it a pretty pricey practical joke for terrorizing your friends with. Totally worth it, though.
Space geeks will be attracted to a Martian meteorite, a nondescript-looking chunk of basaltic shergottite that is less than two inches wide. It was found in 1999 and is expected to go for at least $6,728 (£4,000). If you're looking for something a bit more lunar, then check out the pen flown to the moon on Apollo 17 or a Bible fragment flown to the moon on Apollo 14.
Codebreakers and historians should salivate over a circa-1939 three-rotor Enigma machine. The German cipher machine famous for its role in World War II comes in a wood case and includes a green nighttime filter. You'll need to be wealthy for this one. Christie's estimates it could go as high as $100,920 (£60,000).
Sci-fi film fans can bid on some eye-catching conversation pieces, including a full-size replica of the toothy beast from the 1979 movie "Alien." The body is made of fiberglass and it sports a foam-rubber tail. The arms are posable, so you can have it reaching out for visitors in your living room. It's expected to go for somewhere around $5,000 (£3,000). If you want something of a more recent vintage, then look to the full-size NS-5 robot from "I, Robot" from 2004. The purposefully damaged robot has red LED lighting inside the torso, bullet holes, and a missing lower left arm. You can tell your friends how you captured it yourself. You can expect to pay at least $8,410 (£5,000) for it.
The Out of the Ordinary auction will be held on September 3. If most of the items are too pricey for you, then you still have a chance at a piece of history. A dinosaur bone from an Iguanodon is estimated to sell for as little at $841 (£500). That's an expensive vertebra, but relatively cheap compared to an alien or an Enigma machine.
