HP-65: Was this item in space?

[renif]

Offers like this one can be seen over and over again on TAS. As a carefull reader you have to ask: What exactly is offered in the auction?

Answer : A calculator of the type which was used in the Apollo-Soyuz mission, a poster showing the astronauts and cosmonauts, a postcard with their signatures. The seller does not claim that this specific calculator has been used onboard the Apollo spacecraft. He doesn't even claim that the calculator for sale ever has been owned by NASA or used by one of the astronauts. Of course, he does not show the slightest inclination to diffuse the impression that his calculator is unique ("gibt es sonst weltweit nicht zu kaufen"). That's probably true. As long as nobody else ties up a parcel consisting of any old HP-65, a Poster and a fancy postcard with signatures of some astronauts and cosmonauts.

So, if you think the certified postcard is worth at least 1500 Euro minus the usual market value for an ordinary HP-65, try and get it. As Walter already noticed, you would be the first for a long time. For me, the asking price is absolutely utopian. The real value for this lot should be somewhere between 500 and 800 Euro.

On the other hand we must give the seller credit for his clever story, not violating the historical frame. There are other offers with less respect for historical facts. Like that one: http://www.quoka.de/sammlungen-seltenes/...dflug.html, whrere an HP-41CV is for sale.
[irony mode ON]
That little machine has made all the long way to the moon and back to mother earth, only to be offered to you, yes you, for next to nothing. Hurry!
[irony mode OFF]

I told the seller, that the 41C has been developed in the late seventies and was first built in the year 1979. So, it should be quite unlikely that his calculator had the chance to take part in the first manned lunar landing, which took place in 1969. That little discrepancy did not disturb him in the least. His offer is repeated every week. Caveat emptor as Walter and american law say...

Under german law both offers can be considered misleading at best. In the case of the "lunar" HP-41CV it's either attempted fraud, pure ignorance, or a combination of both.