^Lot 408 Orville Wright

Vintage matte-finish 10.75 x 8.5 photo of Orville Wright posing between Glenn Martin and William H. Coverdale, signed in the lower border in fountain pen, “Orville Wright,” “Glenn L. Martin,” and “W. H. Coverdale.” A pencil date notation of “1937” has been added in an unknown hand to the lower right. Some light creases to corners and edges, a bit of light silvering, visible only at an angle, surface impression to lower right of image, and a few light surface dings, otherwise fine condition. On December 17, 1937, on the 34th anniversary of man’s first powered flight at Kitty Hawk, the Associated Press reported from New York that Orville Wright ‘made one of his rare trips away from his Dayton (O.) home to attend a meeting of the Institute of Aeronautical Sciences.’ Coverdale was almost certainly one of the several hundred attendees at the December 17, 1937, meeting of the Institute of Aeronautical Sciences, at which Glenn L. Martin was also present. This photograph was most probably taken that day. Orville Wright is wearing a circular button on his left lapel which may identify him as the ‘guest of honor.’ Research has been unable to find any record of a sale at a major public auction of a photograph signed by both Wright and Glenn L. Martin.