Auctions Facts

Nancy Carlson bought a plain bag at a government surplus auction for $995. It turned out to be Neil Armstrong's Apollo 11 lunar sample bag - still containing actual moon dust from the first landing. NASA demanded it back. A federal judge ruled Carlson was the legal owner. She sold it at Sotheby's for $1.8 million. The moon was in the clearance bin.

A family bought a small white bowl for $3 at a yard sale in upstate New York in 2007 and kept it on their living room shelf for six years. It turned out to be a 1,000-year-old Northern Song Dynasty "Ding" bowl - one of only two known to exist. It sold at Sotheby's for $2.2 million. The other one is in the British Museum.