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Francis Gary Powers’s Suitcase Carried During the First Soviet Union Prisoner Exchange in 1962

Currency:USD Category:Collectibles / Autographs Start Price:NA
Francis Gary Powers’s Suitcase Carried During the First Soviet Union Prisoner Exchange in 1962

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Auction Date:2013 Oct 24 @ 12:00 (UTC-05:00 : EST/CDT)
Location:60 School Street, Boston, Massachusetts, 02108, United States
ALS - Autograph Letter Signed
ANS - Autograph Note Signed
AQS - Autograph Quotation Signed
AMQS - Autograph Musical Quotation Signed
DS - Document Signed
FDC - First Day Cover
Inscribed - “Personalized”
ISP - Inscribed Signed Photograph
LS - Letter Signed
SP - Signed Photograph
TLS - Typed Letter Signed
Extremely historically important suitcase that Powers carried across the Glienicke Bridge in Potsdam, Germany, on February 10, 1962, when he was traded for KGB spy Rudolf Abel in the first prisoner exchange between the United States and Soviet Union. Dark brown suitcase measures 23.75 x 14 x 7 and is lined with black cloth, bearing remnants of a Russian tag affixed to the interior. Accompanied by a letter of provenance from Gary Powers, Jr.

Following his distinguished service in the Air Force, Francis Gary Powers joined the CIA's U-2 program, conducting espionage missions using an aircraft equipped with a state-of-the-art camera designed to take high-resolution photos from the edge of the stratosphere over hostile countries. When his plane was shot down on May 1, 1960, Powers was unable activate its self-destruct mechanism before he parachuted to the ground and into the hands of the KGB. He was interrogated extensively for months before providing a forced confession, and on August 17, 1960, he was convicted of espionage against the Soviet Union and sentenced to three years in prison and seven years of hard labor. One year and nine months later, President Kennedy authorized the first prisoner exchange between the two rivals, swapping Powers, along with American student Frederic Pryor, for Soviet KGB Colonel Vilyam Fisher (aka Rudolf Abel), the highest-ranking Soviet officer ever tried and convicted on espionage charges in the US, in a well-publicized spy swap at the Glienicke Bridge in Berlin, Germany.

Despite a cold reception upon his return, it was determined that Powers had followed orders and conducted himself with exemplary behavior. In May 2000, on the 40th anniversary of the U-2 Incident, his family was presented with his posthumously awarded Prisoner of War Medal, Distinguished Flying Cross, Silver Star and National Defense Service Medal. He was also posthumously honored at that time with the CIA’s coveted Director’s Medal for extreme fidelity and extraordinary courage in the line of duty, and two years later, with the USAF Silver Star in the Hall of Heroes at the Pentagon. Originally exhibited at Virginia’s Cold War Museum, co-founded by Powers’s son, this suitcase is an incredible memento from a momentous day in history, and a striking reminder of Powers’s service during the trying times of the Cold War.