Concorde Mach meter. Estimated at 3,000 euros, sold for 26,000 euros.

This weekend, spare parts from the scrapped Concorde fleet were auctioned in Toulouse, France, and fetched prices nobody had anticipated.

One of the items true fanatics went after was the machmètre (mach meter), the iconic instrument which tells the airplane’s speed relative to the speed of sound. It was estimated to fetch 3,000 euros, but found a buyer at 26,000 euros.

A landing gear, weighing 1.2 tonnes, estimated at 2,000 euros, was bought for 26,000 euros.

The most sought-after item was a set of six elevons (wing parts), which were estimated at 2,000 euros but sold at 37,000 euros.

Buying a loo seat was a lot cheaper: just 2.650 euros.

Prices were lower than at a previous auction in 2003, when an entire Concorde nose was sold at 470,000 euros, and a mach meter found a customer at 94,000 euros.

Source (in French)
Previously on Frogsmoke: Buy a piece of aviation history