Who might be able to authenticate some scrap wood from the Spruce Goose?

March 1, 2015 4:37 PM

I have a box full of the blocks I used to play with as a kid. My grandfather told me that he picked them up off of the Spruce Goose floor when he worked at Hughes Aircraft and cut them into blocks for my mom to play with. He and my grandmother are deceased, so there's no way to get more details. The wood is a pretty distinctive laminate so maybe someone could authenticate it? Could it be worth anything? I'm trying to pare down my crap and I don't know anything about this sort of thing.
posted by Huck500 to Travel & Transportation (4 answers total)

Best answer: You might want to write the folks at the Evergreen Museum and ask them. They have the Spruce Goose.
posted by Nelson at 4:56 PM on March 1, 2015 [3 favorites]

Best answer: Seconding Evergreen Museum.

That being said, I think this falls in the category of "family heirloom". If you think you will EVER (even maybe) have a child (or have a sibling who will have a child) I would advise you to hang on to them. Even if you cannot authenticate it, the story is the kind of family lore that you should hang on to -- particularly if you have other documentation (particularly a photo) of him at Hughes Aircraft.
posted by anastasiav at 5:02 PM on March 1, 2015 [14 favorites]

Best answer: Or you could try the PR people at Boeing --the place is made from laminated birch.
posted by Ideefixe at 6:31 PM on March 1, 2015 [1 favorite]

Best answer: Thirding the Evergreen Museum! Its staff and volunteers would go nuts over this story.
posted by apricot at 6:55 AM on March 2, 2015