The 30 Minute Rule begins June 10 at 7:00 PM EDT. An Initial Bid Must Be Placed By June 10 at 6:00 PM EDT To Participate After 6:00 PM EDT
Original calligraphic Japanese artwork by ‘noble beggar’ Dr. Manbou, an elderly Japanese man who created and sold these pieces at a table outside the gates of the Manned Spacecraft Center in Houston, Texas, during the historic launch of the Apollo 11 mission. Accomplished in ink on an off-white 2.5 x 14.25 cardstock sheet speckled with gold, the poetic artwork reads (translated): ‘Come, pause here and rest – even insects sleep amid grass that shines like jewels.’ The reverse is annotated in red ballpoint: "The Princess of the Moon will give you Happiness, 20 July 69, NASA Manned Spacecraft Center, Houston, Tex – Apollo 11 landing & EVA."
Accompanied by the two printed copies of contemporary newspaper articles mentioning Dr. Manbou, as well as the original information sheet that Dr. Manbou provided to the press and his customers: “In Japan, there is an old old legend of a beautiful lady called Princess Kaguya who once came down from the moon as a baby and went back to the moon again in the midst of her brilliant life.
People say that her descendants have always existed, extending through many centuries, but they have never worked, like aristocrats by birth, living as beggars.
This man called Doctor Manbou is the only descendant of Princess Kaguya now living on earth. Once a month he sits on the streets and sells calligraphy, the special writing of his signature. To buy this, people come in swarms and stand in a long, long line. As his signature costs one hundred dollars, he is one of the most noted persons and of the upper-bracket taxpayers in Japan.
Should there be some people who hold doubt about this fact, they must only ask any Japanese who Doctor Manbou is. If the Japanese is really an intellectual person, he must know the name of Doctor Manbou much better than the name of the Prime Minister.
Now, when man is about to land on the moon, Doctor Manbou recalls his ancestor, the moon people, and comes to the United States as a noble-blooded beggar. He will sell his calligraphy written in Japanese, saying that Princess Kaguya once came down from the moon and left Doctor Manbou in the eternal world of human beings. The cost is only one dollar. The cost in Japan could be many hundreds of dollars, and will increase to more than thousand dollars after his death.
Usually he does not speak any languages other than that of the moon people. He speaks our languages only when he is in extraordinarily good spirits or when something very precious is given to him, this beggar of noble birth and celebrity.” In fine condition.
