Signed Photograph of Lindbergh Accepting the Orteig Prize

In 1919, a New York City hotel owner named Raymond Orteig offered $25,000 to the first aviator to fly nonstop from New York to Paris. Several pilots were killed or injured while competing for the Orteig Prize. By 1927, it had still not been won.

Lindbergh believed he could win it if he had the right airplane, one he would design to his own specifications. He persuaded nine St. Louis businessmen to help him finance the cost and chose Ryan Aeronautical Co. of San Diego to manufacture it. He named the plane the Spirit of St. Louis. On May 10-11, 1927, Lindbergh tested the plane by flying from San Diego to New York City, with an overnight stop in St. Louis. The flight took 20 hours 21 minutes, a transcontinental record.

On May 20, 1927, Lindbergh took off in the Spirit of St. Louis from Roosevelt Field, near New York City, at 7:52 A.M. He landed at Le Bourget Field, near Paris, on May 21 at 10:21 P.M. Paris time (5:21 P.M. New York time). Thousands of cheering people had gathered at the air field to meet him. He had flown more than 3,600 miles in 33 1/2 hours. Lindbergh’s heroic flight struck like an electric shock, thrilling people throughout the world. He was an instant celebrity (a status he did not crave and indeed felt trapped by), and was honored with awards, celebrations, and parades. He was summoned home to the United States by President Coolidge and returned with the Spirit of St. Louis aboard the navy cruiser U.S.S. Memphis on June 10.

Raymond Orteig awarded him the $25,000 Orteig Prize on June 16 at his Brevoort Hotel. In offering the prize, Orteig had been absolutely right in thinking that such a flight would be just the beginning of transcontinental flight. The Spirit of St. Louis proved that the principal barrier to commercial air travel was not a technological wall as much as a psychological one.

Once Lindbergh’s flight had shown the way, that barrier was broken forever. Almost overnight, his feat was replicated and the golden age of aviation came into full bloom, starting a chain of events which directly triggered the multi-billion dollar commercial aviation industry of today.

A spectacular 7 by 9 inch photograph taken to record the moment the Prize was awarded, showing Lindbergh shaking hands with Orteig, who is smiling broadly, with a caption at bottom reading “Colonel Chas. A. Lindbergh and Raymond Ortieg, Hotel Brevoort, June 16, 1927.” The photograph is boldly signed by Lindbergh, a portion of whose signature is in a dark portion, and is also signed by Orteig. Orteig holds in his left hand what must be the Prize itself.