President Ronald Reagan putts aboard Air Force One in 1985 while en route to meet Gorbachev at the ... [+] Geneva Summit.

While flying aboard Air Force One on his way to meet Mikhail Gorbachev face-to-face for the first time at 1985’s Geneva Summit during a tense era in American-Soviet relations, President Ronald Reagan decided to blow off some steam by practicing his mile-high putting stroke. An artificial turf mat was laid down, and William Martin, then serving as special assistant to the president for national security affairs, lent Reagan his 35.5-inch Spalding TPM 6 with a Golf Pride grip.

A gaggle of staffers gathered around as the commander-in-chief held an impromptu putting contest at 30,000 feet that Martin dubbed “The Trust But Verify Open.”

The putter consigned by Martin, along with a handwritten letter from Robert McFarlane, Reagan’s national security advisor (the man in plaid in the above photo), is expected to fetch upwards of $35,000 at an RR Auction sale on June 23.

The Boston-based auction house, which specializes in presidential material, has dabbled in golf equipment in the past. A set of Donald Trump’s irons, from before he held office that had been gifted to a caddie at Bedminster, fetched just under $30,000 including the buyer’s premium and a full set of clubs owned by Warren Buffet went for $40,000.

With 1980s nostalgia running high thanks to the success of countless Star Wars spinoffs and hit series like Stranger Things and Cobra Kai, coupled with current global events that have brought Reagan era fears back to the forefront, the ‘Trust But Verify’ putter could easily top RR Auction’s all-time golf lot leaderboard.

“Do you remember these times in the 1980s, when the Soviet Union was still a threat to the United States as far as nuclear obliteration, because this is what we were living through,” Bobby Livingston, executive vice president at RR Auction, says.

“It really was a time where you could look up and question whether the earth was going to make it and if the Soviets were going to launch a nuclear attack,” he adds.

Amidst all the tension of meeting prep, the mile high golf game provided a momentary escape from geopolitical saber-rattling and diplomatic wrangling. The iconic photo of that moment really captures the zeitgeist of 1985.

“You see all the briefing books and all the work that is going on while flying to meet Gorbachev and then there is Reagan putting. It’s a contrast to the reality of what they’re flying into and comes to symbolize the treaty that they will eventually sign. This is symbolic of a change in history and symbolic of the personality of Reagan and the personality of Americans. It’s a powerful, powerful symbol this golf club,” Livingston says.

Typically, items of this import tend to end up behind glass in a Presidential library or museum. It’s not too often to have a golf club that a President of the United States used while in office hit the market. As the item straddles both sports and presidential memorabilia, Livingstone sees a crossover collector market that will have their interest piqued by it.

“I think a golf loving, history loving person is going to buy it. Reagan was an inspirational president to many and there are many people with disposable income that play golf,” he says.

Despite its historical significance, the Reagan putter surprisingly doesn’t have the highest estimate in the auction. That honor belongs to an Apple 1 computer hand numbered by Steve Jobs which is expected to fetch over $450,000. Another lot with enormous potential at the Remarkable Rarities auction is an Apollo 11 Lunar Soil Experiment featuring the remains of cockroaches fed moon dust.