posted 12-29-2003 02:22 PM               

Almost 3 years ago, I sold a 1973 letter from Neil Armstrong that many friends & family members thought would NEVER leave my possession. It was the "Boy Scout Merit Badge Counselor" letter that was first traded for other items; then sold at an R&R Auction; and I just recently discovered it again for sale on University Archives website!

Well, *I* am the Boy Scout he refers to in the letter (which was originally acquired from my scoutmaster in exchange for a signed photo of NA to display at our scout meeting room!) While I have watched the price of something that was once mine, climb dramatically; I also hold no regrets for having made it available to the collecting community....it will be interesting to try & keep track of it (and the value!) for the rest of my days. I guess you would call that "profit-once-removed" thrills!

I have a very well done, duplicate display of the items that I can look at and remember that the real ones WERE once MINE! And no one else can ever OWN the memories of the experience of having the first man on the moon as your merit badge counselor, and being able to have talked with him about "what it was really like" taking that first step!

Just some rambling thoughts as I sort thru the collection I started in 1965 and watch auctions for other items I thought I would never sell right now.

posted 12-30-2003 02:00 PM               

quote:

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Originally posted by Scott:
...there comes a time when some of us unfortunately have to choose between family bills and autographs, and we chose the former.

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Yep. I had a _massive_ Star Trek collection, 8*10s and signed index cards of not only all the stars from all incarnations - Classic, TNG, DS9, Voyager, and Enterprise - but also the movies, and I was also working on the first incarnation, "The Cage," and I had loads of guest stars as well. But I needed the money, and that's when I realized that whatever you spend on autographs you don't get back. I think I got barely above the cost of an unsigned photo for each of them.

In terms of space memorabilia, I hated to part with my Silver Snoopy certificate signed by many Apollo astronauts, but again I needed the money. I had a twinge of regret when I went to see Haise a few months ago and I could have added him to it, but what's done is done.

Hart

posted 12-30-2003 02:35 PM               

If it will make you feel any better, your silver snoopy certificate now resides in my collection. It has a good home, and is being well taken care of. I do plan to have Schirra added to it at the UACC show this Sept. If I ever decide to let it go, I'll get back with you first.

posted 12-30-2003 09:49 PM               

Having met NA at the Wapakoneta Homecoming originally, and then being fortunate enough to spend time with him one-on-one at his farm in 1973; I was impressed by his humility more than anything else. It has been widely reported & I have witnessed it first-hand....he *IS* almost embarrassed by the prominent place in history that "chance" gave him. I am not all that certain; in retrospect of course; that he wouldn't have preferred that Aldrin had taken "the first step".

posted 12-31-2003 09:07 AM               

In that same press conference (at the very end) Gene Cernan made it a point to say that no one in the astronaut corp at that time, including himself, was better suited and could do a better job of bearing the honor & responsibility of the first man on the moon than Neil Armstrong. The camera panned over to Armstrong at that moment, and humility was written all over his face.

That man has never let his fame go to his head - he sets an example that a lot of others in the public eye should emulate. I've often wondered if he tried to model himself after Charles Lindberg, at least in the early years of his fame, until he developed his own public persona.

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M Ziegler