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Author
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Topic: Autographs on mission specific items?
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wmk Member Posts: 76 From: Carlsbad, CA Registered: Nov 2007
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posted 12-16-2008 03:05 AM
I was wondering what the general consensus is on getting mission specific items signed by Apollo astronauts that were not crew members on the particular mission that the item is from. Ideally I would always prefer to have a crew member (or at least back-up crew member, or even CapCom) to sign a mission specific item, but if there was an opportunity to have another Apollo astronaut sign an item from a mission that they did not participate in, is that usually worth doing if no other choice is available? In some cases, could that even harm the value of the item since the opportunity to have it pristinely signed by an actual crew member in the future is somewhat diminished (especially for small items that have limited space).As an example, if you had an Apollo 11 Flight Plan and you had an opportunity to get it signed by Dave Scott - would you? I realize this is somewhat hypothetical, but if the situation presented it self like the example above what would you do? I would rather have Dave Scott sign something from Apollo 15, but on the other hand having a moonwalker from another mission sign an Apollo 11 item seems ok in the context of Apollo (although not ideal). I guess a more extreme case would be for an astronaut to sign a photo of another astronaut but I rather doubt they would want to do that anyway. I don’t mean to diminish the value of any astronaut autographs but I wonder what the general consensus is among collectors (especially on high value items) and also to what extent Apollo astronauts are willing to sign items from other missions. Bill
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Apollo-Soyuz Member Posts: 1205 From: Shady Side, Md Registered: Sep 2004
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posted 12-16-2008 04:30 AM
As a rule, I usually limit any autograph to a person associated with a specific mission. It has to be definitely related. ------------------ John Macco Vice President Space Unit Shady Side, Md. |
lm5eagle Member Posts: 429 From: Registered: Jul 2007
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posted 12-16-2008 04:51 AM
The test for me would be to ask the following question: 'Would I buy an item which has signatures which are not related to a specific mission?' The answer is a resounding NO. Equally, I am not going to have an item signed by unrelated personnel, even if they did take part in other Apollo Missions.Andy |
Ken Havekotte Member Posts: 2912 From: Merritt Island, Florida, Brevard Registered: Mar 2001
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posted 12-16-2008 05:55 AM
I would have to agree with John and Andy, however, sometimes other autographs can help "tell the story" of a particular signed item. If you had a picture from Apollo 11 that was signed by those astronauts that were assigned mission support roles (such as a support, backup and/or Capcom position), that would be fine by me as I have always collected this way as a part of my main astronaut binder collection. Usually in doing so, however, it helps a lot to have the signing astronaut inscribe his mission participation, such as; "One of the highlights of my astronaut career; CAPCOM on Apollo 11 man's first lunar landing, July 20, 1969, Charlie Duke, We copy you down Eagle..." Another would be Jerry Carr on an Apollo 8 item as he can sign and inscribe; "Dec. 24, 1968--You are Go for LOI!" Apollo 8 CAPCOM & Support Crew." Another key role that Carr had, even early-on as a specialty assignment -- or lead astronaut -- was in charge, from an astronaut standpoint, in the development of the lunar roving vehicle used by astronauts on the later Apollo missions. Such a related inscription on a photo, cover, or just about anything else related to the LRVs would be appropriate, based on my collecting concerns in order to help tell or complete that particular astronaut's role in our space efforts. |
Paul23 Member Posts: 836 From: South East, UK Registered: Apr 2008
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posted 12-16-2008 01:01 PM
For me it comes down to what you want to do with the item long term. if its something you plan to sell at some stage then I would think it's better to only have mission related signatures on it. However if the item is something you plan on keeping for yourself and have no intention of selling it then it comes down to what you feel happiest doing and don't worry if it affects the market value. At the end of the day using your example its not like you would be desecrating an Apollo 11 flight plan by having Dave Scott sign it. |
spaceman1953 Member Posts: 953 From: South Bend, IN Registered: Apr 2002
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posted 12-17-2008 01:18 AM
OK, so as long as I am typing on this forum tonight, let me throw THIS out: You are attending an event for the Apollo 8 crew and you took all of your Apollo 8 stuff to try to get some of it signed by anyone connected with Apollo 8. And 16 other MGA astronauts show up. (You had NO idea or advance information that they were going to be there!) But you only brought Apollo 8 stuff. ALL 16 astronauts (and the Apollo 8 crew) are sitting for autographs. What are you going to do? Ignore ALL the other 16 guys and just get A8 crew autographs? Gene |
ea757grrl Member Posts: 729 From: South Carolina Registered: Jul 2006
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posted 12-17-2008 06:31 AM
quote: Originally posted by spaceman1953: ALL 16 astronauts (and the Apollo 8 crew) are sitting for autographs. What are you going to do? Ignore ALL the other 16 guys and just get A8 crew autographs?
If that's the scenario, I'm gonna hope and pray that among my Apollo 8 stuff is a decent "Earthrise" picture! Something that has wider symbolism like that (and that, heck, pretty much summarizes the whole effort to get to the moon), I could see getting signatures on that aren't directly related to a specific mission. jodie |
andrewcli Member Posts: 328 From: La Jolla, CA, USA Registered: Jul 2007
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posted 12-21-2008 11:20 AM
In my autograph collection, I have 3 categories: 1- covers - crew specific. Occasionally, I have autographs from Navy frogmen on a specific recovery or a backup astronaut from a particular mission.2- Buzz Aldrin's foot print - Here I have astronauts related to the Apollo 11 mission: crew and capcom. Additionally, I've asked each astronaut to write an inscription pertaining to the flight that I found in the transcripts. 3- Eagle's ascent with the earthrise - Here I wanted to have all of the living Apollo astronauts as well as well known support personnel sign the poster (still working on this). Again, I have each person write something pertaining to their own mission or something related to star trek ;-) as well as their designation and the codenames of the CM or LM. Andrew | |
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