posted 02-12-2025 08:23 AM               

First, the Apollo 15 crew was one of the best signers of all the Apollo crews, so, at least there should be a good number of their signed crew lithos in existence.

On the other hand, certainly Apollo 8's are hard to find, especially with for-certain authentic Anders autographs. Continuing, Apollo 7, Apollo 10, Apollo 11 (not often available and expensive), Apollo 13 (the original crew lithos of course lack Swigert) and Apollo 16 are the most difficult to find of the 15 Apollo Program crews, including ASTP and the three Skylab crews.

posted 02-13-2025 03:25 PM               

Of all Apollo crew signed WSS's, I would agree the rarest and most difficult would be Apollo 8, next would possibly be Apollo 11 and/or Apollo 16, after that would be Apollo 7, 10, 13 with Mattingly, 14, along with 17/15, ending up with 9 and 12.

posted 02-14-2025 04:01 AM               

Young made 10 and 16 difficult, but his Novaspace signings completed a lot of collections, and 16 more difficult again due to Mattingly, but again many completed due to his UK Pontefract appearance and signings a few years back.

Perhaps I rated 14, 15 and 17 as being more difficult to obtain than they actually are, but non-personalised ones are definitely extremely difficult to find!

And as for Apollo 1, sadly few likely exist, and the ones that are out there don’t have a place in the collection of someone on a teacher’s salary.

posted 02-14-2025 07:23 AM               

Gareth is correct in saying that Young's Novaspace signings did contribute to the inventory of Apollo 10's and 16's, but probably most of them are buried in private collections and few will see the light of day for some time.

With Apollo 11's, and especially Apollo 8's, buyers should be very aware of forgeries, as they are the big money items for forgers.

posted 02-14-2025 09:40 AM               

• Apollo 7: litho
  
• Apollo 8: litho recently Zarelli certified!
  
• Apollo 9: glossy photo, might upgrade to a litho down the line but not a priority now!
  
• Apollo 10: litho
  
• Apollo 11: I'm in search for a Buzz Aldrin WSS to complete the three and might try to trade down the line for a crew signed litho. I did once own a beautiful crew signed litho but sold it in 2019. It’s the one that stings when I look back but it helped put a deposit on my first home, so instead of having a fabulous Apollo 11 signed piece hanging on my childhood wall, I now have a space room in my own house!
  
• Apollo 12: litho
  
• Apollo 13: recently back from the framers!
  
• Apollo 14: litho
  
• Apollo 15: insurance cover from Al Worden, my first crew signed piece
  
• Apollo 16: glossy
  
• Apollo 17: litho

Also just thought I'd share a few very unprofessional photos of my humble space room. I've seen some of you guy's collections so I know mine is humble!!

What I have up are generally my favourite pieces that I enjoy the most, I've got all the binders and folders too but I've mostly framed pieces that have been dedicated to me and my family.

posted 02-15-2025 09:48 AM               

Here are five (four with white space suits) of my Apollo crew signed crew lithos that I obtained autographs from either directly from the astronauts through the mail (Apollo 11, 13 and 15) or bought (Apollo 8 and 16).

The Apollo 11 and 15 were personalized to me, while the Apollo 8 was personalized to a "Ken," other than Ken Havekotte. The Apollo 16 is an excellent example and, as so many desire, not personalized. The Apollo 13 is signed by the actual flight crew that includes Swigert.

Many of us earlier collectors have no problem with personalizations, which generally lowers the possibility of forgery. Forgers are very happy that most current collectors prefer unpersonalized material, as it makes their job easier, with no accurate handwritten information to add that could be analyzed, and brings in more loot than personalized material. It's a win-win situation; don't have to do as much accurate information and make more money.

Anyone can fake an autograph and put it on eBay. But when it comes to fake artwork, as a comparison and is somewhat similar, it's a different story, as the faker has to be an accomplished artist to create a "masterpiece." Very few would be skilled enough to fake a "Vermeer" - an Old Master in the same category as Rembrandt - but anyone who has a ball-point pen and a scrap of paper can be an autograph forger (For those with an interest in art and to learn about one ambitious art forger who did, for a time, succeed with Vermeer forgeries, check out "Han van Meegeren." In his case, experts were not expert).

Probably many autograph collectors first look to find an unpersonalized item, then second check out the autographs. Certainly I'd prefer well-applied autographs with a personalization over an unpersonalized item with less-than-ideal autographs. Yes, I'd probably prefer all my autograph material to be unpersonalized (but added flight inscriptions are a great extra), but why make autograph collecting harder than it really is?

posted 02-15-2025 07:19 PM               

I'm currently putting together a large list that I'll be sending Steve Zarelli of items that I'm both confident in their authenticity and others that I'm confident are by forgers hands.

I sincerely hope that the Al Shepard is deemed authentic, as I intend on sending it but hadn't questioned it until now.

Thanks Bob for pointing that out as better to question now and be disappointed later than be confident and distraught if it doesn't pass! Hopefully I'll be happy and content in this case!

On every occasion that I've met an astronaut, I would always have any materials dedicated to me first when possible/affordable. However I just don't like adding items to my collection that are dedicated to another person and have lost their original intent and meaning from when it was originally written by the signer. That being said my Apollo 8 litho has a 'to Tim' dedication at the top.

I must say Bob, the signatures on your Apollo 8 are excellent, and the commander and lunar module pilot inscriptions on the Apollo 11 look great (so neat and tidy). The 11 in my opinion is one of the nicest I've seen, very jealous indeed!

Your 11, 13 and 15 pieces are very striking. Striking in that placement and inscriptions aren’t quite like others that I've seen. Would you have sent your requests early for the signatures perhaps? They almost seem like the astronauts were trialing or considering where the best places to sign on the portraits would be, and we know for sure they didn't add CDR or other to the majority of requested autographed items due to volume and time it would take. They are really sweet pieces for your collection.

A quick mention about the Apollo 15 — a previous post mentioned how there is a huge amount of Apollo 15 crew signed material out there - I 100% agree, probably the easiest crew to get all three signatures on one item, a FDC, stamp block, etc. But on a WSS litho? And without a dedication? I'd say that premium items like that are extremely rare.

I don't mind having items that are dedicated in my collection provided they have historical context, i.e. from astronauts to engineers or colleagues, but will always look for uninscribed items when possible. Therefore I feel that my Apollo 8 has room for upgrading in that sense. I don't want a 'to Anne' or 'best wishes to Mark' in my collection if I can help it, personally it feels a bit messy but to each their own.

I've been lucky enough to meet seven moonwalkers, but haven't gotten autographs on each occasion. I'm 36, it was my birthday last week and I developed an interest/obsession with space flight at around 9 or 10 years old, and regularly wrote letters and autograph requests from my early teens. I've been to astronaut lectures across Europe, Spacefest, Russia since I've been able to rub pennies together (though I can't remember Buzz signing for less than $450!, I quite literally had a bag of coins counted out for a short inscription when I met him, but felt privileged to be able to talk and interact in my lifetime with a historical figure whom I feel is as or more important than Christopher Columbus.

Of the WSS portraits I own the Apollo 9 and Apollo 16 were from scratch, both in person and Novaspace, the Apollo 10 completed and the rest were purchased or traded for. I also completed several Gemini crew portraits in person or through mail but unfortunately I wasn't as interested in official lithographs back then so many are glossies. I thought they looked crisper and were more affordable as a teenager and student.

I still try my best to contact as many astronauts as I can and make the most of the end of the Apollo era. The Apollo 13 piece I recently framed was signed by Haise with help from the excellent staff of the Cosmosphere last year, Charlie Duke and Jack Lousma have signed multiple items through the mail for me over the past couple of years and I know I'd hand over extortionate amounts of money to Lovell, Schweickart, Aldrin, Scott or Schmitt if any were to agree to do one last signing as the joy I get from items that look a certain way because I asked for it to be written in this pen at that angle by this specific historical figure, etc., are of so much more importance to me.

Also I'd gladly trade any element of my collection for a chance to shake hands and have a short conversation with Harrison Schmitt! I was at a talk a few years ago and he patted me on the back, while I awkwardly looked the wrong way through nervousness and missed a photo op.

I thought I'd end this massive ramble (sorry!) with this: I'd gladly trade any and all of my autographed materials for a happy and memorable interaction with any of these inspiring individuals. My soon to be wife is 12 weeks pregnant today with our first and we're going to a Chris Hadfield show in June with the meet and greet tickets, so I really hope we can start a family space adventure together!

posted 02-16-2025 02:00 PM               

Note that I've tried to include different official NASA photo types and see if you can spot some of the vintage signatures applied during those actual Apollo mission years. A few are even personalized to key Apollo space age officials, and not for nothing, a few from Apollo 9 and 10 that were some of my first crew signed personally-inscribed crew signed photographs.

posted 02-17-2025 08:57 AM               

Some fantastic pieces, nicely inscribed and with some really sweet dedications (I'd bet they are vintage, signed to you and proudly displayed thus a tad faded).

Very much looking forward to seeing more mission selections!

On edit: And just having arrived in the mail today, a few photos as promised!

posted 02-17-2025 11:59 AM               

Now, concerning inscribed versus personalized. Years ago someone came up with the bright idea of using the initials "ISP" for "Inscribed Signed Photo," and it stuck and was commonly used by dealers and collectors to indicate that the photo was personalized (such as, "To Elon"). And then also "SP" was used indicating that it was a signed photo with nothing extra - certainly no personation and, I guess, also no flight inscription - just a solitary autograph?

"Not inscribed" - indicating no personalization - is confusing, as does that mean that no information is added, including a flight inscription, with the autograph?

I typically try to have a flight inscription added along with an autograph with my individual astronaut autograph requests, such as: "Apollo 14 LMP."

To help achieve an inscription being added along with an autograph, I've used small yellow "Post-it" notes lightly attracted to the photo or cover to indicate my extra wish. I keep it simple, such as, "Capt. Mitchell/Please sign and add/'Apollo 14 LMP'/ Thank you." This has worked very well through the years and the results have been a flight inscription included instead of just a simple signature; a nice bonus.

Continuing with regards to many collectors shunning personalizations on their autograph material, my set of fifteen Apollo white space suit crew signed crew lithos, 8 of the 15 (Apollo 7 through ASTP) have personalizations added - two to me - including to an unknown "J.A. Logan" and "To Kent" (Nolen) - a late friend. Do all those I have with personalizations bother me? Not really, as I'm much more concerned with the autographs - how well they were applied and their authenticity.

Now, my set of twelve moonwalker autographed white space suit portraits (often indicated as "WSS") have personalizations added by 4 of the 12, including one dedicated to me, with six indicating what number moonwalker they were (such as, "Apollo XII/CDR/11th Moon Walker", from of course. Gene Cernan).

My dream in that regard would be autographed WSS lithos for all twelve moonwalkers with each adding an inscription indicating their flight and what number moonwalker they were. But the best that could have been received from Armstrong would have been "Apollo 11 CDR", as he would have never added "First Moonwallker." Perhaps such a "Moonwalker Number" set exists, but I kind of doubt it. Well, I have six on lithos and seven on flight covers that will have to satisfy me.

posted 02-19-2025 08:27 AM               

quote:

---

Originally posted by Ken Havekotte:
I'll add others from Apollos 11 to 17.

---

Later it would be good for you to continue with the three Skylab missions and ASTP.

posted 02-26-2025 04:01 PM               

To continue with the Apollo crew signed WSS portraits, here are some from Apollos 11, 12, 13, 14, and 15 with others for Apollo 16 and 17 coming in a few days.

Note that one of the crew signed Apollo 14 WSS lithos contains a red-marker signature of Shepard. One of them can be seen included with the Apollo 15 crew panel at far bottom right. A bunch of them were crew signed, later gifted to me by space celebrity Al Bishop, with Shepard using a red ink marker with no inscriptions.

All had been signed while the Apollo 14 crew were in Las Vegas for a post-mission splashdown celebration. Many of the other Apollo missions that you see do contain era-vintage autographs of the late 1960's to the the early 1970's, my favorite signature types.

Not only was I able to acquire personal space collections by Apollo Launch Director Dr. Walter "Kappy" Kapryan as Bob pointed out, but also from Pad Leader Guenter Wendt, NASA Manned Spaceflight Awareness administrator Dale Pope, astronaut office representative Dora Parker at KSC, and of course aerospace public relations director Al Bishop for some of these crew signed photo selections.

Included are at least three different official NASA poses for Apollo 15, which I believe, is the most for any pre-launched Apollo crew.

posted 03-01-2025 08:55 AM               

There is another WSS for Apollo 16, an official NASA glossy, not personalized that has been misplaced at the moment. It may be shown later if there is interest. Many of the crew signatures were vintage era that I wanted represented with different types of crew photo images, inks and pens used, along with some interesting inscriptions.

Note the two matted white-bordered color inscribed glossies of the SL-2 crew (Conrad, Kerwin, and Weitz). I believe this is the only official NASA photography used of the first manned Skylab crew in their WSSs. They are rather quite hard-to-find. Such matted photos of both Apollo, Skylab, and ASTP crews were gifted to specific pre-launch mission officials by Dr. Kurt Debus, KSC Center Director, along with the flight crew commander.

I've only depicted a few here for all three Skylab crews, but do have others that were mostly prepared and presented to top NASA staffers and other selected personnel. Presentations were mostly arranged by astronaut crew quarters in conjunction with KSC's Headquarters Building at the Center Director's office.

It appears that the second Skylab crewed mission (SL-3 with Bean, Garriott, and Lousma) never had an official NASA photo of them in their WSSs. Therefore, I put together a bunch of non-WSSs that did serve as their official crew photos. The golden brown garments were used in many training activities and "in-flight" usages of the Durette/PBI flight suit trousers and jackets.