posted 09-17-2004 12:08 PM               

There seems to be a smaller supply of common autographs this time and not even any Easton Press books. Why did I start negative? Shame on me. Maybe because there is soooo much really provocative stuff?

Okay first of all... to whoever wins the Apollo 15 checklist. Please, keep it together in one piece. I hope it is recognized that it is important to keep it together as a whole. I would cry to see it sold page by page down the road. Wow, what a piece that is. That is really a significant item.

The Project Neptune stuff really caught my eye too. Wow again. This stuff is museum quality. I mean, I have to admit, it is my love of history that steered me to my enjoyment of the Space Program, and thus the other historical stuff is really right up my alley.

The early editions of Jules Verne stuff too.

Oh yeah, the Skylab contractors model….. Whoa!

I will reign in my enthusiasm and not try to overstate the significance of some of these lots, but it is hard to do that. Sure, there aren't as many common autographs or relatively common books. There are other areas where there can be improvement. On time catalog delivery for one, but I have to leave the assessment of the autograph quality to those with a more substantial background than I have.

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Warm Regards

Douglas Henry

posted 09-17-2004 08:03 PM               

Victoria Campbell
Aurora Galleries

posted 09-21-2004 05:52 PM               

There is quite a lot of info, including scans and the wherabouts of the Checklists on the Apollo Lunar Surface Journal
http://www.hq.nasa.gov/alsj/surcl.html

Mike Constantine

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Moonpans.com/signed

Moonwalker Signed Panoramic Prints

posted 09-21-2004 07:26 PM               

quote:

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Originally posted by Aztecdoug:
There are other areas where there can be improvement. On time catalog delivery for one...

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Well well well... dreams do come true. I have on my hot little hand a hard copy of the Aurora catalog which just arrived in the mail! If my string of good luck continues through tomorrow night, and I win the lottery, then the star of the catalog's front cover, the Apollo 15 checklist, is mine, and I will buy Jake that Skylab Model from the back cover.

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Warm Regards

Douglas Henry

posted 09-21-2004 08:26 PM              

quote:

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Originally posted by SRB:
The Apollo 15 Cuff Checklist is surely one of the best things to have come back from the moon. I remember hearing that there were 16 cuff checklists used on the moon by the eight moonwalkers of the Apollo 14- 17 moonlanding missions. Anyone know of the whereabouts of any of the others. With Gene Cernan selling his collection, maybe he has some. Does the Smithsonian have any? I don't recall seeing any on exhibit there.

Steve

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Gene Cernan's cuff checklist from Apollo 17 is at Kansas Cosmosphere, along with a lot of other Cernan Apollo 17 memorbillia. It is especially unique in that he has scribbled on it his parting words, which of course are the last words spoken while standing on the moon's surface.

posted 09-22-2004 11:41 AM               

quote:

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Originally posted by Richard:
When and where will the viewing of the lots be?

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Viewing is Tues - Fri, Sep 28th - Oct 1 in our offices from 9:00 - 4:00

posted 09-22-2004 04:46 PM            

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posted 09-22-2004 04:49 PM               

Victoria Campbell
Aurora Galleries

posted 09-23-2004 08:54 AM               

quote:

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Originally posted by BLACKARROW:
What is the reserve price on the Apollo 15 cuff-checklist?

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Fellow collectors - sellers' reserves on auction items are confidential.

Victoria Campbell
CEO, Aurora Galleries

posted 09-25-2004 04:04 PM               

Does anyone know if previous bidders are already preapproved or something ? (I hope)

Anyone else having probs or just me ?

posted 09-26-2004 04:31 AM               

1) No estimate is given in the catalogue so ebay can't put up an openning bid for absentee bidders.

2)To stop people hijacking this auction ie serious bidders only type of thing.

My views only

posted 09-26-2004 02:41 PM               

This might answer your question. This is from another post concerning a former Congressman's sale of a personal gift. It's long winded, but might might explain or answer your question.

As a collector of flown space artifacts as well as a collector of maritime artifacts, I tend to disagree with Mr. Cowing about his general statement concerning the sale of flown and unflown artifacts from the space race.
The owner of any object received as a gift has the right to do with it as he pleases. I guess it could be called the American Way or Capitalism at it’s best. I do agree though that the sale of a presentation artifact given to you as a gift is tacky. It’s still the owner’s choice as it is Mr. Cowing’s choice to disagree with the sale of that item.

I also disagree with Mr. Cowing about the matter of whether the astronauts should sell flown artifacts to the general public instead of gifting them to museums or educational institutions. My main reason for disagreement is from what I have seen in various maritime, space, aviation and science museums. I have been inside their vaults and they have one thing in common and that is a fair amount of excess material that will never see the light of day. Now I admit there maybe a few exceptions, but in general, this is true.

As an example, it broke my heart to find Chesley Bonestell’s mural of the lunar surface that hung at the Boston Museum of Science during the 1960’s had been ripped off the museum’s wall, transferred to the NASM and is currently deteriorating in a storage area. I have been told the mural cannot be restored.

Based upon my research either on site or via the web, most of these artifacts are already duplicated in the major air and space museums here in this country. A tour of the NASM facilities and the their website, as an example, will show many of the items sold over the years to have duplicates at the museum. So where will the excess artifacts go?

There is only so much display space that a museum has, so why not allow items that were planned for disposal by NASA be sold?

The argument of preventing the private sale of space artifacts reminds me of the marine archeologist’s argument against the private salvaging marine artifacts from wrecks such as the Titanic, Andrea Doria or other countless shipwrecks in the oceans of the world.

Marine archaeologists rail against the private or commercial salvage of any shipwreck as a loss to the public of valuable historical items. Unfortunately, by the time, archeologists get the time and money to document these wrecks they will be gone. The example of the private salvage of the Andrea Doria artifacts brings history and substance to an event that is slowly fading with each new generation. Professional archaeologists have yet to visit the site of the Andrea Doria. The ship is quickly turning into a “whaleback” as the superstructure collapsed after fifty years of chemical and mechanical weathering on the wreck. This is just one minor example. I could quote many major ones if time were to permit.

Mr. Cowing has publically stated his distaste toward the private sale of space artifacts by the astronauts. Should astronaut artifacts be given over to museums? Will the museums restore and display the artifacts for the public? Does the astronaut have the right to sell these items? Since I have talked about what I have seen in the bowels of museums, I feel I have already answered the aforementioned questions concerning the museum donations.

So let’s talk about the astronauts and their sales of their private collections.

During a meeting in 2000, NASA, the NASM, the OIG and high-ranking officials from other space and aviation museums met to discuss the matter of the private sale of space artifacts by astronauts. Their own conclusion was that with the exception of spacesuits and stolen items, the sale of items deemed disposable by NASA was all right.

Such items were artifacts that would have been left on the surface of the moon at the time of LM liftoff or presentation material. Examples such as personal items from the astronaut’s PPK bag, maps, charts, checklists, PLSS fragments, medallions and flags were cited as allowable for sale.

Astronauts have made personal decisions concerning their collections of material. Some have donated their entire collection to a particular museum, some of sold or given away everything and some have done a combination of both practices. The astronauts shouldn’t be faulted for attempting to cash in on the current market for space artifacts. The market is there and has been pretty good for the astronauts since the big boom of 1999.

Which leads us to the collectors.

Are collectors demons for buying the private material and do they hoard it away from the public? Are collectors the last stop before the artifact deteriorates to dust? Do collectors help keep artifacts in the public eye that may lie buried in a museum vault or astronaut’s basement?

While museums tend to store much excess material, collectors with the help of the internet have begun to display more of the artifacts that may be left hidden from public view in a museum or astronaut’s home.

As an example, I have begun to restore, create provenance for and display both on the internet and in my home many pieces of my space artifact collection. There are many other excellent examples of artifact display on the internet.

I use many of the artifacts during lectures on the race to the moon in various local schools. By allowing the school kids to touch and hold artifacts that touched the lunar surface, they get a much better understanding of exactly just what this country accomplished during the Apollo missions.

My home has become a museum in itself. It is many a time that people will get the “nickel tour” of the house. So people are getting the chance in many instances to see, touch and hold artifacts that would be sealed under glass or possibly stored away from view.

As for restoration and protection, I, as well as many other collectors have been working hard to either restore, protect or save artifacts from deterioration and destruction. Whether it has been the archival sealing of an artifact in UV protected neutral Mylar or completely restoring a famous painting that was allowed to sit in a garage for 20 years, we collectors have been working to maintain our artifacts for the long term. Which is good, because most of these items have been sitting in a basement, garage or storage facility for 35 years or more.

As for a loss to the museums, many collectors offer their collections on loan to any museum. I know of three examples where collectors have either offered to donate their collections or loan their collections to a local museum. The effort has been met with mixed results. Only one such offer was accepted, but after much effort by the collector. This collector’s story is in the Collectspace reference archives.

There is one space artifact collector, who has started his own museums for space artifacts and rare manuscripts. He maintains seven such manuscript libraries in California, New York, South Carolina and Washington DC. All at his own expense.

The future holds much promise for the space collecting market. I also believe that several of these artifact collections are destined for museums in the short term future upon the death of the collector as gifts and donations. In the long term (100 plus years), many of these artifacts will find their way to museums and institutions as many rare books have done since the dawn of the printed page.

How many of these rare items would be thrown out or cast aside by succeeding generations, if not for their purchase by interested collectors? The space artifact collector has been a boon to the preservation and maintenance of these artifacts and will continue to be in the future.

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Larry McGlynn
A Tribute to Apollo

posted 09-26-2004 04:36 PM            

quote:

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Originally posted by Rodina:
My guess is that, since a lot of these guys have college-age or near-college age grandkids and, frankly, are nearing the end of their days its time to do estate-settling and the like... besides, how do you decide which kid gets a lunar surface checklist?

This stuff is often better sold or given away than the thing to cause a family fight. At the end of the day, its still a THING and isn't worth fighting with family over

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I agree that these guys are getting on in age and you can't take it with you, however I do not feel that family fights are likely to be the issue here.

Dealers like buying these items because they can mark them up considerably and make $$$.
Collectors like to buy because, in most cases, they love to collect.
The astronauts who sell their private collections probably have little interest in them but appreciate the remuneration that is involved.
All three of the above benefit from this relationship but I do feel that it mis-represents the Manned Space Program, the significant technological achievement at hand and the astronauts in general.
When NASA selected NEIL ARMSTRONG for the first lunar landing, I think there was a little more to it that flight rotation. He seems to have a very healthy perspective on what he and his colleages accomplished and carries considerable dignity with his title.
It's just too damned bad that the other principles involved could not somehow have managed to capture a high quality still of the first man on the lunar surface!

[This message has been edited by #204 (edited September 26, 2004).]

posted 09-26-2004 05:47 PM               

quote:

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Originally posted by #204:
It's just too damned bad that the other principles involved could not somehow have managed to capture a high quality still of the first man on the lunar surface!

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This is a bit off-topic and has been well answered before, but for the sake of historical accuracy, the only people to blame for a lack of a photograph of Armstrong are the mission planners. It wasn't like NASA packed a camera on-board Apollo 11 and told the crew, "Now, you just snap off whatever you think we'd like to see.. have fun!"

Quite to the contrary, every photograph was planned, from Aldrin's footprint to his saluting the flag. They were rehearsed on the ground during training and were called for, shot-by-shot in the flight plan. The fact that no one thought of photographing the commander while on the surface negates any argument that there was anything special to Armstrong being selected as first. The astronauts were there to serve a task, a task which NASA thought any of its astronauts could acheive and it was just Armstrong's and Aldrin's (and Collins') turn.