Author
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Topic: R&R Enterprises May 2009 auction
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Michael Member Posts: 309 From: Brooklyn New York Registered: Jun 2002
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posted 05-09-2009 10:16 AM
This has an ink stamped signature of Alan Shepard. Nobody would have seen that but Scott Cornish. Has anybody seen this before? Scott, if you read this, you are good, but I always said that. |
MarylandSpace Member Posts: 1336 From: Registered: Aug 2002
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posted 05-09-2009 10:38 AM
I wonder if the bidders read the description carefully. I didn't first time. |
gliderpilotuk Member Posts: 3398 From: London, UK Registered: Feb 2002
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posted 05-09-2009 12:54 PM
quote: Originally posted by Michael: Nobody would have seen that but Scott Cornish.
Or could it just have been that the consignor identified it as such to the auction house? Or maybe its description in a previous auction? |
Ken Havekotte Member Posts: 2915 From: Merritt Island, Florida, Brevard Registered: Mar 2001
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posted 05-09-2009 05:49 PM
America's first spaceman used an early rubber stamp impression of his signature, but rarely on one of the 1959 Mercury 7 group shots as this. More common was his usage of a pre-printed signature version throughout the early 1960s, and in 1987, the Mercury Seven Foundation (now the Astronaut Scholarship Foundation) started to use an "Alan Shepard" rubber stamp imprint mostly for signed outgoing letters and routine office purposes. I don't think hardly anyone was aware of the later-version rubber stamp until I saw one that was actually used on a letter to me, which later on, while in his office was shown to me. Throughout the 1980/90s the admiral's office manager would even "sign" autograph requests for her boss. After an informal meeting with her in 1996, she told me she would no longer provide secretarial signatures for his autograph fan mail and would return most requests unsigned. |
mikelarson Member Posts: 293 From: Port Washington, NY Registered: Jan 2005
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posted 05-09-2009 09:10 PM
Given the similarities in ink and position and style of the signatures on these photos I always assumed that almost all of this particular photo were signed together as a group early on in the program. I have seen a few variations with different pens used, but they all still look like they were signed together at the same time.So I would agree that having the Shepard stamp on this photo while he rest of the signatures are genuine is very rare. On a related note, NASA also produced a glossy version of this photo with pre-printed signatures, though it's very easy to tell the difference between a pre-printed one and the real thing. |
Ken Havekotte Member Posts: 2915 From: Merritt Island, Florida, Brevard Registered: Mar 2001
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posted 05-09-2009 09:31 PM
Mike--True, NASA did release a similar version of the exact same photo after the MR-3/4 flights had flown with printed autographs. There is even another photograph of the Mercury 7, also snapped at Langley Field, that is a different group gathering with printed signatures of all 7. |