posted 08-02-2003 10:03 AM               

Here are some additional details from Sieger himself concerning the signed stamp blocks:

1. The amount of signed stamp blocks per astronaut is different, Glenn and Armstrong signed way more blocks than the others
   
2. The exact amount is his business secret he won't reveal
   
3. They (Sieger and Eiermann) didn't look for the pen the astronauts used as no one would have thought this would be ever the question of importance (bummer, so we still don't know)
   
4. The signed blocks were not marked in any way, there is almost no chance to say whether it's a Sieger block or something sent to the astronauts by a private person (i.e. the astronauts didn't exclusively sign for him but signed for anyone else that sent such a or a different stamp block through the mail - for free)

posted 08-06-2003 05:05 PM               

This doesn't mean, naturally, that other Belgium stamp sheets honoring Apollo 11 could have easily been signed by Neil, using different pens... however, one must remember that Armstrong stopped signing all philatelic items within this same time period.

From my own personal experiences--going back three decades -- I've always seen, and have owned (a few still in my collection), the Belgium stamp sheets signed only in a ball point pen. This is also true of all the other (if I am not mistaken without re-checking) 19 signed stamp sheets -- were all signed in ball point pens.

For the record, that I'm sure Sieger would confirm, Armstrong and Glenn signed 1000 sheets; 500 sheets were signed by Bean (Romania), Borman (Ajman), Carpenter (Paraguay), Cernan (also on Ajman), Conrad (Ras-Al-Kaima), Cooper (also Paraguay), Cunningham (Ajman), McDivitt (Yemen), Eisele (also on Yemen), Lovell (Romania), Roosa (Hungary), Swigert (Romania), Schirra (Paraguay), Schweickart (Yemen), Stafford (Yemen), Gordon (Hunguay), Scott (Sharjah) and Mitchell (Romania).

The sets (20 each astronaut) were originally sold for 1,950 German marks (about $600?) by Sieger, that also included a special album. The astronauts were paid $5 for each signature.

In addition, Sieger sold sets of cosmonaut autographs on philatelic covers for about $180 per set (14 different cosmonauts per set) in cooperation with an official philatelic agency of the former Soviet government.

When the news first hit the public in Jan. 1973 about the U.S. astronaut signed-stamp deals with Sieger, at first many astronauts denied any such signings. To name a few; Cooper, Lovell and Swigert.

posted 08-09-2003 12:23 PM               

How many signature requests were granted by Armstrong from July 1969 to July 1970 is anyones' guess!

If I recall, sometime in early/mid 1971, when Armstrong was working as an aeronautical Deputy Associate Administrator at NASA Headquarters in Washington D.C., it was first announced (Note: I am trying to confirm this for the record, so-to-speak) -- but not publicly to my knowledge -- that he will no longer sign philatelic items due to the fact that too many covers (especially the 10-cent First Man on the Moon stamp issue -- both on covers, stamp sheets, blocks, etc.) were being received almost on a daily basis.

It wasn't until his retirement from NASA altogether in August 1971 that Armstrong, away from the government space agency, publicly announced -- when he was working as an aeronautical engineering professorship at the University of Cincinnati in Ohio -- that he was no longer signing any philatelic material.

My first fan letter to him was in early 1971, when I was a young teenager. Needless to say, I was thrilled... upon receiving in the mail from his D.C. office, a personally inscribed WSS litho-portrait. If I recall correctly, as a young avid astrophilatelist, it was shortly afterward (still in 1971) that Armstrong would unlikely, from what I was hearing, sign any of my GT-8/Apollo 11 covers through the mail. Therefore, it was never tried.

Armstrong did sign, though, many picture postcards depicting the epic lunar landing mission -- along with crewmates Aldrin and Collins -- that were postmarked on their back surfaces for various highlight Apollo 11 anniversaries.

posted 06-24-2008 01:33 PM               

Indeed as Sieger has confirmed to me in a letter once Armstrong has used different pens: Black and blue ballpoint pen and also black thin sharpies (or the equivalent at those days).

The original offer from Sieger was titled in German "The first man on the moon signs for you" and showed a felttip pen signature.