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Author
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Topic: FS: Astronaut Group 3 (all 14) signed photos set
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stsmithva
Member Posts: 1933
From: Fairfax, VA, USA
Registered: Feb 2007
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posted 03-03-2014 10:37 PM
   
Astronaut Group 3, introduced to the public in October of 1963, consisted of 14 men: Buzz Aldrin, William A. Anders, Charles Bassett, Alan Bean, Eugene Cernan, Roger Chaffee, Michael Collins, Walter Cunningham, Don Eisele, Ted Freeman, Richard Gordon, Rusty Schweickart, Dave Scott, and Clifton Williams. Bassett, Freeman, and Williams were killed in T-38 jet crashes before they could fly in space. Chaffee was one of the Apollo 1 crewmen killed in the launch pad fire. All of the rest flew on Apollo missions, with Aldrin, Bean, Cernan, and Scott becoming four of the 12 moonwalkers. Very soon after joining NASA, the 14 astronauts were each issued 4"x5" glossy black and white portrait photos to give to space program enthusiasts. These photos had a three-line stamp on the back: - Full Name
- Military rank at the time – those in the Air Force were mostly captains, while those in the Navy were mostly lieutenants
- "NASA Astronaut"
Very rarely, one sees examples of these 50-year-old photos signed by the astronaut. One of Charles Bassett's is on eBay right now with a Buy It Now price of (cough) $1,800. One signed by Roger Chaffee sold for $550 at an auction ten years ago. In 2008, one of Theodore Freeman's signed photos sold for $220, and the next year, one signed by Bill Anders sold for $210. I am offering a full set of all 14 such photos of the Group 3 astronauts, all hand-signed by them. I'll show them below, mostly in scans of four at a time. (I have close-ups of each individual one I can send to interested buyers.) You will see that the contrast of the signatures is not great – these photos are of the astronauts wearing dark suits. The Bassett signature, for example, is an excellent ballpoint-pen example, but it helps to tilt it so the light hits it at the right angle. |
stsmithva
Member Posts: 1933
From: Fairfax, VA, USA
Registered: Feb 2007
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posted 03-03-2014 10:38 PM
First, here are Aldrin / Anders / Bassett / Bean:  And on those four I will show examples of the backs:  Cernan / Chaffee / Collins / Cunningham:  Eisele / Freeman / Gordon / Schweickart:  |
stsmithva
Member Posts: 1933
From: Fairfax, VA, USA
Registered: Feb 2007
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posted 03-03-2014 10:39 PM
And then, to get a couple of the close-ups in, here are Scott...  and Williams:  I already mentioned the contrast issues caused by the photos being dark in the first place. I'll also mention that in comparison to other such photos I've seen, these appear to have had the white borders neatly trimmed off. They were also glued onto album pages for a few decades, so when I got them there was damage to corners on the backs (with no sign of this on the fronts, except for Collins) from removing them. And finally, the Aldrin signed photo has a tiny notch out of the top, the Collins photo has small wrinkles on two of the corners from when it was taken off the album page, and the Williams photo has a one-inch tear on the right side. The 14 photos would be fine in a binder, since a few years ago I bought archival pages with four pockets each that are the perfect size for these photos. However, they are small enough that displaying all 14 along with a print of this group photo (very high resolution!), or some other appropriate NASA-related image, would make for a fine display. It's true that an even better display would be a copy of that group shot signed by all of them... but for that you could spend $8,500. This set of 14 signed photos is $1,300. You could pay in two monthly installments if you wish. |
schnappsicle
Member Posts: 396
From: Houston, TX, USA
Registered: Jan 2012
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posted 03-04-2014 05:03 AM
These are very tempting. Sadly though, I only need 3 of the photos. I don't have the heart to ask you to break up the set even though I know someone else will. | |
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