posted 08-12-2014 07:19 AM               

An official NASA lithograph of Neil Armstrong in his white space suit (often simply called "a WSS") is a highly desirable collectible. The uninscribed ones are rarer and usually sell for at least $4000. However, many collectors appreciate the extra help in authentication that the handwriting of an inscription provides.

I am offering for sale a Neil Armstrong signed WSS in excellent condition. The inscription includes "Best Wishes", and the personalization is a nicely brief six letters long.

If you are reading this, you probably know that Armstrong signed many items over the years, especially these WSSs, with a kind of blue marker. An article about Armstrong's autograph in the Houston Chronicle describes the consequence:

"In the 1970s and 1980s, Armstrong signed in blue ink many of the autograph requests that were sent to his office. The ink is now beginning to fade, prompting fears that many authentic Armstrong autographs will literally disappear in the coming years..."

You can find several cS discussions of this problem over the years. This article shows one of these WSSs with a faded blue signature.

I mention this because this WSS is signed with particularly bold, black ink. It is one of the clearest, darkest Neil Armstrong autographs I have seen.

Inscribed (personalized) WSSs can reach prices of $1737. This one would be priced up there, but a previous owner affixed it to archival matte board – the thin, hard board that photo mattes for framing are made of. He did this to prevent bends and wrinkles, and that did work. Still, it's not an ideal thing to do to a signed item, so this wonderful signed WSS litho can be yours for $1400.

In 1970, Neil Armstrong received a Master of Science degree in Aeronautical Engineering from the University of Southern California. This was not an honorary degree – Armstrong had started his graduate studies more than ten years before, as a NACA test pilot. (USC had a night school at Edwards Air Force Base.) The USC professors accepted a paper he wrote about certain aspects of the Apollo program rather than having him finish the thesis on hypersonic flight simulations he had started before moving to Houston in 1962.

On April 19, Armstrong received an alumni achievement award from USC. (This might have set a record for shortest time between becoming an alum and receiving an alumni achievement award!) Here is a program from that event, signed on that day by Armstrong next to his name at the bottom.

It comes with a Steve Zarelli Letter of Authentication.

Armstrong was still with NASA in 1970, but resigned in August of 1971 to become a professor of aerospace engineering at the University of Cincinnati. Receiving the master's from USC made possible this start to a career after NASA. (He was still apparently the university's only full professor who didn't have a doctorate, but according to Hansen's First Man, a UC spokesman pointed out that "We don't have any others that have been on the Moon, either."

Simple uninscribed index cards signed by Armstrong are selling for prices like $1383, $1303, and $1256 (just this year so far).

posted 09-23-2014 05:16 AM               

As I said, I'm not sure what caused the signatures to fade. All I know is, I only collect metallic (signed in silver or gold) autographs now.