posted 06-04-2004 04:47 PM
The appearance of an autopen signature does not always equate to a memento being mass-produced. Sometimes the autopen was simply used because the astronauts were not available to sign when their autograph was needed (or their time was deemed more important spent elsewhere). There were even items that were carried to the Moon that were presented with machine-generated signatures.
In regards to flown patch presentations such as yours, it was common for these to be "signed" by autopen. While authentic autographs would certainly enhance the value of the item on the market today, a flown patch is still a rarity, as is anything carried into space on any of the missions -- let alone the first flight of the Space Shuttle.
As you can see by looking at any of the Official Flight Kit manifests published on collectSPACE, only a few hundred embroidered missions patches are typically carried on each shuttle flight. Though that may initially appear to be many, when you consider how many people played some part in the flight and who would probably merit receiving a flown memento, the patches become a treasured honor when received. As such, relatively few have reached the secondary market and those that do, are sought by collectors (particularly when they are from key historical missions such as STS-1).
So to answer your question, if your patch or your father's other items can be shown to be flown, they are of value -- regardless if the autographs accompanying them are authentic or machine generated.
(That's not to say that unflown memorabilia is not equally sought. If you would like help determining what it is you have, you are welcome to e-mail contact@collectspace.com.
posted 06-04-2004 04:05 PM
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