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Author
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Topic: Existence/value of Armstrong-signed FDC
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gmt295
Member Posts: 35
From: Waretown, NJ USA
Registered: Jul 2007
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posted 02-03-2008 12:39 AM
   
Is it impossible to get an authentic Neil Armstrong signed FDC? I heard he didn't sign FDC for some reason? And if it is possible, whats a fair price to pay for one? Thanks for the help. |
micropooz
Member Posts: 1512
From: Washington, DC, USA
Registered: Apr 2003
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posted 02-03-2008 07:02 AM
Let's clarify terms first:"FDC" = First Day Cover, postmarked on the first day of issue of a space stamp (like Sept 9, 1969 for the US Apollo 11 stamp). There are some Armstrong signed FDC's out there, and you would have to look at the provenance and signature of it to tell if/how legit the signature is. An "event cover" was postmarked on the day of an event (like Apollo 11 launch, moon landing, or recovery). Same advice as above - check the provenance and look of the signature. An "insurance cover" was a type of event cover signed by the crew pre-flight, postmarked for the event, and given to the crew's families to sell in case of a disaster. These are the easiest verified of legit Armstrong signed covers. They were discussed in this thread. You can see the MSCSC type of Apollo 11 insurance cover here, the fourth cover from the end. Leon Ford used to have a site showing all the Apollo insurance covers but the link I have for it is now bad. Maybe someone else can fill in(?). I've seen Apollo 11 insurance covers ranging from $2400 up to $4000 recently. |
JoKepler
Member Posts: 515
From: Houston, Texas
Registered: Jul 2001
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posted 02-03-2008 10:06 AM
They certainly exist as I have seen several over the years... and have one in my collection - on a Soviet cover that is from his 1970 visit to the USSR. Were most were signed during the Apollo program years? I would guess so. I read that he stopped signing covers at some point (does anyone know if his stoppage on signing covers had anything to do with Apollo 15?). As most know - he, however, still signed other items until the early 90's when he stopped completely. In any event -- I've seen many more signed NA WSS lithos than covers or photos on the moon. |
fabfivefreddy
Member Posts: 1067
From: Leawood, Kansas USA
Registered: Oct 2003
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posted 02-03-2008 11:49 AM
Covers signed by Armstrong are rare, but do certainly exist.
Tahir |
Bob M
Member Posts: 1745
From: Atlanta-area, GA USA
Registered: Aug 2000
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posted 02-03-2008 02:17 PM
Armstrong signed covers (FDCs, event covers, stamps) until early in 1972. So various X-15, GT-8 and Apollo 11 covers exist signed by him. But authentic examples don't appear very often and certainly many that he did sign are safely housed in collections and aren't available. The reason he stopped signing covers certainly had to do with the Apollo 15 flown cover fiasco. He was evidently concerned that signed philatelic material would have extra commercial value. But as things have turned out, a nice and fairly scarce Armstrong signed Apollo 11 cover would now sell for around $1,000, where one of the much larger number of his unpersonalized WSSs will sell for several times that amount. Perhaps he should have been more concerned about the commercialization of all the other items he was signing so freely. Bob Mc. |
DChudwin
Member Posts: 1096
From: Lincolnshire IL USA
Registered: Aug 2000
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posted 02-03-2008 08:08 PM
Bob is correct that Armstrong stopped signing covers circa 1972. I have an Apollo 11 launch cover which he signed through the mail for me in l969, and an Apollo 11 FDC which he signed in 1970-71. He continued to autograph items other than covers through 1994 (with a few items reported after that). |
Robert Pearlman
Editor Posts: 42988
From: Houston, TX
Registered: Nov 1999
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posted 02-03-2008 08:18 PM
I have a letter on NASA Headquarters stationery, dated July 1973, that explains: quote:
We are sorry, but Mr. Armstrong discontinued signing all items of a philatelic nature in the latter part of 1971 because of their widespread commercial use. This is his own personal policy and he makes no exception to it.
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Ken Havekotte
Member Posts: 2914
From: Merritt Island, Florida, Brevard
Registered: Mar 2001
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posted 02-03-2008 10:16 PM
It has always been my understanding that Armstrong was getting too many postal cover requests for his signature after his return from the moon. He left the astronaut corps in June 1970, held a NASA deputy associate administrator position until his retirement from the space agency in Aug. 1971. Right about this time in 1971, after leaving NASA, he decided not to autograph any philatelic items. I really don't think the Apollo 15 cover incident had anything to do with his non-philatelic signing policies; besides, it was until after 1971 (in early 1972) that word of the 15 cover episode started to get back to NASA from Germany as Sieger sold his 99 lunar covers by late Nov. 1971. I think Armstrong decided to stop signing covers and stamps in late 1971 before anything was known about the Sieger developments. |
fabfivefreddy
Member Posts: 1067
From: Leawood, Kansas USA
Registered: Oct 2003
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posted 02-04-2008 08:25 AM
rrauction.com will be selling one of my covers signed by Armstrong with extraordinary provenance in the next 2-3 months. Tahir |
JoKepler
Member Posts: 515
From: Houston, Texas
Registered: Jul 2001
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posted 02-04-2008 12:10 PM
Perhaps a bit off topic, but...A cover with an uninscribed NA (that appears to me to be clearly an autopen) sold on eBay yesterday for $350. |
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