posted 08-09-2015 08:43 PM               

Can you go wrong with investing in Apollo flown material or is the market becoming more flooded with items that most people generally can't afford? Just picked up a few items that I felt were a very good deal, but at the same time doesn't provide a vote of confidence in one's investments.

posted 08-09-2015 08:55 PM               

Space exploration in general is just too young an activity for anyone to be able to reliably predict where the market will go. And unlike artwork (as an example), it may never mature.

posted 08-10-2015 07:19 AM               

After ASTP, I stopped collecting autographs until the advent of the internet. I looked up what I'd collected over the years and was quite surprised at the value of the things I had. After that, I began my pursuit of collecting autographed photos of every Mercury, Gemini and Apollo astronaut. I now have 252 autographed photos in my collection. I collected them because I appreciate the astronaut's place in history. Also, the photos are very beautiful to me and represent a time in my life when we learned something new about the universe every day.

While the prices have gone up over the past 7 years or so, some have risen slower than others. Scott, Cernan and Bean for example have raised their rates very minimally compared to Aldrin. For me, what drives the prices of my photos isn't the autograph itself. The most desirable photos are either uninscribed or have a killer inscription on them. For instance, an Aldrin EASAP pan with "Magnificent Desolation" written on it sold for $2,100 in a recent auction. I got mine at Spacefest 3 for $650. A Pete Conrad exiting the LM with his first words written on it sold for somewhere around $1,900 a year or 2 ago. Even an Alan Bean with a nice inscription sold for almost $2,000 at auction recently. Harrison Schmitt has gone from a $200 photo to almost $800+ depending on the photo.

I say all that because people see those numbers and want to cash in. The irony of is when people are willing to sell, the prices drop. While some items are going up, some are also coming down as people sell off their extras, etc.

I think a large factor in the flown material market are the astronauts who are getting up there in age and for whatever reason have decided to part with some of their belongings. These first generation items can usually be had a few dollars below market value. There are some who buy those and try to make a huge profit on Ebay, but a lot of times, I don't see them selling very often, if ever.

posted 08-10-2015 07:19 AM               

Safe to say, I didn't and still don't collect in order to make money. Though I am increasingly conscious of the value for the sake of my kids.

Add to that, the plethora of items owned by astronauts that at one time were hard to come by but are now almost common place.

posted 08-10-2015 09:05 AM               

Regarding astronauts in particular, the ones who have been doing the show and private signing circuit for the past 20 years are in high supply and will continue to be in high supply long after they stop signing. How the "regulars" continually raise signing fees while supply is bursting at the seams and demand is flat at best baffles me, but they continue to do so.

The reality is Aldrin, Bean, Duke, Cernan, et. al., are extremely common autographs and the fair market value is well below their standard signing fees. Try listing an Aldrin standard signed pose for $600 on eBay and see how long it takes to sell. If you want to pay the juice to meet them and get a picture at a show, I get it. But I wouldn't bank on cashing in on that "investment" any time in the next 20 years.

posted 08-10-2015 02:51 PM               

Still, certain general principles work across all fields. The first and most important example of this is that top of the line, or one of a kind, items tend to increase in value even when most of the rest of the field is treading water or trending downwards. There are ALWAYS a few wealthy connoisseurs in any given field, and you only need two interested in any given item to drive the price upward at auction.

posted 08-10-2015 07:18 PM               

I feel the current lack of an active manned space program in the U.S. is contributing to the overall collecting malaise. The excitement and the emotional investment that comes with manned launches contributes a level of collecting enthusiasm which is hard to generate any other way.

Another factor is that the Baby Boomers, the people who lived through the early incarnations of manned spaceflight, and probably have a pre-disposition to collect it, are reaching an age of re-examination. How many times have you read on these threads "I'm thinning out my collection" or "I'm refining my collecting focus" etc.? I've said it, and in fact I'm doing it. At some point as you "mature" you have assess your collection and decide in which direction it needs to move.

posted 08-10-2015 09:17 PM               

quote:

---

Originally posted by Steve Zarelli:
Regarding astronauts in particular, the ones who have been doing the show and private signing circuit for the past 20 years are in high supply and will continue to be in high supply long after they stop signing. How the "regulars" continually raise signing fees while supply is bursting at the seams and demand is flat at best baffles me, but they continue to do so.

---

I can't speak for others, but my reason for paying their autograph show fees is because to me the most important thing on an autographed photo is the inscription. I scour the mission transcripts looking for interesting or relevant quotes to put on each photo I'm planning on getting signed before I attend the show. I'm willing to pay extra to get a historical or memorable inscription on any astronaut signed photo.

For instance, I have a Cernan signed pan with his last words he spoke on the surface of the moon and also the last words he spoke before lunar launch (both on the same photo). There's a chance I could have purchased that on the secondary market, but I'd be paying a lot more than his $200 fee (at the time). I also have a photo where he wrote the first words he spoke after landing. At the ASF show last year, I got a Cernan "Shorty Crater" signed pan with the words he spoke as he was shooting the pan.

My favorite photo is an Aldrin EASAP pan where he wrote the words from the plaque. Because of his 15 word limit, I was forced to spread the plaque into 2 separate photos. The second photo is of him saluting the flag. That one says "We came in peace for all mankind." I find those words rather ironic considering he's saluting an American flag. The 2 photos look amazing together in a single frame.

posted 08-10-2015 09:47 PM            

For me, a space item worth having is something that is meaningful to me - and that may not match up with what others find valuable. And that's okay. If an astronaut signs and personalizes their book to me, that means a lot, for example.

posted 08-11-2015 08:28 AM               

Collecting is very cyclic. People (men usually) reach peak earning in their careers and buy whatever their hearts desire when they were kids, sending the price up. When they start to age out, die off, move to a smaller footprint they start shrinking their collections, but the people now buying have a different hearts desire, mainly whatever they wanted when they were kids. The best of the best holds its value, mostly, but a lot of the dross falls.

posted 08-11-2015 01:30 PM               

quote:

---

Originally posted by NASA Glenn:
I was talking to a local antiques dealer (another profession slowly disappearing) and he told me about a Popeye advertising piece he consigned to an auction. It received a record price, due to three bidders. The auctioneer confided that once two of these three Popeye collectors pass, he won't be able to give Popeye stuff away.

---

posted 08-11-2015 05:56 PM               

Just wanted to clarify that I wasn't trying to express that I collect only to resell for investment purposes. It's nice to know if you have to let something go that you could come out on top and sometimes not.

Last year after I returned from a deployment, I posted and sold a few items here on cS and a couple of things on eBay. In the end, I made a little on some, lost on others and finally broke even on the average sum of the total items sold. I too like to rotate my collection by selling/trading for something new or unique.

I recently purchased on eBay for what I would have to say was a very fair price an Apollo 17 flown flag. The flag is mounted on a NASA presentation dated from January 1981 for a gentleman who worked for at Langley for nearly 30 years.

Like everything, value comes in several forms. The passion of collection (that is my #1), insurance value (heaven forbid) and if some came up and you had to liquidate for financial reasons (another heaven forbid moment).

Collecting is fun, its passionate but its more exciting when others are right alongside you doing the same thing. Its like seeing young kids when they use to collect and trade baseball cards (doesn't seem to happen anymore). There was an excitement about it that got me going. Of course that lack in US manned space launches and lack of media coverage regarding space exploration is sad to say the least.

posted 08-15-2015 03:18 PM               

The shuttle flights were less excited, so people lost their interest.

I think once the US will start a new space age (Mars...) with new spacecrafts a new generation of space fans will stand up, but with only interest in some highlights of the past.

Such as many others, collecting was and is still great but thinking it could be a financial support later was dreaming...