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From: Midwest, USA
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posted 07-20-2016 12:57 PM               

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Just to expand a little on this piece, it was indeed signed for the Flight Test Historical Foundation as part of a fundraising effort, with the signatures gathered circa 1993. Tony Landis, who has posted to CS in the past, was one of the organizers of this signing. The effort including many different photos from various test flight programs, not just the X-15. But these particular X-15 photos were one of the more prized items, because they gathered all seven surviving X-15 pilots (at that time) onto one piece. From what I recall Tony telling me, the Milt Thompson signatures were obtained only days before his passing. (Robert Rushworth had already passed earlier in the year, so that explains the absence of his signature.)

While many of the photos sold for the fundraising effort were very affordable (most in the $25-$50 range, including $45 Armstrong-signed X-1B photos!), this multi-signed piece was never cheap. Below is a clipping from the catalog of photos from the FTHF catalog. Also note that the signed image came in two sizes. Plus, a second signed image (not shown here) was sold showing the X-15 landing.

This particular image has sold in the range of $2500-$3000 (perhaps more) in auctions in the past. So if one only paid $1500 for it, that was a pretty good deal.

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From: Northville MI USA
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From: McKinney TX (USA)
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posted 07-21-2016 11:46 AM               

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There was this signed image as well, although I am not sure how much the original offer price was.

NOTE: Image borrowed from cS member "hinkler"'s Flickr posting.

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From: CA, USA
Registered: Jul 2007

posted 07-21-2016 05:01 PM            

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That photo of Crossfield, White and Armstrong is one of my all time favorites. The others that we had Neil sign included the X-1B, X-15 landing and the X-15 pilots group in 1962.

Neil was initially reluctant to sign anything but two letters from Pete Knight help convince him it was a good cause. He would only sign in small numbers (25 copies or less) and only flight test images of vehicles he actually flew. Unlike most of the pilots who kept copies of the prints for themselves, Neil returned everything he was sent, including the pens.

The original prices were all guesswork on our part since this was done years before the internet and the collector market was still pretty small. We simply didn't have access to anything in which to match the pricing towards.

After two years of effort doing this for the museum, they never advertised what they had and only sold a handful of the images through the museum gift shop. The rest remained in 'the back room' for years before they finally just disappeared from what I was told.

In return for our efforts the two of us were allowed to retain a small number for our personal collections.

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From: McKinney TX (USA)
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posted 07-21-2016 05:04 PM               

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So, Tony, there were only 25 or so of each image that Armstrong signed?

If so, I am really surprised to see these come up for auction or sale every so often.

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From: Gardner, KS, USA
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From: CA, USA
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posted 07-22-2016 04:40 PM            

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There were 30 11x14s signed, 25 each of all the rest that went to Neil. Depending on the pilot, some images were printed in larger quantities to cover what we expected them to keep. Armstrong was the best since he returned everything, Yeager was the worst since he kept 50% of everything sent as well as the return postage. He would simply toss them in his car and deliver them on his next trip to Edwards.

Since these were all original photos and not mass-produced lithographs, that's actually a pretty good quantity of each photo. Christian and I only had so much money to spend to get prints made and cover postage both directions to each individual signing. I believe the total cost for each of us was around $2,500 - $3,000. For the most part I covered the print cost and Christian covered postage. The museum/FTHF did not spend a dime on this project.

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From: Melbourne, Victoria, AUSTRALIA
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posted 07-26-2016 03:32 PM               

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I am offering the Armstrong/White/Crossfield signed photo mentioned above by Capoetc and Tony for sale right now. Please see my listing here: FS: Armstrong, White, Crossfield; Orville Wright.

There is a photo in the listing. Unfortunately due to circumstances beyond my control I have to sell a number of items fairly quickly. Thanks for your help.

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From: Lausanne
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