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Author
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Topic: Roger Chaffee yearbook: value considerations
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hbw60
Member Posts: 119
From:
Registered: Aug 2018
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posted 01-04-2021 04:17 PM
   
After years of searching for a Roger Chaffee signature to complete my Apollo autograph collection, I finally found one on eBay for a price in my budget. However, it's not a traditional autograph, but rather an inscription in a school yearbook to one of his classmates. He wrote a message next to his photo, and signed it "Rog". I'm curious to know whether the value of things like this are affected by the format. Mementos like this are far more rare and personal than traditional autographs. But because astronaut photos are preferred, are things like this yearbook worth much less? Is an autograph signed by Roger as a teenager significantly less desirable than an autograph signed after he became an astronaut? I'm not planning on selling this (unless I happen to find an even better one at a low price in the future), but I'm interested to know if things like this have the same appeal to collectors. Also, I'd prefer to have this signature on display with the others. Would it hurt the value (or the historical significance) to cut this autograph from the book? Or would it be better to leave the book intact? I generally hate to alter a signed item in any way; but a high school yearbook doesn't seem like a valuable or important item apart from this specific signature. I think it'd look really nice as a cut signature, matted with his astronaut portrait. But I don't want to do anything that would be seen as destructive. |
randy
Member Posts: 2368
From: West Jordan, Utah USA
Registered: Dec 1999
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posted 01-04-2021 05:34 PM
You should not cut the signature. That would de-value the signature, in my opinion. You should leave the book as is. |
Altidude
Member Posts: 71
From:
Registered: Jan 2016
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posted 01-04-2021 06:21 PM
Make a high quality copy and frame that. Keep the yearbook intact. |
SpaceAholic
Member Posts: 4738
From: Sierra Vista, Arizona
Registered: Nov 1999
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posted 01-04-2021 06:53 PM
If contemporaneously applied (with issuance of the yearbook) another vote to not separate. |
Ken Havekotte
Member Posts: 3133
From: Merritt Island, Florida, Brevard
Registered: Mar 2001
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posted 01-04-2021 07:38 PM
I like the idea of making a high-quality copy of the Chaffee page for display purposes and keeping the year book intact. I do the same thing with some of my better pieces. |
hbw60
Member Posts: 119
From:
Registered: Aug 2018
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posted 01-04-2021 08:35 PM
Thank you for the suggestions, everyone! I am going to take your advice and leave the book intact, and then make a copy for display.After looking through the book, I realized that I would want to keep it anyway. It's got several photos of Roger Chaffee on the football team, the math club, etc. He once held this book as he signed it. And it's got over a hundred other signatures and notes in it. The original owner of this book was a school friend of Roger's, and she died this year. I never knew her, but I was really affected by leafing through this book and seeing all the messages her friends had written. And the book itself is like a time capsule from 70 years ago, and I love seeing what things were like decades before I was born. Even without Roger's note, this book has become something I want to preserve. So thanks again, everyone! Your input was very helpful, and I'm really glad you convinced me to not remove the signature. |
Mike Dixon
Member Posts: 1499
From: Kew, Victoria, Australia
Registered: May 2003
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posted 01-04-2021 09:03 PM
Wise move... |
Silver
Member Posts: 70
From: Washington, DC
Registered: Jul 2015
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posted 01-04-2021 11:55 PM
Talivaldis Cepuritis |
Ianhetho
Member Posts: 163
From: Bogangar NSW Australia
Registered: May 2018
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posted 01-04-2021 11:55 PM
Agreed. |
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