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Author
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Topic: [Goldberg] Space memorabilia (Dec 2011)
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connoisseur
Member Posts: 171
From: Northridge, CA
Registered: Nov 2000
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posted 10-27-2011 02:40 PM
   
The Goldberg Dec. 3, 2011 (Sale #66) catalog is now online. This is a different type of sale. Instead of all the usual flown flags, autographs, etc; this sale has strength in behind-the-scene original source material, mainly from the estates of Mitchell Sharpe including his reference files for his book (with Fred Ordway) "The Rocket Team", Paul Haney ("The Voice of Gemini"), Deke Slayton and Donald Puddy (a Flight Director and head of the Astronaut Office after Deke left). Some highlights of the sale include the "Paul Haney / Are you a Turtle" card held up by Walt Cunningham during Apollo 7 to which Paul never answered (the card was in the Smithsonian Institution for a while), a wooden mock-up of the hand-held TV camera as used only during Apollo 7 and Apollo 8. On Apollo 8 the camera was used to send the famous Christmas message by the Apollo 8 astronauts. It is signed by Bill Anders on the top. Also included are two fascinating, matching presentation plaques, one in English and one in Russian, each hand-signed by the "Phase-1 US/Russian Shuttle crews" onboard STS-71/91 and MIR-18-25. These plaques appear to be prototypes prepared at the direction of Donald Puddy, but never distributed. We won't swear that every astronaut/cosmonaut on each crew signed them, but it sure looks that way. They are truly striking. There is also a great, turned aluminum Gemini Launch Vehicle model in its wooden case that is from the estate of one of the founders of the Aviation Hall of Fame in Ohio and much, much more. For the space historian, this sale will provide you an unedited look at the American space program from behind the scenes that you have not seen before. Everything is shown on the website. I look forward to answering your questions. |
connoisseur
Member Posts: 171
From: Northridge, CA
Registered: Nov 2000
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posted 11-07-2011 05:25 PM
Catalogs are due into our offices today or tomorrow and should have already started being shipped to those of you already on our mailing list. If you think you may not be on the list, let me know and I will have it checked out. Catalogs are complimentary. This is an interesting sale that you won't want to miss. Let me know regarding any lot questions. |
connoisseur
Member Posts: 171
From: Northridge, CA
Registered: Nov 2000
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posted 11-27-2011 06:58 PM
Just a heads up that the sale is next Saturday. You should have had time to digest your turkey, play with your grandkids/kids and generally relax. Now it is time to examine the catalog closely as there is more to this sale than meets the eye at first glance. In particular, I refer to the Paul Haney "Voice of Gemini" Estate material (including the "Are You A Turtle" plaque flown on Apollo 7 and held up during a TV broadcast and his behind-the-scene, unedited notes taken during crew post-flight debriefing) and the Deke Slayton Estate material. Virtually everything is unreserved and will go to the highest bidder. Wouldn't you prefer it went to you rather than to someone else. Whatever the outcome though, this material deserves a good home. (Don't forget about the aluminum Gemini Launch Vehicle NASA (?) model and the "Phase 1 US/Russian Program" prototype presentation plaques signed by ALL the US and Russian crew members on the flights (STS 71//91 and MIR 18-25). There are plenty of autographs to go around also - from ALL flights. Enjoy!) |
David Carey
Member Posts: 847
From:
Registered: Mar 2009
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posted 12-03-2011 07:02 PM
A fun auction to watch; great Paul Haney (PAO) material among other interesting items. The A11 Final Flight Plan duo (lot 470) was an intriguing lot; curious if someone knows the story of the SKB32100080-350 printing on the un-photographed second copy? It left my target range but someone may have acquired an interesting sub-plot to the first annotated book shown, quite nice in its own right. Any signature issues seen with lot 462 below? I'm hoping this was a reasonable bargain for a 1-of-1 A11 Crew-signed item with a kitchy Texas/Florida tie-in but honest thoughts welcomed in either direction. The original recipient was indeed the Mayor of Cocoa Beach from 1963-1972. Seemed too convoluted an item to be anything but 'the real deal' but...  |
mjanovec
Member Posts: 3811
From: Midwest, USA
Registered: Jul 2005
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posted 12-03-2011 10:30 PM
quote:
Originally posted by David Carey:
Any signature issues seen with lot 462 below?
Those signatures appear to be a perfect match for the secretarial style signatures that originated from the astronaut office around the time of Apollo 11. See Chris Spain's autopen website for examples of this secretarial style. A discussion of that style also appears here on collectSPACE. |
spaced out
Member Posts: 3135
From: Paris, France
Registered: Aug 2003
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posted 12-04-2011 04:15 AM
Mark is right, these are classic 'secretarial' signatures. As these are quite a recent discovery not everyone is aware of them. The problem is that the provenance of these signed items is always excellent (the signed items came direct from the astronaut office) so the sellers and auction houses don't have any reason to suspect the signatures.The auction seemed to crawl in the pre-space section so didn't end until 2am here in Europe. I was second bidder on quite a few items but came away empty handed. Standout item for me wa the crew-signed Apollo 7 patch - a great deal for whoever won it as the price would have been reasonable for an unsigned patch. I was tempted by the ASTP signed/flown beta cloths. They were all pretty good value but bidding was pretty intense. I note that one guy walked away with four of them... making an ASTP-themed beta cloth quilt maybe? |
David Carey
Member Posts: 847
From:
Registered: Mar 2009
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posted 12-04-2011 12:12 PM
Well, these comments and an additional offline message certainly point in only one direction. Mark/Chris, thanks for taking time to weigh in with your expertise. Much appreciated. I'll contact Goldberg to seek a fair resolution here. My assumption was their expertise would have detected the issues but perhaps this is not as simple as an outright forgery. The signatures looked a little different to me but I attributed it more to the size and material of the item. Not the news I was hoping for obviously but good to know. A reminder of how much cS provides in knowledge, and the limited depth of my own in this area. On the bright side, my 'signature IQ' isn't quite as low as it was yesterday  |
stsmithva
Member Posts: 1985
From: Fairfax, VA
Registered: Feb 2007
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posted 12-04-2011 12:49 PM
quote:
Originally posted by David Carey:
The A11 Final Flight Plan duo (lot 470) was an intriguing lot;
While I'm trying to do far more selling than buying for the moment, that heavily annotated flight plan was irresistible. I put in a pre-bid of three times the high estimate... which would have been great, if it hadn't sold for 20 times that high estimate!Lot 446, the "Are You a Turtle?", sign, was a fun item. It sold for $2300 (without buyers premium), which is about how much many flown flags and patches sell for. Those of course have a wider appeal, but I think this sign was much more interesting because it was so unique and was held up to the camera during a TV broadcast from space. The description said that it came with a photo showing this, but it was taken by someone at the time taking a photo of a TV screen. I'm sure the buyer could get a much better image nowadays for a wonderful display. |
DMScott
Member Posts: 355
From: Lexington, MA, USA
Registered: Dec 2005
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posted 12-05-2011 04:11 AM
I too was fascinated by the Turtle cue card and think someone got a heck of a deal. To get a unique flown item with a great story that is documented (being on television) as well as discussed on the air-to-ground loop for roughly the price of a souvenir flag is terrific for one smart collector. There were thousands of flags that flew on Apollo missions and they are all identical. But there are very few items that flew that tell a fun story like this. If the buyer wants to sell it to me the cue card for twice what he or she paid, please let me know. |
David Carey
Member Posts: 847
From:
Registered: Mar 2009
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posted 12-05-2011 09:23 PM
quote:
Originally posted by David Carey:
I'll contact Goldberg...
All square. My thanks to Michael for a matter professionally and quickly resolved.
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