posted 09-18-2003 11:13 AM               

Effective October 1, 2003 Captain Lovell will no longer sign any items sent to him through the mail, including his book, Lost Moon/Apollo 13.

posted 09-14-2014 07:49 AM               

I've got a copy of his book that I'd love to get autographed.

posted 09-14-2014 11:27 PM               

quote:

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Originally posted by Mike_The_First:
Does Captain Lovell ever sign after he gives talks?

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posted 09-15-2014 06:58 PM               

quote:

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Originally posted by lspooz:
If you need something signed I can assist (references available).

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posted 09-15-2014 09:19 PM               

Since we're talking about our Lovell experience, I'll throw in my two cents. I first met him at Spacefest III. If Lovell wasn't my favorite astronaut before then, he is now. He was absolutely great all weekend.

I brought my daughter, who's not a space geek, with me. When she walked up to Lovell's table, he stood up and threw his arms open and invited her behind the table. When she got close enough to him, he reached out and hugged her like he'd known her his entire life. I couldn't have been happier. He made a very memorable impression on my daughter that day.

posted 06-04-2017 10:03 AM               

The flag, from the picture, doesn't look like beta cloth to me. So if he tried to sign it like he would sign beta cloth, that could explain the inconsistencies. It does look to me like ballpoint pen, which would hold with that theory.

That being said, the only free through-the-mail successes from Captain Lovell that I've heard of in the past few years have been strictly limited to his book, and even those are pretty rare. I also haven't seen one of those come back unpersonalized or with an Apollo 13 inscription. So if you are, in fact, saying that this is the result of one of those, I'm intrigued by that alone.

If I misunderstood your comment, then the question comes down to the source and circumstances.

At the end of the day, though, it looks like someone, whoever it is, signed a piece of fabric that can't take a signature with a ballpoint pen. That alone is going to give you a signature that most people wouldn't be comfortable giving 100% certainty on.

I can say that the "L" is incredibly uncharacteristic, but if he gave up due to the pen and fabric refusing to cooperate and opted to print instead (which would be easier, given the amount of "flourish" in his usual signature), that would both offer a plausible explanation and muddle the issue even further.

posted 06-04-2017 10:16 AM               

Since than I was thinking about display this portrait with Czech flag - I think most people know he is of Czech descent (from his mother's side). Therefore I sent him letter with this flag in April. I understand that signature on fabric can vary a lot, but as you said the "L" looks really strange. There are two possibilities, at least I think so.

1. It it genuine autograph of Mr. Lovell, just because of the fabric it looks so strange
   
2. It was "signed" by someone else, but it had to be someone within Mr. Lovell family, because of the address I used.

posted 06-04-2017 10:40 AM               

The drawing I have no problem with. One of the first pieces of advice given to autograph collectors is "learn to draw" because sending pictures like that opens doors.

On the flag, I have many thoughts:

• there was a period of time when Fred Haise signed freely through-the-mail between periods when he refused (prior to him collecting for Infinity) and nobody spoke about it out of fear that it would lead to him being deluged with mail. If Captain Lovell is doing the same now, my opinion could be based on outdated information.

• there are rumors that, after he quit signing, Neil Armstrong made a small handful of exceptions, but changed his signature in such a way that the market would decry it a forgery and it would only mean something to the person he signed it for. Bill Anders is said to do the same. It's possible that Captain Lovell didn't try as hard as he could have on this item, knowing that this conversation would come up. If that was the case, though, I don't know why he'd add the "Apollo 13" inscription.

• I've never heard of a bad return from Captain Lovell — if he didn't want to sign, he simply didn't answer.

posted 06-04-2017 01:11 PM               

No expertise to back that up, but it seems like there are enough vestiges of his normal signature to call it OK, particularly given the material and surrounding story.

posted 06-05-2017 09:08 AM               

The "J" in the signature looks authentic but the rough cloth distorted the writing and "Lovell" it is not my usual style.

posted 06-05-2017 11:25 AM               

I assume that Captain Lovell didn't clarify his signing habits and speak to whether or not he would have signed this had he received it (from a person he had previously signed for, to boot)?

I know I'm the only one on this tangent, but it's the most intriguing part for me.

Captain Lovell is a man who has no problems refusing autographs through the mail (he does so politely, of course), and, at paid signings, charges extra to sign fabric (presumably because, as we see here, it's a massive pain).

For him to sign twice, for free, through-the-mail, for a single individual, with neither item being his book and one of them being a harder-to-sign item is what caught my attention early on.

At this point we can assume, based on Captain Lovell's word, that such a thing didn't happen. But I still find the hypothetical intriguing.

But the other thing to consider is, again, the what and the why.

• If this flag wasn't signed by Captain Lovell, then who signed it?

• Why did whomever signed it put so much effort into getting certain details right, only to completely give up on the "L"? Even Captain Lovell acknowledged that the "J" looks to be on point.

• Is there any chance he's denying having signed it only to dissuade the presumably numerous collectors who saw this post and came away thinking that his hard and fast rule isn't as hard & fast as it appears before they want to the post office to fill his mail box with flags?

  I hold Captain Lovell in very high esteem (among the highest of his peers) and consider him to be a man of great integrity, and even I wouldn't begrudge him a little white lie in a case like this.

  In the Haise situation I mentioned earlier, there was a reason that those of us that got lucky kept quiet, and it was altruistic rather than selfish.

posted 06-05-2017 11:53 AM               

I will cherish the signed portrait I have in my collection. Without any doubts it is the most precious item for me, even though other autographs may be more pricey this is very special to me, and always will be. Captain Lovell is living legend!