Replies to This Discussion

Permalink Reply by Mike T on April 23, 2015 at 4:55pm

I would have to think Neil Armstrong, anything attributed to him and the Apollo 11 mission sells for mega bucks.

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Permalink Reply by Mike White on May 23, 2015 at 5:48pm

Neil Armstrong wasn't even the "most valuable" when he was alive.

Heck, he wasn't even the most valuable of the astronauts.

Heck, he wasn't even the most valuable of the living astronauts.

A lot of people seem to forget that Neil authentically signed TTM for like 20 years.

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Permalink Reply by Mike T on May 23, 2015 at 6:09pm

His autograph was the most valuable of any living person for years before he died.

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Permalink Reply by Mike White on May 23, 2015 at 6:59pm

I need to see a citation on that, because I call bullspit.

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Permalink Reply by Mike T on May 23, 2015 at 7:31pm

http://luxurylaunches.com/auctions/neil_armstrongs_signature_is_the...

http://www.ranker.com/list/the-world_s-10-most-valuable-autographs/...

http://techcrunch.com/2010/04/02/the-worlds-most-valuable-autograph...

He was absolutely the most valuable of living astronauts while he was alive.  Show me some sources that say otherwise.

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Permalink Reply by Mike White on May 23, 2015 at 7:49pm

All 3 pages that you linked to got their information from the same single source, which spurts out numbers without saying where they came from.

I don't know any space collector who spent more than $3,000 on a WSS photo of Neil, so I'm quite curious where "$7500" comes from. But, of course, that's a question that remains unanswered.

In this 2011 auction, his autograph didn't go beyond the $2,000 range.

http://www.rrauction.com/past_auction_results.cfm?SearchCrit=Space%...

So before I get to your question, I'm more curious about how something that regularly sells for less than $5,000 is worth $7500.

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Permalink Reply by Mike T on May 23, 2015 at 7:54pm

Which living astronaut's autograph was worth more than $2000 then?

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Permalink Reply by Mike White on May 23, 2015 at 8:19pm

For one thing, you said it was the most valuable of any living PERSON, not any living astronaut. And I'm sure it wouldn't be hard to find a living person's autograph selling for more than $3,000.

Not to mention that if you want to change it to astronaut, since you specified "during his lifetime", auction prices as recent as the year 2000 would answer your question. Of course there's also the question of what constitutes an "astronaut". And, of course, your original point of Neil Armstrong being the answer to "most valuable dead celebrity autographs".

Perhaps Neil Armstrong had the most valuable autograph of all living astronauts from 2000 to his death in 2012. I don't know & I don't care enough to cross reference auction results with the dates that astronauts passed away. But that's a pretty small area of the pie considering the original question is asking which dead celebrities have the most valuable autographs.

But, as I said in my previous comment, that's not the point here, as you & I both know that value is no more than the price someone would pay for something & the item that's signed plays a huge role in that. I can find you an item signed by Neil Armstrong that sold for over $20,000, as well as single signed items in the auction I already linked to that sold for more than Neil's signed pictures.

I'm tired of this discussion though, because there's no point in discussing the value of an autograph without discussing first the value of the item bearing the signature.

Of course, such a discussion is also fairly pointless, considering that you're basing your opinion on unsubstantiated numbers & your first thought in looking at those sources was "Neil Armstrong is the most valuable autograph in 2010" & not "I wonder where those numbers came from; I should look into this before claiming it as proof of anything". I know that because if you looked at the source information listed on those 3 websites, you'd see that they all link to the same place & that place provides no sources. (I saw them long before you posted them, by the way.)

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Permalink Reply by Mike T on May 23, 2015 at 8:44pm

Haha, ok.  Youre wasting your time.  You show me a living person whose autograph sold for more than $3000 then.  The point of the articles is not the value, its the title.  No living persons autograph came close to the value of Neil's when he was alive, especially towards the end of his life.  After he died, values went up 3-5x.

Also, "auction prices in 2000" is not an answer.  You write a lot of fluff and no substance.  Give me some names of 1) living person whose autograph sold for $3000+, 2) astronaut whose autograph was valued higher than Neils when he was alive.

Permalink Reply by Ian Baldock on May 24, 2015 at 6:38am

Your trying to create crap on multiple discussions. To quote you "heck , he wasn't even the most valuable of the living astronauts".