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Zarelli Space Authentication: Gus Grissom Autograph Study

Steve Zarelli Space Authentication is pleased to present an online signature study on NASA astronaut, Virgil "Gus" Grissom. The full study can be found on my website by clicking here.

I have included a number of verified signature exemplars that span the short period Gus Grissom was signing autographs, as well as Autopens, secretarials, pre-prints and suspected forgeries.

In my estimation, Grissom is in the top five risky autographs of flown astronauts. Hopefully, you'll enjoy the study and it is of value to the community.

As always, comments and feedback are welcome and thank you for your support!

Print authentically signed by 6 of the Mercury 7 astronauts

Common Gus Grissom forgery style

Steve Zarelli Space Authentication provides professional authentication of astronaut, cosmonaut and aviation autographs to individual collectors, dealers and organizations, including:

RR Auction
James Spence Authentication (JSA)
Sportscard Guaranty Authentic (SGC)
PSA/DNA Authentication
Many other reputable dealers and collectors worldwide

Happy collecting!

Steve Zarelli
Zarelli Space Authentication, LLC

Tags: Authentication, Grissom, Gus, Space, Steve, Zarelli

3 members like this

Comment by Mike T on October 22, 2014 at 7:38am: Great stuff as always Steve! That crew photo from Cernan's collection is awesome.

Comment by Mike Shepherd on October 22, 2014 at 2:32pm: This is great Steve. Great work as always. Keep up the good work.

Comment by Ian Baldock on October 22, 2014 at 2:57pm: Thanks Mr Zarelli for showing the toughest of the big U.S. astronauts. Shame more people (especially young) arent more interested in these true American heroes,all getting very old. Maybe one day we will be after first men on mars crew.

Comment by Steve Zarelli on October 22, 2014 at 5:22pm: Mike T: The Apollo 1 crew photo from the Cernan collection is an interesting one. Obviously a modern Cernan signature signed across the top of a 1966 Apollo 1 crew photo. Some space collectors -- myself included -- think the Cernan signature detracts and should not have been applied to the front. At the most, he should have signed the back as provenance in my opinion.

Comment by Mike T on October 22, 2014 at 5:47pm: It definitely detracts from the photo, I agree 100% with you, it would have been much nicer if he signed the back. I don't think he views these collectibles the same way we do, it was just another day in the office for him. It's clear that he was more interested in providing provenance than maintaining the integrity of the piece. I've seen a lot of things from his collection, did he sell a lot of it?

I also cant help but detect a hint of ego with the way he inscribed "last man on the moon".. Almost as if look at me and not these guys. Why did he feel the need to write that?? On an Apollo 1 piece!

Comment by Steve Zarelli on October 22, 2014 at 6:10pm: Cernan has sold off pieces of his collection over the past several years through NovaSpace and probably with direct deals to collectors.

The "Last Man on the Moon" motif seems to have cropped up over the last decade and he seems to enjoy that role. I recently saw a piece signed by Armstrong and someone added Cernan who inscribed "Last Man on the Moon." Not to my taste as I am more a purist who prefer to leave vintage items be and not try to manufacture something more out of them.

That said, Gene Cernan is a very nice man who deserves a tremendous amount of respect. Certainly one of the more accomplished astronauts and a great ambassador for the space program.

Comment by Mike T on October 22, 2014 at 6:36pm: Would be cool to have a first and last kind of piece. Would be odd if he just signed an Armstrong wss or something. No disrespect to Mr. Cernan, but if some people I know in the tech sector get their way, he will no longer hold that title in our lifetime. Exciting times, all made possible by these early pioneers.