Astronaut's signature goes up for auction

AMHERST, N.H. — Forty years ago Thursday, astronaut Neil Armstrong hurtled into space on Apollo 11 for his rendezvous with immortality on the moon.

But before he rode an elevator to the top of a 30-story Saturn V rocket, Armstrong paused and wrote a check for $10.50 to a colleague.

"Here's a check for the loan," Armstrong told Hal Collins, NASA chief of mission support. "But don't cash it, because I will be coming back."

Four decades later, Armstrong's autograph would become the most valuable from any living human being, collectors say.

"He's the most sought-after human being for an autograph," said Anthony Pizzitola, vice president of the Houston-based Universal Autograph Collectors Club, the largest of its kind. "That's based on the fact that he just stopped signing in 1994. It's just like a stock; that's basically what it is."

The confluence of ultrarare qualities — an Armstrong signature, the timing of launch day and the approaching anniversary — was sweet music to an Amherst auction house that handled a sale this week.

Bids, which were to close late today, were likely to top the previous high of $19,000 for an Armstrong signing, Pizzitola said.

After the deadline, bidders who participated were allowed to submit new offers during 10-minute segments reset with each fresh bid. Bob Livingston, RR Auction's director of sales and marketing, predicted that process could continue until early today and ultimately could fetch more than $30,000.

The Armstrong check was offered for consignment by Noah Bradley, a Charlottesville, Va., collector of space memorabilia who bought the item from Collins' son in 2002.

Armstrong's autograph also is difficult to acquire. The former test pilot and Korean War aviator, who became concerned about the profiteering and forgeries associated with his signature, stopped signing autographs for the public in 1994.

He once even threatened to sue his longtime barber, who had sold a bit of Armstrong's hair for $3,000.

What makes this autograph extra-special, RR Auction owner Bob Eaton said, is that Armstrong included his rarely used middle initial. It was one of three times he signed his full name, Neil A. Armstrong, during the Apollo 11 mission.

The other two times were on a customs declaration after re-entry and on a plaque left on the moon, according to the auction-house staff.