Bloomsbury Auctions are putting an impressive range of autographed documents up for sale from history and even space travel in New York.
The particular interest to anyone who loves space collectibles is an unbelievable collection of 20 NASA and particularly Apollo mission signatures from the 1964 trip to the Grand Canyon (which was supposed to have certain similarities to the moon's surface).
The list includes moonwalkers Buzz Aldrin and Neil Armstrong (Armstrong no longer signs, of course) from Apollo 11, Alan Bean (Apollo 12), Alan Shepard (Apollo 14 - also the first American in space) and last man on the moon Gene Cernan (Apollo 17).
 NASA signatures, dated 1964 |
The list includes a number of other crucial Apollo and other mission members: Michael Collins (Command Module pilot for Apollo 11), Richard Gordon (same role for Apollo 12), Mercury 7 member Scott Carpenter, the ill-fated Roger Chaffee who died during testing for what later known as Apollo 1.
Walter Cunningham and Don Eisele (Apollo 7), Bill Anders (Apollo 8), Dave Scott and Rusty Schweikart (Apollo 9) also put their pens to paper. This extraordinary collection from a crucial time in space travel history is very modestly valued at $7,000-10,000.
At Paul Fraser Collectibles we currently have our own rare space autographs available: group and individual signed photos of the Apollo 11 crew, and another of the Mercury 7 astronauts.
There are a number of letters from the mid-19th century giving personal accounts of the American Civil War in significant detail, several around $3,000.
The most significant for a pure autograph hunter however is an autograph notebook containing Abraham Lincoln's signature, along with those of later Presidents Andrew Johnson and Ulysses S Grant, as well as the assassin of one: Charles Giteau, who killed President Garfield.
The book, which also includes several signatures from Lincoln's key associates such as F W Seward and Edwin Stanton, is expected to sell for $15,000-20,000.
Anyone interested in Lincoln should take a look at this document, in which he promotes the famous James H Carleton during the Civil War.
Three fascinating letters from Albert Einstein show his public and private opinions. In one he sharply criticises famous pioneer of analytical psychology Carl Jung for his Nazi sympathies; in another he gives his support and advice to a Jewish man intending to marry a Catholic.
Both letters are valued at $9,000-12,000, whilst one written suggesting forms Jewish resistance might take to their "calamitous peril". The letter is written in 1939 on the eve of WW2 and estimated at $10,000-15,000.
The headline piece however remains the manuscript signed in Dutch by Petrus Stuyvesant, detailing land to be granted to two Dutchmen near modern day Brooklyn Bridge.
 New Amsterdam document |
The document, with the remains of a wax seal, is dated 1654, 10 years before Stuyvesant was forced to yield the lands to England, leading to the formation of New York.
This rare document from the era of New Amsterdam is expected to sell for $30,000-40,000, completing a selection of autographs to fascinate anyone with an interest in the military, science and history. The auction takes place on Thursday November 19, with pieces now open to view.
