An Old Autograph...

In 1964, I was ten years old. My father was an educator who traveled to annual conventions for his work. I believe they were NEA (National Education Association) conventions. In 1964, the destination was Milwaukee, Wisconsin.

Among the speakers was one, in particular, that my father thought I might find interesting. Wernher von Braun.

For those of you who might not know who Wernher von Braun is, here is an introduction courtesy of Wikipedia:

"Wernher Magnus Maximilian, Freiherr von Braun was a German aerospace engineer and space architect credited with inventing the V-2 Rocket and the Saturn-V, for Nazi Germany and the United States, respectively. He was one of the leading figures in the development of rocket technology in WWII Germany, where he was also a member of the Nazi Party and the SS. Following the war he moved to the United States, where he developed the rockets that launched America's first space satellite and first series of moon missions. NASA has called him the "Father of Rocket Science"."

I've been interested in science all my life, so when I was presented with this booklet by my father when he returned home, I was excited to see that on one of the pages was an autograph penned by Wernher von Braun himself.

Of course, a ten year old didn't know anything about conservation techniques, or how to properly preserve a document, so I simply glued the entire booklet into my scrapbook, where it remained until some time later, when I removed it from the scrapbook (unfortunately with the same lack of care as when I glued it in). I guess I must have just torn it out of the scrapbook when the glue wouldn't release, because it's now missing the back page.

 

I had also saved pages from an article about the scientist from another source, and kept it with the autograph. You can see that I taped that one into the book. sigh

 

I came upon the loose booklet and pages from the article in the process of purging and packing, and was curious about the value of the autograph. (How many of you have watched "Pawn Stars"?) Well, you can imagine how surprised I was to find that (according to Answers.com) one of his autographs sold for $400!

Now, I certainly don't expect that one of his autographs, penned into a booklet missing its back page will garner that sum, but I'm going to find out what it will fetch. I intend to do more research and find the best platform to sell it.

 

2015 Donna is high-fiving 1964 Donna for saving this autograph across all these years. Way to go, me!