Beschreibung:

Space Exploration: Apollo 11. Man’s First Landing on the Moon Photograph Signed, 20 July 1969, vintage black and white photograph taken from film exposed by the 16mm Data Acquisition Camera which was mounted in the Lunar Module, showing Neil Armstrong (left) and Buzz Aldrin raising the United States Flag at the Sea of Tranquility site, signed by the crew members, ‘Neil Armstrong / TRANQUILITY BASE / MOON LANDING OF APOLLO 11 / 20 JULY 1969’ inscribed in black felt tip upper left, signed ‘M[ichael] Collins’ in gold or orange felt tip to lower left edge, now slightly indistinct, and signed ‘Buzz Aldrin’ in proxy by Neil Armstrong in black felt tip to right of Aldrin's figure, the shadow of the Lunar Module Eagle running across the image on the Moon’s surface, 19 x 24cm, on original mount with printed caption pasted beneath noting that this photograph was signed by all the crew members on their return from the Moon, overall 28 x 28cm (Quantity: 1) Provenance: Norris McWhirter (1925-2004), by family descent. Norris McWhirter was a British writer, political activist and television presenter, known most famously for founding, with his brother Ross, the Guinness World Records, which they wrote and annually updated together between 1955 and 1975. Sold in these rooms as lot 908 on 29 November 2021 for £12,000 hammer when the Aldrin autograph was believed to be in his own hand. However, recent in person research by Steve Zarelli of Zarelli Space Authentication, LLC, gives the opinion that the Buzz Aldrin signature is a proxy signature applied by Neil Armstrong (who has therefore effectively signed it twice!). An official Letter of Authenticity about all three autographs, signed by Steve Zarelli, dated 26 March 2023, is included with the lot.