This listing is for an Apollo-era stamp block, which has been hand-signed by astronaut Alan Bean. This item was signed while he was still an active NASA astronaut, making it an extra special relic of that era.

This signature came from the famous "Sieger collection". During the Apollo era, several of the astronauts were friends with Hermann Sieger, a German philatelic dealer. Hermann paid some of them to sign stamp blocks from around the world, which he sold in his store back in Germany. The Sieger collection became famous after he made a deal with the Apollo 15 astronauts to carry stamped postal covers to the moon, which resulted in a Congressional investigation. In the end, the government fired the Apollo 15 crew for profiting from a taxpayer-funded mission; but they determined that those who signed stamps for Sieger had done nothing wrong. These stamps are now an interesting part of NASA history, and a great way to get items signed by the astronauts while they were active in the program.

The original Sieger COA card is included with this sale, as shown (the text is in German, as these were originally sold in Sieger's German store). The winner will receive the exact item in the photos, so please refer to those for a closer look. Thank you for viewing this listing!