Silver Snoopy Awards |
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The Silver Snoopy Award was created in 1968 as part of the Manned Flight Awareness (now Space Flight Awareness) program. The idea was to allow the astronauts to recognize the exceptional contributions of individual workers (management are generally excluded) within the vast Apollo program workforce at NASA and its contractors, and the tradition has carried on to this day. The Silver Snoopy Award consists of a small Sterling silver Snoopy astronaut lapel pin, an official commendation letter, and (usually) an award certficate. The award is usually presented by a member of the astronaut corps. The rules specify that an individual can only receive one Snoopy Award during their lifetime, although in reality some individuals did receive more than one Silver Snoopy award. It is also specified that not more than one percent of the eligible workforce should receive the award in a particular year. Given the size of the eligible workforce this does not amount to much of a restriction but in fact the number of awards presented each year is small. Until fairly recently it was a commonly-held belief that all Silver Snoopy award pins were flown on a mission prior to being awarded, as has been the case for most of the Shuttle era. However no evidence has been found of Silver Snoopy pins having been carried by NASA on the Apollo missions and it seems likely that the only Silver Snoopy pins to have been flown in space prior to the Shuttle era were not those awarded as part of the SFA program but individual pins carried in very small numbers by some astronauts in their PPKs. The first Silver Snoopy Awards were presented in June 1968 to the four crew members of the LTA-8 project, which tested the Lunar Module in a thermal vacuum chamber, and at least one other pin was awarded prior to the flight of Apollo 7. NASA maintains an online database of Snoopy Award recipients, containing over 12,000 names dating from 1968 to the present, but it's important to note that this database is incomplete, particularly for the pre-Shuttle era. Older data is apparently still being added since in early 2007 the database contained only twelve entries for the entire Apollo era, whereas by late 2009 it contained closer to 500. 
Number of Silver Snoopy pins awarded per missionUsing the SFA database to count the number of awards presented during the period between the end of one mission and the next gives us some indication as to how many Silver Snoopys were awarded per Apollo mission. However, the data is certainly incomplete and in addition some of the award dates in the database appear to be approximations, with many entries on 01/01/69 and 01/01/70 which likely represent cases where the exact date is unknown. These entries distort the data. If we take the total number of recorded awards during the pre-Skylab date range we get an average of 36 pins awarded per mission. Over the period of the three Skylab missions (and prior to ASTP) a total of 207 awards are noted in the database, an average of 69 per flight. Allowing for gaps in the data it's probably safe to assume the number of pins awarded per Apollo mission was somewhere in the range of 50 to 100 at most. Following the Apollo-Soyuz Test Project in 1975 practically no Silver Snoopys were awarded until the completion of the five Shuttle Approach and Landing Test free flights of 1977. Between the last ALT flight and the STS-1 maiden space flight of the Shuttle the SFA database shows 538 awards being presented. In the Shuttle era we start to see award letters and/or certificates explicitly stating that the Silver Snoopy pin was flown in space and usually specifying the mission. At present the earliest solid evidence pointing to pins being flown on a particular mission comes from STS-2, with the Official Flight Kit manifest for STS-1 showing no Silver Snoopy pins carried on the flight. Manifests for the Official Flight Kits are available for many of the Shuttle missions. These lists reveal that Silver Snoop pins were flown on around half of the pre-Challenger Shuttle flights (1981 to 1986), with around 50 to 100 Silver Snoopy pins carried on each of those flights. By contrast, on the flights that followed the Challanger disaster from 1988 onwards many hundreds of pins were often carried per misson - e.g. 732 on STS-26 and 932 on STS-27. More Silver Snoopy pins were carried on the first two flights of 1988 than on all the preceding 24 flights put together. On later Shuttle flights 140 to 200 Silver Snoopy pins were typically carried per mission, and across the whole Shuttle program we see an average of around 145 pins flown per mission, based on the available data. It's worth noting that some of the pins were explicitly listed in the manifests as having been flown on behalf of Shuttle contractors Rockwell or Boeing as part of their MFA programs. Collecting Silver Snoopy AwardsWhatever the actual numbers, Silver Snoopy pins are popular with space collectors as they are scarce, in some cases flown (at least in the Shuttle era), and have a prestigious history. The fact that the design itself is undeniably cute only adds to their appeal. These pins are also sought-after by Snoopy memorabilia collectors, of which there are legions. 
Apollo-era Silver Snoopy Award A truly complete Silver Snoopy Award would include the lapel pin in its original plastic presentation box, along with the original award letter and certificate (where applicable). In practice the documentaton often becomes separated from the pin over the years. The award letter is the least important looking item and the most likely to be discarded if left as part of an estate. The certificates too are frequently lost or thrown out. If you have a pin without documents but you know the name of the recipient it may be possible to find out when it was awarded from the SFA database of Snoopy Awards but as this is incomplete you may not find the awardee there. If you have a pin without even the name of the recipient you have no way of ever knowing exactly when it was awarded, although I have identified some characteristics below which may help tie a pin to a particular era. It's worth noting that even an anonymous pin is still valuable to collectors. In addition to those Silver Snoopys given out as awards a small number of Apollo-era pins were carried by the astronauts themselves as souvenirs. Most of the examples sold to date in the major space auctions come from these sources and these pins are the only ones we know for sure were flown on any of the Apollo missions. Apollo-era astronaut-flown Silver Snoopy pinsSeparately from the SFA program, some Apollo astronauts chose to carry a small number of Silver Snoopy pins as mementos in their Personal Preference its (PPKs). These were not awarded as part of the SFA program, although some did present flown pins as personal gifts after their missions. Larry McGlynn and Richard Jurek have researched the issue of how many Silver Snoopy pins were carried by the Apollo astronauts, talking to the astronauts themselves and examining PPK lists where possible. Their preliminary findings indicate that the total number carried on all 11 Apollo flights is at most around 90 to 110 pins, with a significant minority of those having been carried on Apollo 13. On most missions only a half-dozen pins were carried in total. As these astronaut -carried pins are the only examples we know for sure to have been carried on Apollo missions they obviously fetch a premium when sold compared to SFA pins awarded during the Apollo era. The annex at the bottom of this page lists those examples of astronaut-flown pins I've seen sold at auction to-date. Which mission was my Silver Snoopy pin flown on?As noted above, it was originally believed that all awarded Silver Snoopy pins had been carried on missions but this has been cast into doubt in recent years, with no clear evidence that awarded pins were carried on Apollo-era missions. Even without this doubt it has always been the case that with the exception of pins carried by the astronauts themselves or those awarded during the Shuttle program with explicit flight information it is simply not possible to say which flight a particular pin may have been carried on. When it comes to awarded pins there is generally no link between the astronaut presenting an award and the mission it may have been flown on. Silver Snoopy awards have always been presented by members of the active astronaut corps who are available at the time of the presentation rather than those with a link to any particular mission. Another common misconception is that an award presented in the months following a mission means that the pin must have been flown on that mission. In reality, we have seen Shuttle-era pins with explicit flight dates being awarded long after the flight itself. As an example, a pin presented in May 1994 not long after the flight of STS-59 might have been assumed to have been carried on that flight but in fact this particular pin was accompanied by a NASA letter that explicitly stated that it was one of those carried on the STS-34 mission in October 1989, nearly 5 years and over 30 Shuttle flights previously. This is unlikely to be an isolated example. Another issue to be aware of is that pins can easily be sold with documentation that comes from a different source. I've seen pins that are clearly from the Shuttle era listed with award documentation from the Apollo era. In some cases this may be because NASA issues unflown replacement pins on request to awardees who have lost their original pins, in others it may be people attempting to boost the value of a pin without paperwork by combining it with paperwork without a pin. Occasionally an estate sale is the source of multiple pins - for example from the collection of someone who was at one stage responsible for some part of the SFA the award process at NASA or a contractor company - in which case any documentation is likely to be mismatched with random individual pins. Finally, it is worth noting that there are many fake military pins and badges out there so we can't to rule out the possibility that fake Silver Snoopys may exist. With pins without any documentation selling for hundreds of dollars a piece the incentive is certainly there. With this in mind I would say that it is definitely worth paying extra for an example with at least some established provenance. I realize that this kind of uncertainty is very frustrating for collectors but I believe that it's necessary to accept that in most cases you will never know which mission a particular Silver Snoopy pin was carried on, or indeed if it was flown at all. Availability -
Silver Snoopy pins occasionally turn up on auction sites such as eBay and a few have been sold in the major
space auctions over the years. Most of the latter come direct from the collections of astronauts, and thus were never actually awarded,
but these pins would be the only ones actually flown on Apollo missions. Note that fake pins are starting to become a real problem. Known examples are described in a dedicated section below. | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
Silver Snoopy Award pin variantsThose Silver Snoopy pins bearing an "r" or "R" Sterling hallmark on the reverse are believed to have been manufactured by the Robbins Company of Attleboro, Mass. The pins are made of Sterling silver, measure approximately 9.5mm x 12mm (3/8" x 1/2"), and weigh roughly 1.5g (0.05oz) without the clasp. Most people are surprised at just how tiny these pins are when they first see one in person. When I began studying Silver Snoopy pins in detail some years ago no-one had really looked at the possibility that the design had changed significantly over the years. Of course, given that these pins have been produced for over forty years it shouldn't be surprising to find some differences between pins from different eras. Although the design of the front - based on a drawing produced specially for the purpose by Snoopy creator Charles M. Schulz - has not changed signficantly, distinct variants can be identified by differences on the reverse, specifically the text and location of the Sterling silver hallmark stamp, the style and location of the pin attachment, and the location of the United Feature Syndicate copyright text. These differences are detailed below for the examples I have found to-date. My intial impression when I began trying to identify distinct styles was that there were perhaps three variants of the Silver Snoopy pin - one Apollo-era, one early Shuttle and one later Shuttle era. However, when I started to compare examples from a few Apollo missions I soon found that there were many more variants than this. My impression now is that, at least in the Apollo era, pins were probably ordered in small batches sufficient to cover maybe one to four flights, and that the pin, hallmark and copyright text on the reverse were positioned differently for each manufacturing run. It's important to understand that it is quite possible that pins from the end of one manufacturing run would have been carried on a Shuttle flight alongside new pins from a subsequent production run. This could make it very difficult, maybe even impossible, to tie a given pin to a specific flight based purely on the details on the reverse. With over 50 distinct variants seen so far we can draw at least one preliminary conclusion regarding the age of those pins bearing a Robbins hallmark. The lowercase "r" Robbins hallmark appears to have been used throughout the Apollo era. The uppercase "R" Robbins hallmark first appears around 1976 or 1977, with the STS-2 mission possibly having flown pins with both the new hallmark and the old, and continues to be used to this day. This at least allows us to assign most pins to one of two broad age ranges. There is a slight complication to this simple story, with some pins without any Robbins hallmarks possibly having been produced after the end of the Apollo era (post-ASTP) and prior to STS-1. Interestingly, the small number of Silver Snoopy pins with uppercase "R" Robbins hallmarks with solid evidence indicating they were flown on the first 24 Shuttle missions (1981-1986) all have full "STERLING" hallmarks, whereas those known to have been carried on later missions (STS-26 onwards) all have abbreviated "STER." hallmarks. Unfortunately, many pins have no paperwork or known award date so there's not enough evidence to say for sure that all "R" "STERLING" hallmarked Silver Snoopy pins were produced between 1976 or 1977 and 1986 and all "R" "STER" hallmarked pins were produced after 1986, but it's an interesting hypothesis. Note that fronts of individual pins can look quite different in photos depending on the lighting type and angle, and on the condition of the pin surface in terms of tarnishing, polishing or wear. In reality the fronts are almost identical in design, with the notable exception of the those lacking the Robbins hallmark. NB: The variant numbering given below is arbitrary, based on the order in which I first became aware of each distinct variant. Had I realized just how many variants there were when I began this classification I might have chosen a different system but for now this will have to do. Silver Snoopy pin variants with lowercase Robbins hallmarkThe Silver Snoopy pins in this group all bear a lowercase "r" Robbins hallmark, which appears to date their manufacture to the Apollo through early Shuttle period, with the end point coming somewhere between 1982 and 1985.
This pin was sold on eBay without any identification or paperwork. This pin has a vertical pinback clasp which matches those of known Apollo 9 and 10 examples but has the Sterling hallmark in a different location on the reverse. The logical conclusion is that this pin probably comes dates from slightly earlier, although it's impossible to confirm this without seeing other examples from those flights.
This pin was sold on eBay without any identification or paperwork. Another pin without paperwork and with a vertical clasp, this does not match the variant above or the Apollo 9/10 variant below. The implication is that it likely comes from around the time of Apollo 7 or 8.
Jim McDivitt carried examples of this variant of pin on the Apollo 9 flight in March 1969, and Tom Stafford carried some on Apollo 10 in May 1969. I've also seen examples awarded in March and July 1969 (the latter explicitly for efforts towards the success of the Apollo 11 mission). A further update regarding this pin variety is that Dave Scott carried at least one example in a suit pocket during the Apollo 15 mission. It is possible that he acquired the pin at the time of the Apollo 9 mission then carried it with him on Apollo 15.
The only example I've seen of this variant so far was sold on eBay without documentation in January 2020 and wrongly identified as a Variant 4 pin. Although it is similar, the UFS text is much higher in this variant.
Tom Stafford apparently carried at least one of these pins on Apollo 10 in May 1969.
This pin has no known award date but the vertical clasp on reverse would seem to indicate an early example. The hallmark differs from the other types seen so far with certical clasps.
An example of this pin was awarded in September 1969.
The very small Sterling hallmark with short "r", and the low copyright text differentiate this from the variant 3 pins.
Although very similar in layout to variant 5 this seems to be a distinct version. The "r" mark seems to have a slightly more distinct serif, the pin is mounted higher, and the UFS copyright text is also slightly higher up the pin.
The details on the back of this variant are similar to variant 4 but the text is positioned further down the pin. Although the first example of this variant that I saw was 'orphaned' (without documentation) a second example has now surfaced which was apparently presented in January 1981.
An example of this Silver Snoopy pin was awarded on Mar 9 1982, which means that if it was flown it was likely carried on either STS-1 or STS-2. Another example was awarded for work on STS-1.
This pin may actually be a Variant 19 but the "r" seems to be a little lower so provisionally I've given it its own number. The pin came with non-matching documentation so its origin is unknown.
Very similar to variant 34, with a similarly-shaped "r", but the copyright text is much higher.
I've seen one example of this pin, awarded for work on the Skylab program. The UFS copyright text is poorly-registered with the UNITED text line missing completely and the FEATURES text only partially visible.
I've only seen one example of this pin and it had no documentation. The STERLING hallmark is poorly registered along the top edge and the Robbins "r" halmark is almost illegible. It appears to be a large but poorly-registered lower case "r" but might possibly be an upper case "R" instead. Also noticeable on this example is that the "S" of SYNDICATE is almost completely missing. Silver Snoopy pin variants with uppercase Robbins hallmark & full "STERLING" hallmarkThe Silver Snoopy pins in this group all bear an uppercase "R" Robbins hallmark and full "STERLING" silver hallmark. The earliest known examples were awarded in around 1976 or 1977 in the early Shuttle period, with other examples awarded through to around 1986.
The Robbins hallmark at the top left of this pin seems to be an uppercase version but with the top section truncated. Unfortunately the only example of this pin I've seen to-date had no provenance.
Very similar to Variant 30 above, but whilst that version has the top of the "R" sharply truncated, this version has it unfinished at the top. It may be just variation within a batch but with only one example of each pin seen so far there's not much to go on. The sole example of this variant I've seen was awarded during the early Shuttle program development period, with a latest award date of early 1977.
This Silver Snoopy pin, although awarded in July 1983, is believed to have been flown on STS-2.
Although this Silver Snoopy pin has a pinback attachment on the reverse it is essentially the same design as Variant 25 shown above, hence the "25b" identifier. Like the pin above this one is also believed to have been flown on STS-2 despite having been awarded in 1988.
The details on the back of this pin are very similar to variant 30 above, the main difference being
that the "R" is fully-formed in this version. It also seems like the "STERLING" lettering is slightly
larger on this version.
This Silver Snoopy pin, awarded in September 1985 following the STS-51I mission, shows the re-introduction of a pinback clasp mechanism on the reverse. Previously I had only seen this in examples from early Apollo missions.
This pin shows traces of a diagonal pinback clasp on the reverse like variant 18 above, although it has been replaced by a standard pin at some stage. The only example of this variant I've seen so far had no associated paperwork so it's not possible to date it. However, the unsual clasp attachment indicates it was likely produced around the same time as variant 18.
The only example of this variant seen to-date had no accompanying documentation or provenance. Silver Snoopy pin variants with uppercase Robbins hallmark & abbreviated "STER." hallmarkThe Silver Snoopy pins in this group all bear an uppercase "R" Robbins hallmark, along with an abbreviated "STER." silver hallmark. This combination appears to have been introduced in around 1988 with STS-26 and continues through to the modern day.
Like Variant 12, below, the front of this pin has a distinct mass of metal visible between Snoopy's scarf and the hand holding the case. In other variants there is a clean divide between the hand and scarf.
Although the layout of details on the back is very similar to that of variant 7, these pins can be indentified by a clear error in the execution of the "SYNDICATE" text, whereby the lower right part of the raised text is barely present.
Very similar to Variant 7 but the UFS copyright text is slightly higher here. Also very similar to Variant 46.
Similar to the above variants but the "R" of the hallmark touches the top left edge of the pin on this variant. Aditionally, the "S" of "SYNDICATE" is mostly missing in both the examples I've seen to-date.
Very similar to Variant 39 but the UFS copyright text is tilted up to the right and the pin is mounted slightly higher.
Although the layout and details of the hallmark and copyright marks on the back of this pin are very similar to those of Variant 9, this pin has a much deeper cut-out under Snoopy's left arm. Pins of this variant are known to have been flown on STS-63 (1995), STS-76 (1996), STS-95 (1998), and STS-105 (2001), with these pins being awarded in 1997, 1998, 2008, and 2002 respectively.
At least one of these pins was flown on STS-95 in 1998 (awarded in 2004), although variant 13 pins are also known to have been carried on this flight. The details on the back are similar to the Variant 9 version above but the Sterling hallmark is larger with a distinct dot at the end.
At least one of these pins was flown on STS-103 in 1999, although variant 35 pins are also known to have been carried on this flight. The details on the back are similar to the Variant 22 version above but the UFS copyright text is immediately below the pin attachment (with the Copyright symbol slightly covered).
One of these pins was flown on STS-92 in 2000. The details on the back are very similar to variant 32 above but the STERLING hallmark is slightly larger and displaced slightly to the right in this variant 41.
The layout of the back of this pin is almost identical to variant 35 above. However, this version has a shallow cutaway under Snoopy's outstretched left arm whereas variant 35 has a deep cutaway - this difference is clearly visible from the back. The only example of this variant I have noted to date had weak provenance pointing to it being flown on STS-110.
One of these pins flown on STS-128 in 2009 was awarded in 2014. The details on the back are similar to variant 22 above but there is no dot after the "STER" and the cutaway under Snoopy's extended left arm is less rounded. It is also very similar to variant 41 but the final "R" of the "STER" hallmark on this variant 32 is positioned below the "T" of "SYNDICATE". On variant 41 it is further to the right, below the "TE".
The layout of the back of this pin is similar to variant 42 but the hallmark stamp is narrower and the pin is offset to the right on this version.
This is the only R. STER. pin with the UFS copyright text above the pin identified to-date. Unfortunately the only example of this pin seen so far had no accompanying paperwork, so we have no clue as to the date it was produced.
The only example of this pin seen so far had no accompanying paperwork. Although similar to Variant 12 this pin has the "SYNDICATE" text cleanly-executed . Silver Snoopy pin variants without a Sterling hallmarkThe pin variants identified to-date that fall into this category are detailed below.
This has now been identified as the very first variant of the Silver Snoopy pin to have been produced, with examples having been awarded in June 1968 to the four men who crewed the LTA-8 tests, and at least one other example having been seen (from the collection of Jim McDivitt).
Again it's not clear why this pin is missing a Sterling or Robbins hallmark. The only example I've seen so far appears to have been flown on STS-36 in 1990.
This unusual pin has a diagonally-mounted pinback clasp on the reverse, stamped (not raised) UFS copyright text, and no STERLING hallmark. The only example I've seen to-date was sold without any documentation so we have no indication of its possible age.
The only example of this pin I've seen to-date was awarded in April 1985.
The only example of this variant I've seen was sold without any documentation but did have an engraving indicating it was flown on STS-5.
The only example of this variant I've seen was sold without any documentation so we have no indication of its possible age. Silver Snoopy pin variants without a Robbins hallmark but with raised UFS copyright textThe Silver Snoopy pins in this group lack a Robbins "r" or "R" alongside the Sterling hallmark on the reverse, implying that they might have been produced by another manufacturer. However, these pins are otherwise very much like the regular "r" Robbins pins of the Apollo to early Shuttle era - they have raised UFS copyright text, and the Snoopy designs on the front don't have the distinctive cross-eyed appearance common to the other subset of non-Robbins-hallmark pins identified below. This would tend to imply they may well have been produced by Robbins, despite the lack of "r". The one example seen to-date with accompanying award documentation was presented in 1976, so it seems that like the 'cross-eyed' variant detailed in another section below these pins may have been produced in the period between the end of the Apollo era and the beginning of the Shuttle era.
This pin falls into the group of variants lacking the Robbins "r" hallmark but with raised UFS copyright text rather than stamped. The only example seen so far had no documentation.
This pin falls into the group of variants lacking the Robbins "r" hallmark but with raised UFS copyright text rather than stamped. The only example seen with accompanying documentation was awarded in 1976. Silver Snoopy pin variants without a Robbins hallmark and with stamped UFS copyright textThe Silver Snoopy pins in this group all lack a Robbins "r" or "R" alongside the Sterling hallmark on the reverse, implying they may have been produced by another manufacturer. Interestingly, all these pins also share some distinct differences (apart from the lack of Robbins mark) from the other variants identified thus far. 
Comparative detail of Robbins-hallmarked pins (top row) On the fronts, the Snoopy design itself shows some notable differences from the Robbins versions. The top row in the image on the right shows close-up details of some typical Robbins variants while the lower row shows the same areas of the three variants in this subset seen so far. The yellow arrows highlight two short 'dashes' in the upper right area of the helmet that are clearyly visible on all three non-Robbins-Hallmarked. On the Robbins hallmarked variants there are actually three longer but fainter lines running slightly higher up the helmet, which are barely visible in most photos. More obviously, all six non-Robbins-Hallmarked pins show a distinctly cross-eyed Snoopy, with the relative position of the eyes quite different to that seen on all the Robbins-hallmarked variants. Another common feature of these pins is that the United Feature Syndicate copyright text on the reverse is stamped, as opposed to the raised text common to all other versions. Only one pin of this type has been accompanied by award documentation, dating that particular pin to April 1974, but two other examples had presumed award dates of 1978 and 1979. This suggests that in the period following the Apollo moonlandings and prior to the first Shuttle launch (Skylab through ASTP and ALT) the Snoopy pins may have been sourced from a company other than Robbins. By the time of the first Shuttle missions the pins were again being produced by Robbns, as shown by the appearance of the upper-case "R" Robbins hallmark.
This pin falls into the group of variants lacking the Robbins "r" hallmark. As with the other variants in this group the UFS copyright text on the reverse is stamped rather than raised and the Snoopy design is rather cross-eyed. (Note that in the pictures above the pin is angled slightly which distorts the shape somewhat). The owner of this pin believes that it was from the Apollo 11 mission but it is difficult to draw any definitve conculsions about this variant without supporting evidence or matching examples.
Another mystery pin sold without any background information or documentation this variant shares the features of the other pins lacking the Robbins "r" hallmark, including the stamped UFS copyright text on the reverse and the somewhat cross-eyed Snoopy. This particular variant has a weakly- stamped upside-down STERLING hallmark in different lettering to that of variant 2 or 21.
This variant has the UFS copyright stamped at an angle and touching the top edge.
The first versions of this pin seen sold had no documentation but were believed to have been awarded in 1977
and 1978. Now an example of this pin with an April 1974 award date has been seen.
Another pin lacking the Robbins "r" hallmark, featuring stamped UFS copyright text displaced at the upper left and the usual cross-eyed Snoopy.
Other Silver Snoopy pinsThis section covers any genuine Silver Snoopy pin variants that don't fit in the above categories.
Until recently I had only ever seen one 10K gold Snoopy pin, which came with no paperwork or back story, although the lower case "r" Robbins hallmark indicated that it dated to the pre-Shuttle era. However, another example surfaced recently that was identified as have been flown on Apollo 12 and given to Rocco Petrone after the mission. The pins lack the UFS copyright text, and it's possible they were created at the request of an astronaut and were never intended to be part of the Silver Snoopy SFA award scheme. Replica / fake Silver Snoopy pinsThe value of Silver Snoopy pins always made it likely that fakes would be produced at some stage. These can prove very difficult to identify, which is why a premium should always be placed on pins with solid provenance. Until recently the only identified non-NASA Silver Snoopy pin was apparently a Hollywood replica as opposed to an outright fake, but as of 2018 a new unauthorized reproduction of the Silver Snoopy pin started to be sold on eBay, followed by an even more convincing version in 2020.
This odd-looking pin was sold via eBay in December 2009. The seller had no accompanying documentation or information on its origins. Based on the crude finish, clear differences in design, and complete lack of hallmark and copyright information on the rear, my suspicion is that this is a fake or replica pin. Update: Apparently several replica Silver Snoopy pins were made as props for the HBO series "From the Earth to the Moon" and this is likely an example of one of these prop pins.
These Silver Snoopy style pins, identified by the seller as reproductions made of plated brass, first appeared on eBay in May 2018. Despite the inclusion of the UFS copyright text on the reverse it seems unlikely that these reproductions are actually licensed products. Hundreds of these fake pins were sold on eBay over a period of more than a year. Luckily, the definition of the detail in the head (at least in the example used for the listing photo) is fairly poor so it's quite easy to identify these particular reproductions but these pins are proof that fake Silver Snoopy pins are a real problem.
These Silver Snoopy style pins, identified by the seller as reproductions, first appeared on eBay in March 2020. Despite the inclusion of the UFS copyright text on the reverse there is no indication that these are actually licensed products. Unfortunately, these are pretty accurate reproductions so it's not easy to distinguish these illegal copies from the real thing. The only real giveaway is the pin attachment itself, which doesn't have the flat round plate at the base.
This pin was sold on eBay in October 2020 along with a modern blank Silver Snoopy Award certificate (or reproduction thereof). It appears to be very similar to the fake Variant 56 identified above but notably, this pin appeared to have been deliberately toned to look aged and was offered in what appeared to be an older box with old foam padding. Buyers need to be aware that these modern fakes are becoming more varied and prevalent. |
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Annex: Flown Apollo-era Silver Snoopy Award pins sold at auction
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