Signed Nowak photo brings thousands on eBay

Selling memorabilia related to people in the news, especially if they've done something completely off the wall, has always been a way for some people to cash in on news — but these days, thanks to eBay, it's almost become part of the American way. Take, for example, Joachim Horvitz, a Jersey City, N.J., man whose autographed picture of lovelorn astronaut Lisa Marie Nowak is fetching more than $1,800 on eBay with four days left in the auction.

Horvitz's son Nathan got the photo in September at the Wired NextFest in New York; Nowak signed the 8-by-10 glossy "To Nathan, Lisa M. Nowak, STS-121" (that last was the mission number of her flight aboard the shuttle Discovery last summer). Nathan Horvitz, by the way, is 18 months old now; the money his dad raises from selling the picture will go toward his college fund. "[The picture] was just sitting around," Horvitz said. "I heard the story and they said a woman astronaut was involved in this case. I happened to be looking and I found it in a box."

There's quite a bit of other Nowak-related stuff for sale on eBay now, including an unsigned portrait ($10.99), a snow globe with pictures of Nowak inside ($8.75), an STS-121 crew decal ($9.95), an astronaut diaper (99 cents) and even an autographed skateboard ($202.50). But Horvitz's signed photo is currently at the top of the heap, with a top bid of $1,825 — and the auction doesn't end until 12:47 a.m. Wednesday. We can't wait to see how it ends.

(Also up for auction on eBay right now: what is purported to be the actual window and frame from which Lee Harvey Oswald is believed to have shot President Kennedy on Nov. 22, 1963. The current bid for the window is a whopping $600,200. Not bad, considering that there are questions about the window's authenticity.)