BOSTON -- As a schoolboy, American astronaut Neil Armstrong probably never imagined while practicing how to write his signature that it would someday be worth a small fortune, but it was to a California businessman who bid thousands to buy it in an online auction this week, reported WCVB-TV in Boston.

Jack Staub, an engineer and business owner from Newport Beach, Calif., bought a check with Armstrong's signature on it for $27,350 after an all-night bidding war, auction officials said.

Armstrong wrote the check for $10.50 to a fellow NASA worker to settle a debt on the day Armstrong took off on his famous Apollo moon flight mission 40 years ago, telling mission chief of support Harold Collins not to cash it unless Armstrong died in space.

Collins' son Noah sold the check with Armstrong's signature on it to another man in 2004 and he, in turn, sold it to New Hampshire's rrauction.com.

“I think it is incredible that this small check signed by Neil Armstrong has sold for such a fantastic price exactly 40 years to the day that it was signed,” said Bobby Livingston of RR Auction of Amherst, N.H., which held a 17-day online auction of the check.

Bidding on the check lasted until 8 a.m. Thursday, 10 hours beyond the original bidding deadline.

It is the most expensive single Neil Armstrong autograph ever sold, according to Anthony Pizzitola, vice president of the Universal Autograph Collectors Club, breaking the record of $19,000.

The only known Apollo-era check of Armstrong’s, the signature includes his middle initial and is one of only a handful of items signed in full by Armstrong, who has not given an autograph since 1994.

“This is probably the coolest Apollo 11 autograph in private hands,” Livingston said. “Here’s Neil Armstrong rocketing to fame, and he wanted to make sure that he paid his debts in case anything happened.”

RR Auction, LLC, recently auctioned the autographed photo of Albert Einstein with his tongue wagging for a record $74,340.