Two words—but they’re worth $1M

Press, 15 April 1980, Page 18

Two words —but they’re worth $1M

By

RUPERT BUTLER,

Features International

famous cricketers of yesterday — -such' 1: as Wally Hammond — are particular favourites. They are in brisk . demand and . can fetch up to $2O in the salerooms. . ■ A spokesman for the London auctioneers, Phillips, said: “Cricketers, for some reason, are currently outselling footballers. Prices can go up to’ $4O or more if there is an interesting letter- or message accompanying the signature of a player. - - , ' “ ‘Best of luck, John’ is

very nice to have, but a letter by one Cricketer discussing another will send a serious collector delirious.” A collection. of 1940 s Hollywood stars, which included Humphrey Bogart and Lauren Bacall, was recently offered by a London specialist dealer for $l2O. On the -other hand, an autograph on its own and not part of a collection may not be worth much. For instance, the current value of Laurel and Hardy is around $l5 while Bela

Lugosi’s vampiric scrawl can fetch $2O. One specialist London dealer, Winifred Myers, will be delighted to see any Winston Churchill signatures — they can be worth $lOO each. “But,” she warns “I’d also be highly suspicious. Lots of facsimile Churchill signatures were sent out on photographs. I’m afraid they are worthless.”

The autopen is enemy number one to autograph hunters — that’s several pens stuck together, enabling the writers to do several- “signatures” at: once. Richard Nixon write out scores of autopens, and was reputed to be able to produce 14 “signatures” at once. As far as celebrities are concerned, it’s a good rule of thumb that sinners

usually outrank saints. For example, Jack Kennedy’s signature attracts around $l2O, while the signature of his assassin, Lee Harvey Oswald, is worth about $240.

Roughly the same ratio applies . to President Lincoln and his assassin, John Wilkes Booth. It is also worth remembering that the more vain the celebrity, the less his autograph. can be worth. Mussolini was ;quite prepared to sign away at .the drop of a hat; and so was

Napoleon. Because the signatures were so common, few fortunes are to be made from them.

Queen Victoria used to give copies of her own books to her ladies-in-waiting and sundry friends and, there are still enormous numbers of these volumes around. A signed copy of “Leaves from our Life' in the Highlands" is worth about $6O. But, as Winifred Myers points out: “Serious collectors are no longer mesmerised simply by a

celebrity. A collection of signed letters by, say, a soldier in the trenches in the First World War will always find a market — provided the letters are sufficiently detailed to bring the writer’s world alive. “There is a great nostalgia among collectors, particularly Americans, for Britain’s imperial past. An informative bunch of letters from someone serving in the old Indian Civil Service, for example, could fetch up to $400.” Dealers like Winifred Myers strongly advise both buyers and sellers to seek out advice from someone who really knows the market.