AUTOGRAPHS

Dominion, Volume 31, Issue 278, 20 August 1938, Page 3 (Supplement)

AUTOGRAPHS

Some High Values

Two hundred thousand pounds for an autograph. That is the value of Shakespeare’s signature, but the autographs of present-day celebrities all have a value and there is a miniature “stock exchange” where they are bought and sold, writes Gerard McCreesh in “Pearson’s Weekly.” A conservative estimate sets the number of autograph collectors in Britain alone at 500,000. The number of American collectors is said to be around 1,000,000, including 10,000 who have made the purchase and sale of autographs part of their profession. These professional collectors recently opened a number of “autograph bureaux” which compile a day-to-day list of quotations and even establish comperative values. They might almost be described as “autograph-brokers” with their own stock exchange.

According to the latest list issued by an American “autograph bureau” an autograph of Shirley Temple costs one shilling—or you can get it in exchange for .five signatures of Clark Gable. Greta Garbo’s autograph is worth about thirty shillings at present, and that of George Arliss, fifteen shillings. The unglamorous scrawl of Public Swoon-Maker No. 1, Robert Taylor, is worth only about six shillings. The signature of Joe Louis, present world heavyweight boxing champion, is valued at ten shillings, but three shillings will get you the scrawled autograph of John L. Sullivan, greatest “champ” of all time.

According to up-to-date American reckoning Colonel Lindbergh is the most valuable present-day personality from a collector’s viewpoint.' His signature alone is worth £2, and if at the end of a personal letter, will fetch £lO. There are few of Lindbergh’s

signature letters in circulation. They have been slowly increasing in value since his epic Atlantic flight. A George Washington signature is worth £lO and, strange to say, that of the great Lincoln only £3. Most valuable of all American signatures is that of Thomas Lynch, who signed , the Declaration of Independence.

He died young and left only one fully-signed letter, which is worth £25,000. His signature alone sells for £2OO.

Personal letters of President Roosevelt are worth about £2. In the football world, the signature of Alec James is the most valuable, and in the world of tennis that of Fred Perry is most eagerly sought. It is > worth about two shillings at the moment.

The most valuable of all signatures is that of William Shakespeare, whose two or three extant letters are each valued at £200,000. Charles Dickens’s signature is worth £6 and Conan Doyle’s ten shillings. George Bernard Shaw’s autograph has dropped In value from £2O to £2 in recent years. Death normally doubles autograph values. Autographed letters of the Prime Minister and Mr. Lloyd George are worth about five shillings. The value seldom rises above this figure, as politicians have to write so many letters that the demand is always satisfied. Very few women’s signatures command good prices, although a Queen Elizabeth autograph in good condition brings £2OO and Jane Austen’s letters have gone as high as £3O. King George Vi’s sginature is valued at £4.

Signatures of Signor Mussolini have been sold for £8 anjj those of Herr Hitler for £5.