No-Sniping Policy

Your bid will not be 'sniped' on the last day. We allow post-auction reply bids for last day leaders. This means there is no need to wait until the last moments to submit your bids. If you are outbid on the last day, we will give you a chance (two hours from outbid notification) to raise your bid and win your item.

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Autographs Buying Guide

Welcome to the exciting world of autograph collecting.  Collecting autographs allows the average consumer the opportunity to hold history in their hands and at the same time, learn more about the fascinating world of our great history. 

The autographs  below are for a document signed except for the last two:

Top 10 Autographs:
 
1. Leonardo da Vinci -- Scientist
2. Button Gwinnett -- Signer of the Declaration of Independence
3. William Henry Harrison Signed as President of the United States
4. Johann Sebastian Bach -- Classical Musician
5. Wolfgang Mozart -- Classical Musician
6.  Ludwig von Beethoven -- Classical Musician
7.  Thomas Lynch -- Signer of the Declaration of Independence
8.  Arthur Middleton -- Signer of the Declaration of Independence
9.  Charles Schulz Peanuts cartoon comic art (comics) signed Sunday from early 1950's
10. Babe Ruth single signed baseball rated a 10 by PSA/DNA in mint condition
Buying Autographs: 
 
Everyone in the autograph industry agrees on one thing – buy from a reputable source.  This will increase the odds that you are buying an authentic autograph.  However, I want to be the first to add another caveat to your autograph buying.  In my opinion, avoid buying from dealers who sell at a fixed price and are members of the fancy, exclusive rare book and autograph societies. These dealer-members, unfortunately, tend to operate with little business acumen and routinely fail to place the seller's needs ahead of their own.  In the majority of instances, those dealers price their items so ridiculously high - much higher than retail - that you will have little chance of making money on your purchase even if the autograph rises greatly in value.
 
Alternatively, the best place to find great value on your autograph buys are at an autograph auction where prices generally sell for a bit less than retail which leaves plenty of room for investment potential.  If you do buy privately, you might not want to pay their full price and at least make sure the dealer will take a reasonable offer from you.
 

Selling & Consigning Autographs: 

When selling your autographs to a dealer, you must take into account that they have overhead expenses as a result of running their business on a day-to-day level. The result being that generally dealer will only pay half of retail prices — sometimes slightly more, sometimes less. 

When trying to sell to dealer-members of those “wanting to be high-brow” autograph and rare book societies, they will tend to pay even less because they make so few sales due to their lack of proper sales and marketing promotion and the relative high prices they may charge their regular inventory. Further, these dealer-members may have little money to make you a competitive offer.  Sometimes, they will even “low-ball” you. 

However, if you are in need of immediate money and not the highest price, a quick sale to a dealer might be best.   Alternatively, the best ways to sell your autographs are at an autograph auction.  Instead of realizing only 50% of the value of your autograph by selling to an autograph dealer, an auction will allow you to obtain anywhere from 60% - 80% of the current price.  This calculation is based on the average auction house having a 20% buyer’s premium and up to a 20% seller’s premium (the commission from the auction hammer price that auctions charge so they receive money for the sale as the hammer price goes to the consignor who owns the autograph.) 
 
As an example, the Nate D. Sanders autograph consignment programs charges 0% seller’s premium on items above $1,000 so you would obtain 80% of full value there.
 

Autograph Authentication:

Autograph authentication remains a hotly disputed genre of our business right now.  On the one side, there are authentication companies, originally with most of their expertise in sports autographed items.  However, currently they probably do get a remarkably high amount of  autographs of all categories correctly authenticated.  I believe their margin of error is significantly low. Usually, the older authentication services remain more accurate than the newer ones.  On the other side is the minority; the group who say that you should not deal with the authentication companies at all and instead recommend you get your piece authenticated by a knowledgeable dealer or collector.

It is generally accepted that a dealer who has knowledge of the autograph you are authenticating is just as good as the authentication service but I do not agree that the authentication services are a poison to our hobby/ business.  They are an asset.  As far as authenticating items yourself; if you are a novice, it is going to be extremely difficult.

Investing in Autographs:

When possible, it is recommended that you always buy one-of-a-kind or two, three, four or five of-a-kind collectable items.  There is absolutely no doubt that buying a letter signed with great content has the best investment potential of all.  It is a case of supply and demand.  If you are holding one of the greatest letters written by whomever, you own one in a very limited supply. 
 
For movie celebrity autographs, an autographed 8x10 signed photo of the actor in costume of their most famous role is a great investment since they are usually in low supply and in great demand.   Regular autographed 8x10 signed photos, a regular document signed or a letter signed can be or can not be a great investment; just like the stock market. 
 
Most dealers will tell you that you should buy what you love as an investment.  That is not an investment and is wrong.  As I mentioned earlier, you should be careful to mostly only buy at auction as there you are obtaining your autograph at a lower price than buying privately.  What investment is not good when you start off buying below retail as autograph auction buying is most of the time?