7/22/98--Alan Shepard, first American in space and fifth man to walk on the moon, died today. I consider this a tragic loss of a true hero and brave pioneer.
Shepard was kind enough to sign several items for me over the years. After 1994, however, it became difficult to get his autograph through the mail. Last year I discovered that he was obtainable if a gift photograph was enclosed with the request.
Shepard signed several bookplates and books for me over a ten year time span, but was elusive in signing photographs. I first obtained his autograph on a group photo last summer (around June 1997) when he signed my moonwalkers photograph, which already had been signed by several of the other men who walked on the moon. I approached the problem by giving him another photograph as a gift to see if he would sign the group photo. (I have found that this is often an effective way to obtain the autographs of celebrities who do not sign ordinarily through the mail.) Shepard indeed signed my photo and kept the unsigned one. I decided to try again about three months ago--I sent two other photographs, one of a bootprint in lunar dust and one of Shepard on the moon. I also enclosed two duplicate photographs as gifts. Again, Shepard signed. Adam Harwood, the master of astronaut autographs, kindly authenticated them for me. I realize and respect the fact that these photos are probably among the last that he ever signed for a collector.
After careful deliberation I did not post this information to the web page at the time because I thought that it might be abused and that he would stop signing. I did however post my signed photos to the web page as a "hint" that he was signing photographs through the mail. I hope that there were at least a few people who were astute enough to understand! (I might add that I often will drop subtle clues about signing habits on this page when I feel that I cannot overtly divulge such information.)
I feel quite honored and fortunate that I was able to get these autographs from Alan Shepard, whom I truly admire. I encourage those of you interested in space history to read his book "MoonShot," which I believe is the definitive work on the subject of early space exploration.
I caution collectors to be careful about the inevitable "jacking up the price" that will happen now that Shepard is gone. Shepard's autograph is common as he was a generous signer for many years. Also, be very careful of purchasing secretarial signatures of Shepard's. These are especially common from the 1994-1995 period.
I have already seen overpriced Shepard items for sale on Ebay, which I consider to be in profoundly bad taste.
Also today I wrote a new segment to my "Collecting Guide" entitled "Elements of Style," in which I give advice to new collectors on how to build a good autograph collection. Let me know what you think! I will add some more to this page later.
7/18/98--Today I updated the Autopen Guide to include the autopen patterns of Gerald Ford. I regret the delay in including them, but it is very time consuming to go through my files and copy the patterns for scanning, and Ford had twenty two of them! With the addition of his patterns the presidential autopen guide has autopen patterns from every president since Eisenhower.
Recently I have had a number of requests to post links or banners from other sites onto my web page. I think it's necessary that I explain my position in posting links to my page. I do not generally accept "link swapping" or other notions since I personally review each site that I include in my links and will include links only for worthwhile sites. I will refuse links for sites that are ill-conceived or are of little benefit. In all cases I will refuse banners, since they delay the downloading time for each page, and I have carefully crafted this site to load as quickly as possible.
Recently I have been placed in the unusual position of having dealers who want me to link to their sites, yet sell overpriced merchandise or are a little "shady." In some cases the dealers have become irate when I have refused. Still, I reserve the right to place the links I choose on the page.
7/14/98--Today I discovered that baseball legend Ted Williams has a web site in which he sells signed memorabilia and lists his prices for signing items sent to him. A good autograph dealer will certainly beat his fantastically high prices, but this may be the only solution for a collector who wishes to have a special item signed by Williams.
7/13/98--I recently used a new photograph source to find a particular image that was not stocked by any other photographic company I checked. The name of the place is Oscar White Archives. Photographs are very expensive (in the $25 range for a 7X9 inch photograph), but as I have found they have an extensive list of images and may be used as a last resort. For more information, write to 80 East Allison Ave; Pearl River NY 10965, or e-mail at owhitearch@juno.com. The company does not provide a list of images but will answer specific requests.
I have always implored collectors to be cautious of E-bay,, the online auction site, but recently I have noticed a great number of blatant forgeries, especially of Neil Armstrong's autograph. That is not to say that there are some good traders on E-bay (Jeremy Theoret and others come to mind) but in general Ebay should be avoided by new collectors and experienced collectors alike. I love to visit the site, however, because some of the forgeries are so obvious they are funny, such as the letter "signed" by Albert Einstein that was printed on a laser printer!
I recently scanned a large batch of autographs from the "far corners" of my collection--some that I have had in albums for over a dozen years. Expect to see some of these autographs featured as my "autograph of the week" over the next few months. I also scanned a few of the photographs that were in my mother's collection, as she used to collect the autographs of movie stars in the 1940's.
I've tried my hand at requesting a few autographs lately with smashing success. This week I've had excellent successes with a large number of science Nobel laureates, including Maurice Wilkins whom I have wanted an autograph from for years, as well as several autographs from Sir Roger Bannister. I've also purchased some fine autographs such as TLSs from Deke Slayton and Gordon Cooper.
6/30/98--There will be an increase in the postage rate in the U.S. effective January 1999. For details, see this story from CNN News.
6/22/98--I updated the Presidential Secretaries page to include information about the secretarial forgeries of Franklin Roosevelt and Jimmy Carter. Be sure to note the forgeries of Susan Clough for Jimmy Carter--in my opinion her faked signatures are masterful and I've seen plenty of them for sale over the years as authentic. I remember one particular example on a letter to Simon Wiesenthal that sold at auction for well over a thousand dollars. I doubt that the buyer realizes that he bought a forgery. Clough is undoubtedly the most successful forger of all presidential secretaries.
My Nancy Reagan autopen discovery was printed on this month's cover of the Pen and Quill. It was certainly strange to see it on the cover of a magazine after being in my possession for over ten years. I hope it will help collectors sort out fakes from their collections in the future.
6/6/98--I am currently revising the page concerning photograph sources. The new web page will include information on new sources, and has updated information on sources previously listed. For a "sneak preview" visit the web page, which is under construction. Please inform me if other sources should be listed.
6/5/98--Astronaut Edgar Mitchell is selling signed copies of his "The Way of the Explorer" for $35 each, postage included. You can buy them directly from Mr. Mitchell by writing to him at 5968 Western Way; Lake Worth FL 33463.
This week scientist James Watson signed a copy of his classic book "The Double Helix" for me. Dr. Watson appears not to be signing as much these days as in years past, so I was especially grateful for this autograph. Another autograph I obtained this week was a vintage letter dated 1940 from Bob Hope which I purchased from Walter Burks. The letter reads "Thanks for the memory, Bob Hope," and then there's a mysterious postscript that says "It's 'Yahoodi' a-ya. With a long hood and on eye." Anyone know what this means?
I've had a number of requests for addresses lately. I enjoy helping collectors find addresses, especially for obscure celebrities, but please remember that part of my web site pertains to address sources. I expect anyone who requests addresses from me to have exhausted these sources first. I also expect anyone who requests addresses or other information to share information they have with me, at least to tell me if they received an autograph from the address I provided. Any rude requests, as always, will be ignored.
5/22/98--Justin Locke sent me a suspected autopen pattern of astronaut John Young. After posting to my web site, the pattern was subsequently confirmed by Joerg Wenk, Jeremy Theoret, Dennis Lee, and Michael Lombarczki. Many thanks to all who helped discover this new, unpublished pattern. I will submit it to the UACC as soon as possible for publication.
This is a great example of using the Internet to advance the hobby. I encourage others to send suspected autopen patterns for display on my web page in the same manner.
5/19/98--I was informed this week of a rather remarkable fraud. A friend of mine obtained an e-mail message from someone who claimed to be selling his father's autograph collection. My friend was offered a valuable signed photo. A scan of the photo showed legitimate autographs and the price was reasonable, but the seller asked for payment to be wired overseas, among other demands, and the transaction was cancelled.
Later, we found that the same photo is being offered by a prominent dealer on his web page. The signatures match exactly, and it is obvious that the photo offered is actually the one for sale by the dealer. The "seller" stole the image from the web site, invented a story about the autograph and claimed it as his own, and almost got away with theft.
Again, I state clearly my opinion regarding autograph transactions: the Internet is no place to do business. Anyone who disregards my advice is warned to proceed with extreme caution, and with the risk of losing all money involved. I personally only conduct transactions through the Internet if the seller is well-known to me, is recommended by someone I trust, or if the amount involved is insignificantly small.
5/10/98--This week I obtained several autographs, both by purchase and through the mail. Five Nobel prizewinners sent signed photographs this week, and I bought autographs of Frank Borman, Alec Guinness, and Irving Berlin. I also received two photographs I sent to Thor Heyerdahl. The Heyerdahl photographs are interesting for the fact that I sent them with a SASE with Spanish stamps that I obtained by trading stamps with a Spanish collector over the alt.collecting.autographs newsgroup. (Heyerdahl is currently on the island of Tenerife, which is a Spanish possession in the Canary Islands). Over the past several months I have tried to trade foreign stamps with other collectors so that I will have an "international postage supply" at hand at all times--anyone who would like to trade some stamps please let me know.
Also this week I bought a check signed by Robert Penn Warren, author of All the King's Men and first poet laureate of the United States. I doubt there are many on the market, since I've never seen a check of his for sale before and since this one was uncancelled and presumably never cashed. Instead it was probably saved for the purpose of adding it to an autograph collection. Does anyone else have checks that were acquired this way? As a side-note, I heard in the past that Gerald Ford used to have a checking account that he terminated because he discovered that nobody was cashing his checks! (I wish I had this problem!)
I plan to write an article on obscure sources of interesting photographs. Please take a moment to review my page on "photo sources" and inform me of any source of photographs that are not listed. I think that most serious collectors of through-the-mail autographs have the problem of finding interesting photographs for signing, and I would like to share information with others who have found different solutions than I have.
5/3/98--Bob Erickson, president of the UACC, just informed me that my article on autograph collecting and the Internet would be published in the July-August 1988 edition of the Pen and Quill. Be sure to watch for it!
Congratulations to astronaut autograph dealer Adam Harwood, whose first child Anna Harwood was born on May 1st.
4/30/98--Today I received word from the publisher of the UACC that my autopen pattern I discovered of Nancy Reagan's several months ago would be published in the UACC's Pen and Quill. The autopenned photograph will serve as the cover of the next issue. In preparing to send the photograph to the Pen and Quill I learned a valuable lesson which I will relate for the benefit of other collectors.
As I have mentioned elsewhere on this web site, to display autographs you should use archival materials--including acid-free paper and mattes and UV-filtering glass--and avoid glue or tape. Before I knew the Nancy and Ronald Reagan photograph was a fake, about ten years ago, I had it framed at a frame shop in New Orleans. I paid extra money to have it framed archivally. Today I broke open the frame to allow the photograph to be reproduced for the magazine. I was shocked to find that the photograph had been glued to a matte and then glued to a styrofoam backing. In fact, the borders of the photograph were discolored already from the improper framing. It was extremely fortunate that the photograph was autopenned and not authentically signed by the Reagans, or an important historical artifact would have been destroyed by the incompetence (or insincerity) of the frame shop. From now on, I recommend that any important autograph should be framed with archival materials and that the collector should supervise every aspect of the framing process.
4/19/98--I revised the Autograph Gallery today. The new format has many more scans of autographs in my collection.
4/13/98--I updated the AVD order form in the "Astronauts who Charge" section. The new AVD prices reflect an increase in Aldrin's signature among other changes.
3/25/98--I have received word that Alan Bean has increased the price of signing autographs. He now charges $25 to sign an item sent to him; previously he charged $20.
Recently I've acquired many new autographs, including a photograph signed by Charles Sweeney, a check signed by Charles Conrad, and autographs of John Updike and Francis Crick.
Kevin Santry recently advised me of an excellent site called Advanced Book Exchange which locates rare and out-of-print books. This is an excellent source of rare books to submit to authors for signing. I have already purchased books from this service and am delighted with the results.
3/22/98--There is a fascinating web page by a non-collector named Bob Bernet entitled My Pal Moe. As a twelve-year-old Mr. Bernet wrote to Moe Howard of The Three Stooges fame in 1968, and received a response. This letter started a lengthy correspondence which culminated in a visit to Moe several years later. The correspondence is included on the web site. These letters are fascinating glimpses into the life of a major celebrity, including a letter in which Howard describes a typical week of mail--71 letters, with 59 requests for signed photographs and 12 questions that required a written response. Howard further states that it was a "burden" sometimes to answer his mail.
3/7/98--Since I posted the information about the new Nancy Reagan autopen I found (see below) I have seen two other examples of the same pattern. It is strange that I have been looking for a match for ten years and suddenly have seen three matches within three months. Each of these was for sale as a real autograph, illustrating the point that even good dealers will sell fakes. I have contacted each of these companies to correct the mistake. Interestingly, one example was on a signed photograph inscribed in calligraphy to singer Pearl Bailey.
Have you ever wondered what famous people were doing on the date of your birth? I recently saw a letter written by Jimmy Carter on my birth date! I've actually looked for items dated like this for a long time, but this is the first I've seen. I am submitting a bid, but I don't really expect to win since the price of a Carter ALS is so high.
This week quietly marked a milestone for this web site. Two days ago my counter reached the ten thousand mark. I'm really quite amazed that this web site has been so well-visited, particularly since I take great care not to publicize the site on search engines. I appreciate all the interesting correspondence that I've had over the past eight months and I feel fortunate to be able to correspond with other collectors from all corners of the world.
2/17/98--Over the years I've heard collectors complain that autograph collecting is becoming increasingly difficult because of growing numbers of celebrities who will not provide autographs. Some even refer to the "good old days" when practically anyone would sign for only a polite request. But this is not entirely true. Many celebrities in the distant past were difficult to obtain in the mail.
Several noted historical personalities were especially hostile to collectors. The playwright George Bernard Shaw was particularly unwilling to sign autographs. An anecdote related by the late Charles Hamilton was that a minister once wrote Shaw to ask a question. Shaw replied and added at the end of his letter a bitter remark suggesting that the minister wrote him only to get an autograph. The minister clipped the signature from the letter and sent it back to Shaw, adding "I enclose something that you find very valuable, but which I find worthless--your autograph." I recently saw an autograph of Shaw's for sale by Walter Burks and was reminded of this story.
2/15/98--The official UACC web site is under revision. J.D. Bardwell, Director of Education and Marketing, has undertaken the task of designing a new web site for the club and has done an excellent job so far. The new site includes items for purchase including autographed photos and autograph-related reference books, an autograph show schedule, a bulletin board for members, and much more. Soon there will be a chat room for members in which we can participate in live discussions from the site. As always, information about the club itself is included.
Lately I have worked on some interesting autograph projects and have really had a great time. One problem I found was when I attempted to mail a photograph internationally and realized that the postman in that country may not be able to read the phrase "Photograph, do not bend" on my package. After a request on the ACA newsgroup and after discussion with a few of my international friends I have placed a few translations of "Photograph, do not bend" on my web page under Mailing the Request."
Also, of note is that I have purchased some excellent photographs recently from the Harry Truman Presidential Library. I found the service there to be excellent as the staff were very helpful in finding the photograph that I wanted. I simply e-mailed a description of the photograph I needed from the library's web site and within the hour I had a reply to my request. After ordering through regular postal mail I received a wonderful photograph within two weeks. A black and white 8X10 is $8, and the library stocks about 50,000 photographs of subjects related to the Truman presidency. This serves to illustrate that there are plenty of obscure photograph sources available to the autograph collector who wishes to find a unique image for autographing.
A question was posed to me recently by a visitor to my "Autopen Guide." The collector bought a photograph of Alan Shepard and compared the signature to that illustrated in the guide. The signatures were similar, but did not correlate in size. He asked if this rules out the possibility that the signature is fake. I warn all visitors to my online guide to autopens that the images are not to scale, and that fact must be considered when using the guide.
I've added some splendid autographs to my collection recently, including a contract and a receipt signed by Jimmy Stewart, an ALS written by Max Von Sydow, a photograph signed by Nancy Reagan, and a sketch by Janet Leigh. But one of the most exciting successes for me recently was a postcard from a rather obscure celebrity--Knut Haugland. Regular readers of my "autograph notebook" know that I have tried for a year to track down the surviving members of the 1947 Kon Tiki expedition. "Kon Tiki" is one of my favorite books and I started investigating the possibility that some of the members may still be alive around June of 1997. At the time there were only three of the six left, but unfortunately Bengt Danielsson passed away on July 4th before I had the chance to write him. A letter I received from Thor Heyerdahl a few months ago confirmed that only he and Knut Haugland were alive from the expedition. I tracked down Haugland to a city in Norway and a recent query was answered. He sent a postcard of the members of the crew with a short note on the reverse thanking me for my letter. I was quite thrilled to receive this and had a lot of fun with the mental exercise. If anyone else collects the autographs of Heyerdahl and the other members of the Kon Tiki team please let me know, as I would love to hear from you!
1/24/98--Yesterday I received Jim Weaver's newest address list entitled "1998 Master Address List #5." It is extraordinary. I am very impressed with the range of celebrities represented and the sheer volume of information, since the list is over one hundred forty pages long and contains thousands upon thousands of names! I recommend this guide both to the beginner who needs a good address source and to the advanced collector who wants to save time and energy in finding difficult celebrities. Jim once again proves that he is the undisputed master of celebrity addresses. See Jim's web page for more information about how to purchase his lists.
The Space Unit has now come online! The Space Unit is a group dedicated to the collection of stamps and postal covers related to space themes. Additionally, the group is also interested in covers signed by astronauts and frequently has autographs for sale to promote the group. The web page is maintained by Space Unit member Dr. R. J. Smith.
I would like to announce a new addition to my web site. The new page is a guide to secretarial signatures of US Presidents. In its current state it is not complete, so please keep checking over the next few weeks to see additions. As always, if anyone has more examples (especially of Roosevelt or Eisenhower--I know they exist!) please send me an e-mail.
1/13/98--I've discovered a previously unpublished autopen pattern of first lady Nancy Reagan. I obtained a signed photograph of President and Mrs. Reagan in 1987 and later discovered that the Ronald Reagan signature was an autopen. On the other hand, I could not find the Nancy Reagan signature published in any autopen article or reference. I kept the photograph and now, ten years later, finally found a match for the signature--for sale on Ebay! Here's a scan to compare signatures. I will submit the autopen pattern for publication in the Pen and Quill.
1/11/98--Anne Rice used to be my neighbor in New Orleans--I used to live in the Garden District a few blocks away from her. I learned of the fact that she wrote great horror novels around 1992 and met her at a booksigning soon afterwards. Since then I talked with her several times and even got a book signed on Halloween (she graciously signed the book "Anne Rice, Halloween 1994")
In the early days of her fame she would invite the neighborhood to her home for great Halloween parties. Unfortunately my schedule never allowed me to attend. However, one of my friends went once and said it was quite a spectacle, with most guests dressed as vampires or other ghouls.
She is a very nice lady if you get the chance to meet her in person, but she was not a good signer through the mail until quite recently I believe.
Anne's web site now has some interesting questions from fans along with answers about her signing habits.
If you want to get a book for sure, there is a great bookstore near her house where she sells signed books named the Garden District Bookstore. I just visited there and it certainly has changed over the years! It used to be a tiny closet of a store but now they've added another level dedicated entirely to Anne. There's information about this store on her web page.
1/6/98--I previously asked for information regarding members of the 1947 Kon-Tiki expedition, led by Norweigan scientist Thor Heyerdahl. This week I received a reply from Dr. Heyerdahl himself--only he and Knut Haugland are left from the six members of the team.
Other recent successes include a photograph signed by Alan Bean and a book that I purchased which is signed by Buzz Aldrin.
