@ernie11 said:
The greatest childhood star of them all!
From Wikipedia: "Shirley Temple was an American actress, singer, dancer, and diplomat who was Hollywood's number one box-office draw as a child actress from 1934 to 1938." She was no longer a child when she autographed this index card for me back in 1996.
Here's one my father got in person in the early 40s
@ernie11 said:
The greatest childhood star of them all!
From Wikipedia: "Shirley Temple was an American actress, singer, dancer, and diplomat who was Hollywood's number one box-office draw as a child actress from 1934 to 1938." She was no longer a child when she autographed this index card for me back in 1996.
Here's one my father got in person in the early 40s
@ernie11 said:
My autograph of the best baseball player to actively avoid playing for the Phillies. According to Wikipedia, J. D. Drew was drafted by the Phillies in 1997, his agent supposedly wanted $10 million, the Phils weren't going to offer that much for an untested player, drafted him anyway and offered $2.6 million. Drew's agent got around the MLB draft rules by having Drew play for an independent league in 1997, whereupon he was re-drafted in 1998 by the St. Louis Cardinals.
I was poking around in my "archives" today and found a few books to post.
Here are a couple from Stephen King. The one that mentions another name was obtained for me by my girlfriend at the time after I had already exhausted my two book limit under my own name.
The first book is "Cujo" and the second book is "Thinner", which he wrote under the name "Richard "Bachman".
Aleksandr Solzhenitsyn was a Russian author and dissident who was expelled from the Soviet Union in 1974. He eventually settled in the United States, in Vermont if I recall correctly.
He was notoriously difficult to get a response from, a couple efforts to get permission to send a book went unanswered. When heard that he was preparing to return to Russia in 1994 after the collapse of the Soviet Union, out of desperation I just mailed him a book.
He signed it in April 1994, and by late May he was back in Russia.
At some point Charlton Heston travelled to China to stage a performance of Herman Wouk's "The Caine Mutiny". When he returned he wrote a book about the project.
I sent two copies of the book to Herman Wouk and he signed them. I then sent them to Charlton Heston and they got lost.
I sent two more copies to Heston and after he signed them his office sent them to Wouk's office and he signed them. So by the time I got them back from Heston they had both signatures.
@JBK said:
I was poking around in my "archives" today and found a few books to post.
Here are a couple from Stephen King. The one that mentions another name was obtained for me by my girlfriend at the time after I had already exhausted my two book limit under my own name.
The first book is "Cujo" and the second book is "Thinner", which he wrote under the name "Richard "Bachman".
Wow! Those are both very awesome! I really wish I could had taken advantage of his book signing days - I would had sent him my two favorites:
Different Seasons (the short story collection which includes my favorite short stories Rita Hayworth and Shawshank Redemption and The Body [Stand By Me is based upon])
The Shining. I would had tried to get first edition hardcovers if I knew I would be able to get them signed.
Too bad I missed that window.
@JBK said:
Aleksandr Solzhenitsyn was a Russian author and dissident who was expelled from the Soviet Union in 1974. He eventually settled in the United States, in Vermont if I recall correctly.
He was notoriously difficult to get a response from, a a couple efforts to get permission to send a book went unanswered. When heard that he was preparing to return to Russia in 1994 after the collapse of the Soviet Union, out if desperation I just mailed him a book.
That reminds me of another notoriously different author signature - JD Salinger - did you ever luck out with him? I never did.
I tried to write to Salinger a couple times but never got anything back. It reached the point where I would have been very happy with a "return to sender" or "refused" stamp on my envelope but I couldn't even get that. That would have been very cool to have.
I did write to John Updike once and mentioned Salinger and I asked Updike if he was ever hassled by fans or felt a need to become a recluse like Salinger. Updike wrote back that people generally left him alone (I always wondered if that was a subtle dig at me. ), and he implied that Salinger's reclusiveness might have been partly an act.
I guess that's actually a great Salinger-related reply, since peripheral Salinger material is about all anyone could hope for.
By far the most obscure autograph I am likely to post here. When I was a kid my favorite sci-fi kids TV show was Fireball XL-5. Even as a kid I recognized that these were marionettes controlled by strings, but I didn't care. Anyway, at the time I thought the show had coolest rock 'n roll TV theme song with the closing credits theme song, sung by Don Spencer. The song reached No. 32 on the British hit charts in 1963. So a few years ago I tracked him down and wrote to him for an autograph all the way from Australia, where he hails from.
My autograph of actress Lana Turner I found in a tag sale in the mid-90's. Autographed to the men of Ft. Greeley, I did a search and found that this was located in Alaska.
@JBK said:
That's a great piece. I'd poke around to see if there was a record of her visiting there.
I have access to newspaper internet archives, but no luck so far. Also, I was mistaken about Ft. Greely being named as such in 1955, it goes back to more like 1941 or 1942.
Richard Branson was easy to get at one time. I think this one is from before he was knighted by the queen, and it has a full signature. I think later on he just signed Richard.
He has since moved to a private island in the British Virgin Islands and seems to be unreachable, at least to autograph collectors.
Last week he became an astronaut when he briefly flew into space on his private space vehicle.
Here is late author Norman Mailer replying in 2007 to my question about his WWII military service.
Wow! That is so awesome! Congrats on having such a nice example. I had never seen his autograph before so I know how rare it must be especially a full signature!
Since the Phillies start a series with Atlanta tonight, name a star who has played for both teams. If you said Dale Murphy, you'd be right. Here's my autograph.
George Foster was one of the most feared sluggers some 40+ years ago. He won the National League MVP award in 1977 after hitting 52 home runs for the Cincinnati Reds, and won the home run title the following year with 40 more homers. Here is an autographed baseball card I have from his later years when he played for the Mets.
Fred Lynn had it all in his rookie year of 1975: Rookie of the Year Award and AL MVP. His 1979 season was an MVP-style season, too. And he was a 9-time All Star. Here is an autograph I got later in his career when he played for the Orioles.
Years ago one of my few purchases off cable shopping was a special issue MLB honoring CR's record, signed by him.
His wife is a good story, too.
As I heard it, her mother saw Cal somewhere and asked him for an autograph for her daughter, and then some time later he was doing an appearance somewhere and the daughter stood in line so she could thank him for being so nice to her mother. One thing led to another and she became Mrs. Ripkin Jr.
Way back in the day I bought a stack of 100 of these banknotes. I have maybe 10 or 12 signed by various people (military, political, etc.) who were involved with the Iraq war.
This one was a recent addition that I had been thinking about for a long time and i finally decided to try to track him down.
@JBK said:
Way back in the day I bought a stack of 100 of these banknotes. I have maybe 10 or 12 signed by various people (military, political, etc.) who were involved with the Iraq war.
I’m surprised the political figures you sent them to didn’t have the note removed by screeners before they received your letter. But maybe they only screen for currency and it’s equivalents for higher ups like President, Vice President, Congresspeople, Senators and Supreme Court Justices.
So cool you got these signed. Would love to hear who else you were successful with in getting these autographed.
@JBK said:
Way back in the day I bought a stack of 100 of these banknotes. I have maybe 10 or 12 signed by various people (military, political, etc.) who were involved with the Iraq war.
I’m surprised the political figures you sent them to didn’t have the note removed by screeners before they received your letter. But maybe they only screen for currency and it’s equivalents for higher ups like President, Vice President, Congresspeople, Senators and Supreme Court Justices.
So cool you got these signed. Would love to hear who else you were successful with in getting these autographed.
Good point. I am pretty sure I only sent to former political leaders so I avoided issues.
From memory I have VP Dick Cheney, General Tommy Franks, Sec. Of Defense Donald Rumsfeld, L. Paul Bremer (he was in charge of Iraq until the Iraqis had an election to replace deposed Saddam Hussein; he was a little tough to track down when I wrote to him, probably intentionally for security reasons), and the officer who led the unit that found Saddam.
I'd like to get the guy who actually pulled Saddam out of the spider hole, but I have not found contact details so far.
I'd also like to get president GW Bush on one of these banknotes, but that would have to be in person.
One of my favorite autographs I own is of silent film/early talkie actress, Leila Hyams (1905-1977). It was from my late grandfather who loved old films. Some of my favorite films of hers were “Way Out West” “New Adventures of Get Rich Quick Wallingford” with Jimmy Durante, “Freaks”, “Island of Lost Souls” with Bella Lugosi, “$1,000 Dollars a Minute” & others.
Jim Kaat is an also-ran for selection to Baseball's Hall of Fame and one of the winningest pitchers not in the Hall, with 283 victories. He pitched for an amazing 25 seasons, from the age of 20 to 44. In the latter half of the 1970's, he played for the Phillies.
This one was years in the making and ultimately a lot of fun to get.
It is a photo taken in the White House as President Ronald Reagan was recovering from the assassination attempt.
It shows Reagan with Republican Senators Strom Thurmond and Bob Dole, and Democratic Speaker of the House Jim Wright.
I think I got Thurmond to sign it first, then later on Dole, and then some years later Wright.
Spkr Wrught included a handwritten letter suggesting a funny caption for the photo, something about Dole and Thurmond wanting to blame the Democrat for shooting Reagan.
Then, a week or so later, I got another letter in the mail from Spkr Wright in which he suggested another humorous caption. He really was having a lot of fun with the image.
It's an "artwork" from author Ray Bradbury. I am upgrading it from a simple sketch and calling it a collage because of the added Edgar Allen Poe postage stamps.
It's also kind of funny in regard to signature placement.
We take it for granted that most celebrities know where to sign, but he is really just a normal guy and signed the three prints in the upper left corner. That is where he thought it best so I am OK with it.
For me, his signature is the focal point and I framed the prints to allow room in a central light area, but obviously for him the main subject is the ship/memorial and he didn't want to encroach on that.
UPDATE: As I look at it, that is a pretty good place to sign it.
From 70 years ago this week comes an autographed item I found in an antique mall years ago. Movie star / comedienne Mae West toured both the country and on Broadway in a revival of Diamond Lil. Apparently the fan at Princeton's McCarter Theatre who owned this program took Mae up on her invitation to "come up and see me sometime".
If director Roger Corman had only made one film - 1961's "Creature from the Haunted Sea", I still would've written to him asking for this autograph. The monster is the most ridiculous-looking one I've ever seen. I suspect this movie was a bit of a comedy as well as a horror film. BTW, Corman is still alive at age 95, as far as I know.
US Treasurer Angela M. Buchanan on a dollar bill from her era. She is the earliest surviving Treasurer, being from the Reagan years.
Collectors really want these types of autographs on new/uncirculated banknotes, but when I get one of these older bills in change I figure that for a dollar or so in postage it's worth getting signed.
@JBK said:
US Treasurer Angela M. Buchanan on a dollar bill from her era. She is the earliest surviving Treasurer, being from the Reagan years.
Collectors really want these types of autographs on new/uncirculated banknotes, but when I get one of these older bills in change I figure that for a dollar or so in postage it's worth getting signed.
My mom did something like this for me when I was a teenager - she wrote to the new Treasurer, Dorothy Andrews Elston, asking for an autograph and Elston personalized a Series 1969 CU $1 bill to me. She was our neighbor at the time.
In 2004, then-Senator Hillary Clinton came down here to Philadelphia for a campaign luncheon supporting a PA Democrat for U.S. Senate, and I attended the luncheon and saved my program. Later I sent it to her New York office, asking if she'd autograph it, and I got it back signed, as shown below. On the Clinton Political Collectors Facebook group, I asked if Hillary was in the habit of signing things like this herself, or was it more likely that this was a secretarial. Someone responded that it certainly looked like her signature, as they had her do several items in person. And that the gold ink made them think that this was not a secretarial. So I hope it's the real deal.
@ernie11 said:
In 2004, then-Senator Hillary Clinton came down here to Philadelphia for a campaign luncheon supporting a PA Democrat for U.S. Senate, Someone responded that it certainly looked like her signature, as they had her do several items in person. And that the gold ink made them think that this was not a secretarial. So I hope it's the real deal.
That looks a lot like the Hillary Clinton signature I used to have (except for the Clinton part which tails after Clint). I found this signed book for sale at a flea market for $5, which turned out to be authentic. Sold it sometime in 2011 well before she ran as the Democratic candidate for President in 2016. Turns out it is currently worth about what I got for it in 2011, but during 2016 election it was of course a lot more expensive which would had been the ideal time to sell it. I can however now buy another for fairly cheap now that I am back in the collecting game, but just haven’t done it yet.
@ernie11 said:
In 2004, then-Senator Hillary Clinton came down here to Philadelphia for a campaign luncheon supporting a PA Democrat for U.S. Senate, and I attended the luncheon and saved my program. Later I sent it to her New York office, asking if she'd autograph it, and I got it back signed, as shown below. On the Clinton Political Collectors Facebook group, I asked if Hillary was in the habit of signing things like this herself, or was it more likely that this was a secretarial. Someone responded that it certainly looked like her signature, as they had her do several items in person. And that the gold ink made them think that this was not a secretarial. So I hope it's the real deal.
Like JMS said, it certainly looks like her handwriting. My concern would not be secretarial but rather autopen, but in any case it does not really have the look of an autopen.
It is also a full legible signature, which I think is not as common as her abbreviated ones.
Comments
Here's one my father got in person in the early 40s
So cool!
Great early item!
That would actually be Curt Flood.
Steve
I was poking around in my "archives" today and found a few books to post.
Here are a couple from Stephen King. The one that mentions another name was obtained for me by my girlfriend at the time
after I had already exhausted my two book limit under my own name.
The first book is "Cujo" and the second book is "Thinner", which he wrote under the name "Richard "Bachman".
Aleksandr Solzhenitsyn was a Russian author and dissident who was expelled from the Soviet Union in 1974. He eventually settled in the United States, in Vermont if I recall correctly.
He was notoriously difficult to get a response from, a couple efforts to get permission to send a book went unanswered. When heard that he was preparing to return to Russia in 1994 after the collapse of the Soviet Union, out of desperation I just mailed him a book.
He signed it in April 1994, and by late May he was back in Russia.
At some point Charlton Heston travelled to China to stage a performance of Herman Wouk's "The Caine Mutiny". When he returned he wrote a book about the project.
I sent two copies of the book to Herman Wouk and he signed them. I then sent them to Charlton Heston and they got lost.
I sent two more copies to Heston and after he signed them his office sent them to Wouk's office and he signed them. So by the time I got them back from Heston they had both signatures.
Wow! Those are both very awesome! I really wish I could had taken advantage of his book signing days - I would had sent him my two favorites:
Different Seasons (the short story collection which includes my favorite short stories Rita Hayworth and Shawshank Redemption and The Body [Stand By Me is based upon])
The Shining. I would had tried to get first edition hardcovers if I knew I would be able to get them signed.
Too bad I missed that window.
That reminds me of another notoriously different author signature - JD Salinger - did you ever luck out with him? I never did.
I tried to write to Salinger a couple times but never got anything back. It reached the point where I would have been very happy with a "return to sender" or "refused" stamp on my envelope but I couldn't even get that. That would have been very cool to have.
I did write to John Updike once and mentioned Salinger and I asked Updike if he was ever hassled by fans or felt a need to become a recluse like Salinger. Updike wrote back that people generally left him alone (I always wondered if that was a subtle dig at me.
), and he implied that Salinger's reclusiveness might have been partly an act.
I guess that's actually a great Salinger-related reply, since peripheral Salinger material is about all anyone could hope for.
By far the most obscure autograph I am likely to post here. When I was a kid my favorite sci-fi kids TV show was Fireball XL-5. Even as a kid I recognized that these were marionettes controlled by strings, but I didn't care. Anyway, at the time I thought the show had coolest rock 'n roll TV theme song with the closing credits theme song, sung by Don Spencer. The song reached No. 32 on the British hit charts in 1963. So a few years ago I tracked him down and wrote to him for an autograph all the way from Australia, where he hails from.
And here's the YouTube video of the opening and closing credits of the show.
https://youtube.com/watch?v=6ifS2nP53Zs
My autograph of actress Lana Turner I found in a tag sale in the mid-90's. Autographed to the men of Ft. Greeley, I did a search and found that this was located in Alaska.
That's a great piece. I'd poke around to see if there was a record of her visiting there.
I have access to newspaper internet archives, but no luck so far. Also, I was mistaken about Ft. Greely being named as such in 1955, it goes back to more like 1941 or 1942.
Here are a couple I came across today.
Richard Branson was easy to get at one time. I think this one is from before he was knighted by the queen, and it has a full signature. I think later on he just signed Richard.
He has since moved to a private island in the British Virgin Islands and seems to be unreachable, at least to autograph collectors.
Last week he became an astronaut when he briefly flew into space on his private space vehicle.
Here is late author Norman Mailer replying in 2007 to my question about his WWII military service.
Wow! That is so awesome! Congrats on having such a nice example. I had never seen his autograph before so I know how rare it must be especially a full signature!
Since the Phillies start a series with Atlanta tonight, name a star who has played for both teams. If you said Dale Murphy, you'd be right. Here's my autograph.
George Foster was one of the most feared sluggers some 40+ years ago. He won the National League MVP award in 1977 after hitting 52 home runs for the Cincinnati Reds, and won the home run title the following year with 40 more homers. Here is an autographed baseball card I have from his later years when he played for the Mets.
Fred Lynn had it all in his rookie year of 1975: Rookie of the Year Award and AL MVP. His 1979 season was an MVP-style season, too. And he was a 9-time All Star. Here is an autograph I got later in his career when he played for the Orioles.
My autographed copy of Hall of Famer Cal Ripken's "Parenting Young Athletes the Ripken Way", from 2007.
Years ago one of my few purchases off cable shopping was a special issue MLB honoring CR's record, signed by him.
His wife is a good story, too.
As I heard it, her mother saw Cal somewhere and asked him for an autograph for her daughter, and then some time later he was doing an appearance somewhere and the daughter stood in line so she could thank him for being so nice to her mother. One thing led to another and she became Mrs. Ripkin Jr.
I got this in the mail today.
Mike Melville, who became the first commercial astronaut in 2004 when he flew a private spacecraft into space.
My recent dry spell is hopefully over, with another reply arriving today.
George Piro, the FBI agent who interrogated Saddam Hussein and got the information that was used to build the case against him.
Pretty cool to get the currency signed.
Way back in the day I bought a stack of 100 of these banknotes. I have maybe 10 or 12 signed by various people (military, political, etc.) who were involved with the Iraq war.
This one was a recent addition that I had been thinking about for a long time and i finally decided to try to track him down.
I’m surprised the political figures you sent them to didn’t have the note removed by screeners before they received your letter. But maybe they only screen for currency and it’s equivalents for higher ups like President, Vice President, Congresspeople, Senators and Supreme Court Justices.
So cool you got these signed. Would love to hear who else you were successful with in getting these autographed.
Good point. I am pretty sure I only sent to former political leaders so I avoided issues.
From memory I have VP Dick Cheney, General Tommy Franks, Sec. Of Defense Donald Rumsfeld, L. Paul Bremer (he was in charge of Iraq until the Iraqis had an election to replace deposed Saddam Hussein; he was a little tough to track down when I wrote to him, probably intentionally for security reasons), and the officer who led the unit that found Saddam.
I'd like to get the guy who actually pulled Saddam out of the spider hole, but I have not found contact details so far.
I'd also like to get president GW Bush on one of these banknotes, but that would have to be in person.
The autograph of one of my favorite mystery authors, P. D. James.
One of my favorite autographs I own is of silent film/early talkie actress, Leila Hyams (1905-1977). It was from my late grandfather who loved old films. Some of my favorite films of hers were “Way Out West” “New Adventures of Get Rich Quick Wallingford” with Jimmy Durante, “Freaks”, “Island of Lost Souls” with Bella Lugosi, “$1,000 Dollars a Minute” & others.
Jim Kaat is an also-ran for selection to Baseball's Hall of Fame and one of the winningest pitchers not in the Hall, with 283 victories. He pitched for an amazing 25 seasons, from the age of 20 to 44. In the latter half of the 1970's, he played for the Phillies.
This one was years in the making and ultimately a lot of fun to get.
It is a photo taken in the White House as President Ronald Reagan was recovering from the assassination attempt.
It shows Reagan with Republican Senators Strom Thurmond and Bob Dole, and Democratic Speaker of the House Jim Wright.
I think I got Thurmond to sign it first, then later on Dole, and then some years later Wright.
Spkr Wrught included a handwritten letter suggesting a funny caption for the photo, something about Dole and Thurmond wanting to blame the Democrat for shooting Reagan.
Then, a week or so later, I got another letter in the mail from Spkr Wright in which he suggested another humorous caption. He really was having a lot of fun with the image.
Here's one I could use some help with.
It's an "artwork" from author Ray Bradbury. I am upgrading it from a simple sketch and calling it a collage because of the added Edgar Allen Poe postage stamps.
I think it says:
My love for Poe!
What do I yell with joy!?
Ray Bradbury
Any ideas?
I agree. I think you got the words right. Pretty neat artwork.
Thanks! The bottom section has stumped me for years but it came to me all of a sudden today.
A bookplate that I have, autographed by author Anne Rice. Her "Interview With a Vampire" novels were so cool.
My autographed photo of the late country singer Charley Pride.
That's one I wish I had gotten.
I went to Hawaii a couple years ago and took this picture of the USS Arizona Memorial in Pearl Harbor.
Ken Potts is one of the last two living survivors who were on board the USS Arizona when it was sunk by the Japanese on December 7th, 1941.
I sent him a few prints of my photo in various sizes, and they came back today.
Wow! You are a great photographer. Didn’t know you did that. Very cool.
Just a lucky shot with my cellphone.
It's also kind of funny in regard to signature placement.
We take it for granted that most celebrities know where to sign, but he is really just a normal guy and signed the three prints in the upper left corner. That is where he thought it best so I am OK with it.
For me, his signature is the focal point and I framed the prints to allow room in a central light area, but obviously for him the main subject is the ship/memorial and he didn't want to encroach on that.
UPDATE: As I look at it, that is a pretty good place to sign it.
This arrived today.
Ann E. Dunwoody, first female four star Army general.
From 70 years ago this week comes an autographed item I found in an antique mall years ago. Movie star / comedienne Mae West toured both the country and on Broadway in a revival of Diamond Lil. Apparently the fan at Princeton's McCarter Theatre who owned this program took Mae up on her invitation to "come up and see me sometime".
If director Roger Corman had only made one film - 1961's "Creature from the Haunted Sea", I still would've written to him asking for this autograph. The monster is the most ridiculous-looking one I've ever seen. I suspect this movie was a bit of a comedy as well as a horror film. BTW, Corman is still alive at age 95, as far as I know.
US Treasurer Angela M. Buchanan on a dollar bill from her era. She is the earliest surviving Treasurer, being from the Reagan years.
Collectors really want these types of autographs on new/uncirculated banknotes, but when I get one of these older bills in change I figure that for a dollar or so in postage it's worth getting signed.
My mom did something like this for me when I was a teenager - she wrote to the new Treasurer, Dorothy Andrews Elston, asking for an autograph and Elston personalized a Series 1969 CU $1 bill to me. She was our neighbor at the time.
In 2004, then-Senator Hillary Clinton came down here to Philadelphia for a campaign luncheon supporting a PA Democrat for U.S. Senate, and I attended the luncheon and saved my program. Later I sent it to her New York office, asking if she'd autograph it, and I got it back signed, as shown below. On the Clinton Political Collectors Facebook group, I asked if Hillary was in the habit of signing things like this herself, or was it more likely that this was a secretarial. Someone responded that it certainly looked like her signature, as they had her do several items in person. And that the gold ink made them think that this was not a secretarial. So I hope it's the real deal.
That looks a lot like the Hillary Clinton signature I used to have (except for the Clinton part which tails after Clint). I found this signed book for sale at a flea market for $5, which turned out to be authentic. Sold it sometime in 2011 well before she ran as the Democratic candidate for President in 2016. Turns out it is currently worth about what I got for it in 2011, but during 2016 election it was of course a lot more expensive which would had been the ideal time to sell it. I can however now buy another for fairly cheap now that I am back in the collecting game, but just haven’t done it yet.
Like JMS said, it certainly looks like her handwriting. My concern would not be secretarial but rather autopen, but in any case it does not really have the look of an autopen.
It is also a full legible signature, which I think is not as common as her abbreviated ones.