Historical Autographs... Edwin Booth & Annie Russell, real? value? worth getting authenticated?

baird34

I have been asked by a friend to help sell a handful of items and to be honest, I am a bit out of my wheelhouse when it comes to some of them. She had a few items with Edwin Booth "signatures" as well as one Annie Russell signed photo. Not sure if anyone here has any knowledge or information they can lend, but looking to see what they may be worth and obviously if they look like legit signatures or not (and worth getting authenticated?)

1 Edwin Booth

2 Edwin Booth

3 Edwin Booth

4 Annie Russell

5 Edwin Booth (no signature)

algonquinmf

As one who has been researching Annie Russell's life and collecting Russell family memorabilia for over a decade, I was interested in your recent posting. If the date on the back of the photograph is accurate, the photo would depict Miss Russell as Sue in the play "Sue" by Bret Harte and T. Edgar Pemberton during 1896-1897 in New York City and 1898 in London. The inscription and autograph appear genuine. However, it also appears that both may have been somewhat compromised when fitting a square picture into its oval frame, which would lower the value of the piece. You might want to remove the photo from the frame to see if that occurred. Also it would be interesting to know the size of the piece. Once all this is known, I might be interested in acquiring it.

baird34

I appreciate the reply. Sorry for the delay getting back to you. I was thinking the same thing. It certainly seems that the picture was cut to fit in the oval frame. I will take a look at it today and get some more information for you.

algonquinmf

Great. Looking forward to the additional information.

algonquinmf

Any additional information available?

baird34

I just PM'd you with my email address. If you can email me, I'll send you new scans/info/etc.... Thanks