Provenance is a word that pops up from time to time. It is one of those words that can mean different things to different people.  Knowing the origin of an autographed item can be very valuable.  Provenance can mean known when and where a particular item sold.  Obviously, new items are being brought to light all the time.  People discover their deceased great-uncles autograph collection in an old box.  This does not necessarily prove the autographs are authentic, but if the uncle had for forty years been a TTM collector the likelihood of forged material is greatly diminished.  If he also purchased autographs then it will increase.  

This is an example of an autographed photograph of a fairly obscure Western actor named Tom Monroe (1919-1993).  He often played villains in westerns.  He also appeared in Horror/Sci-Fi movies such as Two Lost Worlds (1951) and Serpent Island (1954).  In television he appeared on The Andy Griffith Show, Death Valley Days, Hondo and The Big Valley.   Bud Perkins was noted collector of mostly Westerns and television actors.  Bud wrote a book Reel Westerns (1976) that was mainly a picture book of rare stills most signed by the actors in the photograph.   The book is now very scarce.  I own a copy I bought when it first came out in 1976 or maybe 1977.  I much later bought a signed copy by Bud.   After his death a friend of mine bought some of his autographs, and later another man purchased much of the remainder and put them on eBay.  Among the photographs I purchased was one of Tom Monroe.  It was not until later I was thumbing through my copy of the book and noticed the same photograph in it.  This is a great example of provenance for the photograph,  The inscription while very lightly seen in the book is still legible in it.  Monroe signed in green felt tip on the original.  Below is a scan of the page from the book, then an enhancement of the inscription followed by the photograph itself.

Above colorized to make the inscription appear more legible.

Below is the photograph.