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Introduction - My name is David Kuflik and I believe I may have one of the best Celebrity autograph collections out there

(apologies in advance for the length of my post)

Hello, my name is David Kuflik and I believe I may have one of the best celebrity autograph collections on the planet. My father (Harvey Kuflik) and aunt (Rhoda Kuflik) started collecting in-person autographs in New York in the early 1950’s and continued vigorously collecting their whole lives (Harvey passed in 2002 and Rhoda passed in 2012). Both collected for the love of it and didn’t sell their autographs. Their collections are fully intact and almost all of them were collected in person. My father also acquired a couple smaller autograph collections from his collecting friends in Hollywood. I collected actively with my father in Hollywood as a kid in the 1980’s. I inherited their collections and after working 17 years at Microsoft, I left my day job and have dedicated the past two years full time curating this collection.

I’ve got close to 80,000 autographs, more than 20,000 of which are signed photos. I have very few duplicates of the same photo. 22 Marilyn Monroe autographs, 6 of which are signed photos. I’ve also got a lot of good sports and music autographs as well.

My celebrity autograph collection is going to be featured in a dedicated 30 minute TV episode on a major cable network in the coming weeks.

What am I going to do with all these autographs? I’m going to sell them. I did a small auction with RR Auction in September. http://www.rrauction.com/past_auction_results.cfm?SearchCrit=kuflik... .

I’m currently in their February auction with some modern autographs. See here. http://www.rrauction.com/browse_gallery.cfm?SearchCrit=%20%20&C...=

I plan to use RR Auction at the high end of the spectrum, but that only covers a few thousand items. For all the other autographs, I plan to sell those directly to consumers along with my unsigned headshots from my website (hasn’t launched yet), via eBay, and Amazon. I’ve decided to roll my sleeves up and sell directly because there is just too much sweat equity in these autographs to sell in bulk at wholesale prices. I have no plans to ever acquire autographs from outside sources. I’m just a guy who inherited this awesome pristine collection and will exit the business when everything is sold.

It’s also worth noting that I also have several hundred thousand original unsigned Agency Headshots with resumes of almost every actor and actress from the late 1970’s until 2004. These headshots were actually used in the casting process and nobody else has these in any quantity. Many of the photos are not on the Internet. I never sold autographs but I sold these headshots on eBay in the early 2000’s under the name risingstarphotos and they were very popular. We were the top seller of the Movie photos category on eBay for years. I’ve never sold autographs before but have a lot of past experience in the memorabilia business selling headshots on eBay at high volumes. My father got over 3,000 of these headshots signed, many before the actors were even famous.

Here's a glimpse of the b- list signed headshot collection. I’ve put aside hundreds of a-listers in a different folder: https://1drv.ms/i/s!An5aCe8YraAGhr4Mq3b8WlWlOgJdug

Here’s is where it all started:

https://1drv.ms/f/s!An5aCe8YraAGieY0SgwkxE1Q5Tb8uA

There is sooooooo much more than this in many different forms (Lobby Cards, Books, Color Photos, Candid Photos, Cast Photos, etc.) I’ve been a lurker here on autograph live for the past two years and thought I would introduce myself before my TV episode airs. I’m also hoping to learn from the experts here and gather feedback and reality checks on my business approach. Unfortunately, the autograph ecosystem is full of forgeries, which hurts the industry. I’m hoping I can inject some needed authenticity into the business.

Tags: Awesome

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Replies to This Discussion

Permalink Reply by Mark Rogers on February 10, 2017 at 11:16pm

David, I saw some of the items you sold through R&R especially the autograph book that went for around 27k probably was yours. I need to fill some cast pieces for customers album cuts only no photos will pay top dollar to finish them. Signatures i need Joy Page, Dooley Wilson, Ann Sears, George MaCready, Joe Sawyer, Don Douglas from Gilda and others. Did contact you on linked no reply yet. Thanks for your time, Mark

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Permalink Reply by David Kuflik on February 13, 2017 at 12:42am

Hi Mark,

Outside of a few exceptions, most of my autographs start in 1953. So I wouldn't have Dooley Wilson or Don Douglas. I've got many thousands of old signatures in autograph books and cards. Besides identifying the big names I haven't focused too much attention on them and don't have them indexed like I do the signed photos. I won't be going through them in the near future but will get to them in the coming months. It's good to know there is an audience for some of the more obscure stuff. Hopefully I can fill some of those one-off gaps for folks in the near future.

The autograph book you mentioned on RR wasn't mine.

David

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Permalink Reply by Eric Keith Longo on February 15, 2017 at 10:50am

Hi David,

Stunned into silence by your signed candids. Truly incredible. Reminded a bit of the Francis and Violet Zane Collection - that wads about 1,000 or 150,000 pieces but I do not think they had anywhere near the number of headshots - that was a lot of playbills and Players Directory's and candids.

Thank you so very much for the website! That is a major contribution!

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Permalink Reply by Mike T on February 13, 2017 at 4:38pm

David, I've sent you a friend request and a message. Thanks.

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Permalink Reply by Paul Hakimian on February 13, 2017 at 7:34pm

Wow David,just saw the episode.Unreal,the time spent and the passion displayed by you and your dad and aunt.What a collection!! I'm also sending you a friend request.

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Permalink Reply by Scott Paul on February 14, 2017 at 5:53am

Thank you for putting the autographs on a site. Your collection is something akin to the opening of King Tut's tomb of the autograph world.

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Permalink Reply by Pete Bendu on February 15, 2017 at 4:49am

David, I know you must be busy, and I apologize for bothering you with an individual question. I think I have been thru all of your scans, and one thing that I noticed was that your images show a single Harrison Ford signed index card and a single Ford signed Indiana Jones 8x10. Were these representative of a larger number of Ford autographs, or was this all your Dad and Aunt obtained?

People have repeatedly questioned my findings and experience with Ford not signing Star Wars items, and being a difficult signature to obtain in person from the late 1970's thru the early 1990s. I would love to know if your collection supports my beliefs.

Thanks, Pete

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Permalink Reply by David Kuflik on February 15, 2017 at 12:10pm

Harrison Ford was an extremely difficult signature to come by. The Indiana Jones signed photo is the only signed photo I found. I've got a few Harrison Ford's on index cards and autograph book pages.

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Permalink Reply by Pete Bendu on February 15, 2017 at 12:45pm

Thank you for responding, your material with the amount of time it covers, would certainly show the willing and unwilling signers.

All the best, Pete

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Permalink Reply by Mark Roberts on February 15, 2017 at 10:45am

Hello David -

When will you be offering your signed photos for sale?? Will you have a cart system on your website etc.?

I love your website by the way! Thanks for sharing it with us.

Mark

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Permalink Reply by Eric Keith Longo on February 15, 2017 at 10:52am

Yes, please, let us know when possible. I saw something that caught my eye.

Thank you.

Eric

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Permalink Reply by Herbert M Plott III on February 27, 2017 at 10:32am

I am looking for autographs of Vernon Dent, Christine McIntyre and Bud Jamison all from the Three Stooges shorts. Please let me know if you have any of these as I would be most interested.