I can't wrap my head around what is going on with History Direct and their bizarre pricing??

A Walt Disney, unattractive photo with very faded signature, $13000...??



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You'll find silly autograph prices at every turn. In-person collectors overprice their autographs miserably all the time, which is why even attractive, authentic items sit there on Ebay for years at a time.

Personally I think he is a collector that puts high prices on things, and if someone bites he sells.  I cannot really believe he would sell enough to keep in business if he was depending on it to survive.  He does have some very high quality and authentic items.  I think it is same person who has History For Sale website.  There are some really interesting and great items on there. Of course there are things to be wary of including his "Charllton" Heston's.  I suspect he either has not seen the signature study or just has not bothered to update.  The same is true for Andy Griffith he has a well known Richard O. Linke signed Griffith for $799.00 (in my opinion an outlandish price even were it Griffith's own hand).  He has a dual signed Griffith and Don Knotts in character (a rarity at best) the Griffith is not real.  At one time I looked at his Jackie Gleason collection and know there was at least one secretarial. I think he is honest but has not kept up to date on some of the recent discoveries in regards to those autographs.  His site is fun to look at.   I can see some selling by a wife who wants to give her husband a present and has no idea about autographs. Perhaps some rich collector who finds that difficult character actor and is willing to spend anything.  Personally I believe anyone can put whatever value they deem best on any autograph.  The problem with this is someone who finds Great Aunt Hetty's autograph album will look on ebay and their websites and think themselves millionaires.  I know a few examples where I am sure they looked at those prices and put up fairly common people for hundreds when they were a $20-50 autograph at best.

His prices are truly outlandish and are nowhere near market value. He has JFK White House letters for $30,000, when the market says $2500 to $3500.

I will say, however, that I agree that I think he is honest. He had a somewhat faded JFK signed photo that I knew was secretarial, and I let him know that it was so and that he needed to do a little more research on that one. Well, it didn't take long, and he removed it from eBay.

Thanks for doing that, James. I agree, I think he's honest. They could use cleaning secretarials out of their inventory, but overall it is pretty good.

That's Gallery of History in Las Vegas. You're right, Scott, people searching for values on autographs they've inherited often get very excited when they see a similar item offered by them. Their prices are often 5-10x more than market value, but there's nothing wrong with that. Even novice customers can research prices. It's not like authenticity.

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