I thought this might be of some interest to folks here. 

We all have seen how autograph signatures of some of our favorites have gradually changed over the years.

Here are paid services designed to speed up the process of signature transformation:

https://apnews.com/article/signature-design-makeover-517711adfa4b51b45ad3392f528c5568

Like many of us, I'm interested in several areas in the autograph world.  Having said that, I've come to find that my particular focus has settled on pre-1960 Hollywood...from the Silent Era on up to the early Method Actors.

 I'm interested in hearing from other collectors in this time span of Hollywood material what your thoughts are on signed photographs TTM (through the mail) vs. In-Person autographs.  This would particularly concern signed photographs.  Album pages were usually…

Like many of us, I do some selling on eBay (mostly to help finance my own collecting).  This was the question I was asked  by a member this morning who says they are interested in one of my offerings:

"Does It Have Authentication?"

This particular piece has no third party authentication but I have no doubt whatsoever that it's real after study and comparison to exemplars as well as running it past a dealer friend.

How do you (or would you) answer this…

   I'd enjoy hearing feedback on this topic.  Let's say it's a very rare signer whom you've searched far and wide for.  You find them....and the piece is laminated (could be an album page, a handwritten letter, etc.). 

   What would you do?  Buy it for it's significance and your desire to have something from them?  Pass on it because of the lamination?  Offer less than what an unlaminated piece might be worth?

    Also, I'm wondering if the laminate affects the ability to…

I've been thinking about this a bit and I hope it makes sense.  We do a lot of sharing of images here to get opinions about pieces we have or are seeking to acquire......and that's a great gift of this forum.  

Maybe this has been covered before, but I was wondering how folks feel about adding items to their collections that they are not at least pretty well totally sure of.  For instance, you get a killer autograph from one of your heroes but you do know there are some…

       Like many, I do some autograph selling on eBay. Today I had an inquiry about a signed document I have listed.  It's not a major piece....an agreement between Paramount Pictures and Joel McCrea to reference his name in a scene of an upcoming picture of theirs...a perfectly verifiable example of his signature.

     The person interested wrote me asking a few questions about condition, if all of the pages of the legalize were included, where I had acquired it, etc..  Also: "Do…

Greetings!

     I don't know if this has been covered explicitly as a blog topic...but  I thought I would roll it out and seek some thoughts and opinions.

    What does it ultimately take for you to be comfortable with a particular autograph if you encounter divergent opinions on it?  

     I've been thinking on this a bit for some time. Quite awhile ago, I purchased a signed item from a person who had had it in their possession for about 20…

I've recently become more and more attracted to letters from persons that I have an autographic interest in. I now have an Alfred Hitchcock typed letter from 1940 in which he discusses his budding American film career with an assistant director. It's simply signed "Hitch" in black fountain pen ink. 

Some may not be interested in something like a TLS since there is not much "ink" on the page but I am fascinated by the content. I also have my eye on a TLS from John Ford from the same…

We were discussing on the IS THIS AUTOGRAPH REAL section an exemplar of a self caricature profile sketch and signature attributed to Alfred Hitchcock. TPAs Beckett and PSA gave a thumbs down to it on their quick opinion signature reviews while JSA had issued a full LOA for it earlier. 

As I have looked around online, it seems there have been tons of these sketches that claim to be from Hitchcock's hand that have been bought and sold over the years. Examples of past sales from various…