Hello,

We need advice and opinions on a Ronald Reagan signature we recently acquired.

Here is the background. We bought a scrapbook of travel ephemera at an estate sale for $10. The bulk of it is from a young woman’s trip to Europe in 1966. We were planning to use this for decorative purposes. However, there is also material and letters from 1967, when she joined the Peace Corp (PC) and went to the PC training center in the U.S. Virgin Islands.

During this time she was invited to a cocktail party/dinner (the Magen’s Bay Party) that was part of the Fifty-Ninth Annual National Governors’ Conference.

Here she got the menu signed by Ronald Reagan (this was his first year as Governor) and also by Buford Ellington, Governor of Tennessee, where she was originally from. Ellington signed the cover so his note and signature have been rubbed off a bit. Fortunately, Reagan signed just inside next to the Governors’ Conference seal. Overall, the menu is in good shape but there is some wear and a slight crease.

Of note, the Reagan signature is not perfect when compared to others. It looks hurried. Yet there is little reason to doubt its authenticity given where we found it.

In addition, we have a letter that helps verify the actual signatures.

As this woman tells it in a letter back to her parents, Ronald Reagan was right in front of her in line for dinner and she says she met him (if he signed it in line, this would explain its hurried look). Also in the letter she relates how she met Buford Ellington and joined his table and talked with him to some extent. She does not mention getting their signatures in the letter, only meeting them. On a side note, she also adds some nice details on the party (held in the palm groves on the water, colored lights, flowers, steel bands, open bars... which may also explain the hurried signature although Reagan apparently drank very little).

So, our questions are…

Should we get this signature authenticated and by whom? As you can see from the image, it is not perfectly written. However, again, no reason to suspect it is fake at all. Unless of course anyone disagrees.

How much might this be worth? How would we go about selling it should we choose? We are pretty poor students so not sure the value of keeping it. While we do collect old ephemera, we don’t really collect autographs.

All advice is welcome.

Thank you,

Dylan and Sarah