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Decicated or undedicated?

I prefer dedicated autographs, because, to me, they have character and soul; whereas, undedicated autographs appear flat lifrless. Feel free to make your comments.

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Permalink Reply by Eric Keith Longo on August 21, 2018 at 12:26pm

I love inscriptions, dedications and dates. They add a third dimension to the peice, placing it on a timeline and perhaps giving a context or even location. It is also much more unique. It could prove to be a special someone. That is all meaningful. I will not trim, edit, remove, alter or do anything else. What I will do is select the items I want as I want them, and leave the others for...others. I am no position to start editing the hand of the celebs I love.
There are other things. It ruins the celebs composition, placement and so on. Many look like something is missing. Many look like something funny happened. Some don't. There is also stability of the materials involved and risk. For what again? The other points, more/easier to authenticate or trip up the forger and so on. All valid points.

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Permalink Reply by just some dude on August 21, 2018 at 12:39pm

When I first started collecting I avoided inscriptions, now I embrace them. More to look at, study, enjoy, etc.

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Permalink Reply by Eric Keith Longo on August 21, 2018 at 12:29pm

I can't edit for some reason but I wanted to add - it is "extra texture" to me. Like icing on a cake.

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Permalink Reply by Abcd on August 21, 2018 at 1:47pm

I thought it was just me. If they were the same price, I would still go for the dedicated. The undedicated are so 'digital'

Digital meaning: without personality. Sterile.

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Permalink Reply by James on August 21, 2018 at 11:09pm

I am with you Michael. I generally prefer dedicated autographs, and I don’t think it’s absolutely certain that undedicated autographs are worth more. As a general rule, I’ve read that contemporary, modern celebrity autographs are worth more undedicated. However, the book is more open on historical autographs.

Let’s take JFK autographs, for example. As a general rule, I would say that most JFK collectors would rather have a signed JFK book or photo that is inscribed rather than not. If you’ve ever seen a copy of “Profiles in Courage” that is simply signed “John Kennedy” and nothing else, it feels quite boring and lifeless. Many historical collectors like to have that extra writing in the hand of an admired historical figure.

For me personally, whether it’s a modem celeb or an historical one, a dedicated item brings the autograph to life and makes the celebrity seem more real. It captures a moment in time when the celebrity was taking time to acknowledge a fan. You can kind of imagine the autograph signing actually taking place.

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Permalink Reply by James on August 21, 2018 at 11:12pm

Eric, I’m having the same prob;em with editing on the website. And I can only leave replies to the original discussion, but I can’t reply to a reply.

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Permalink Reply by Eric Keith Longo on August 21, 2018 at 11:16pm

I just had the problem while replying to your other post about this!

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Permalink Reply by James on August 21, 2018 at 11:22pm

Ok, now it seems to be working ok.

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Permalink Reply by James on August 21, 2018 at 11:15pm

To me, generally speaking, I think books, especially from an historical firgure, are much, much more desirable when they are dedicated. Otherwise, it just feels like something is missing.