Is buying a "faded signature" worth it?

There's a great candid photo of FDR on eBay currently that is signed, but the signature is faded. I usually don't even consider a faded-signature piece, but the image of FDR is one-of-a-kind and really captures  FDR in a rare unaffected casualness. 

The FDR image aside, I'd like to know forum members' opinions about faded signatures.

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Permalink Reply by Eric Keith Longo on April 21, 2025 at 6:56pm

You are most welcome. I believe it is very important to consider every possible quality as my other response will show. Many times people will leave value on the table as well. For example, there are also some dealers you might run into who have a set value for signed photographs by this actor or that actress without taking the originality or even the content of the image into account - both are key to me. You can find saving on items you might pay a premium on elsewhere. I collect period signed stills/publicity stills/original photographs and items of actors and actresses/musicians/directors I have admired my whole life - some I remember watching with my parents and many others I discovered myself.

Sorry - TinEye and Google Image Search are reverse image search tools to use online to find the source of an image.

Here is a link to TinEye:

LINK to TinEye

Upload an image from your files and search. If the item if for sale elsewhere with the same image you'll see it. Most useful for many things. Image information or authorship etc. When using Google on some images if you have a mouse I think it is hold the left click and then right click. See the Google box open and select "Search with Google Lens" - this will open up a new  - you'll get the swing of it. I'm not really a technical person.

Permalink Reply by Steve Cyrkin, Admin on April 21, 2025 at 3:12pm

Read this discussion before you buy anything from Tamino Autographs:

Anyone Familiar with Tamino Autographs?

Permalink Reply by Eric Keith Longo on April 21, 2025 at 3:17pm

+100 I forgot! I got caught up in the image. Never drink from a dirty well.

Permalink Reply by Eric Keith Longo on April 21, 2025 at 3:34pm

Here: Up now so current. $50 This, were it genuine, would be worth over 10 times that amount. This is a forgery of the common Sydell Spear secretarial:

Permalink Reply by Garrett Meadows on April 21, 2025 at 5:59pm

Certainly those dealers must know some items are forged?  Do they lack any discernment whatsoever? 

The world is filled with uninformed goofballs such as me who foolishly believe such dealers are on the up and up.

Permalink Reply by Eric Keith Longo on April 21, 2025 at 6:36pm

I can't know what they know, but I can sure guess.

Buying an autograph is the last step IMO. Information is protection and power. Learning the signature  and its evolution, what is considered good, bad and exceptional by others (indicated by the market/auction results), signing angle, the usual pen for the time, usual placement, dedications, inscriptions, the common and uncommon forms/signing styles and the relative scarcity of the encountered items - playbills, photographs, candids, letters, contracts and so on. This my idea of collecting an autograph. There are, apparently, people collecting names of people in films they have not seen. I really don't understand that. 

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