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Autographed Letters: More valuable than a signed document/letter or a signed picture or less?

I recently purchased a hand written letter from Christopher Reeve. It's interesting that in the Sanders Autograph Price Guide (yes I know it's outdated but stay with me) has a signed letter/document from Reeve valued at $235, an autographed letter valued at $150 and a signed picture at $230.

With that being said, a Reeve autograph in general is valued at $143 in the guide. So my question is do people in the autograph business really value letters when it actually has more writing in their hand than per se a document that is only signed once while the rest of the letter is typed out?

I know their are a thousand different ways you could take this conversation...and that's partly why I am posting. I've never heard it addressed and I know everyone will probably have their own opinion versus a particular code. Thanks for your input.

Tags: autograph, document, guide, letter, price, signed

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Permalink Reply by Dan Gregory on November 10, 2014 at 8:13pm

I think a lot depends on the letter and its contents. Where personal information is discussed such as to a loved one or close friend I think the value is much more, sometimes far more than a photo can be. That said most people tend to want a photo such as to frame or display so the value tends to be a little greater

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Permalink Reply by Mike Kaminski on November 10, 2014 at 10:10pm

Depends on circumstance. You're likely to find many more signed letters from notables in the earlier part of the 20th century than photos and vice versa presently. I would say in general though, it goes like:

1A) Hand written letter
1B) Photo

Depends on circumstance/rarity.

And then after them are typed signed letters.

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Permalink Reply by CJCollector on November 11, 2014 at 4:15am

As a huge Tom Tresh collector, I own two letters penned by Tommy Tresh, and I find them very cool.

I don't concern myself with value, just the fact that Mr. Tresh penned those letters and signed them is very cool.

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Permalink Reply by Mike Shepherd on November 11, 2014 at 1:52pm

It depends on the content of the document or letter, and the image of the photo. Personally, I would rather have your Christopher Reeve autographed letter than any Christopher Reeve autographed photo that may be available.

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Permalink Reply by Bradford on November 11, 2014 at 7:51pm

True, Mike. I've often wondered the value of autographed documents as compared to letters, pictures, handwritten letters, etc. You are all are correct when it comes to the circumstance and content of the letter. A signed check would probably have a different value than one of my Christopher Reeve acting contracts which probably would have more nostalgic meaning...even sentimental meaning to the actor himself and the importance of what that document meant to them at the time.

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