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The internet has made it easy to trade. With the birth of the ebay flipper, where is our hobby heading? Is the hobby more of a business for flippers who are inflating our loved autographs. Its not uncommon to see items sold at auctions and resold a week later for double the amount. There also seems to be more and more flippers around.
Whats doing more damage to the prices the flippers or the forgers?
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Whats wrong with Puerto Rico Sports,still a U.S Territory and all the ball players from DR and other spanish nations play in winter leagues there. Also When Texas leave the US,which will happen we will just make that little Island a state so we dont have to change the stars on the flag =)
This is an interesting topic. Obviously, the business side of things has hurt the hobby in MANY MANY ways. The most important being -- the celebrity doesn't like to sign because of it. If there was no business involved, most celebs would be thrilled to sign. They'd know they're doing it for the fans (on most occasions). We've all heard the pros/cons regarding selling and buying autographs, and many of you make valid points.
You can use this same logic for collecting sports cards, too. Kids used to do it for their favorite players. They'd put them on the tack board in their room, put rubber bands around them, and...for the player on their favorite team that sucked...those cards were put on their bicycle spokes to make really cool sounds. Now, it's all about rookie cards, MVPs, and not damaging a card that won't be worth as much as the Mickey Mantle rookie, because Topps makes millions and millions more than they ever did, and EVERYONE saves them, thinking they'll be worth money.
I can't speak for the 60's or even early 70's ...it was before my time. There were always autograph dealers, people selling the signatures of early presidents, authors and inventors, but these were usually people who dealt in rare books and stamps and other collectibles to support the autograph business.
The major turn in the celebrity autograph business was the 2nd half of the 1990's. SDCC and conventions all over the US brought in celebrities to sign autographs and most of them charged a fee. You could stand outside a NYC talkshow or Broadway play and expect to see a handful of fans asking the celeb going in or leaving for an autograph. By the late 1990's it was 100 or more people waiting, and by the early 2000's that number doubled with runners and kids being paid to try for an autograph (so they could hand it off to the supplier or dealer.)
The number of real autograph dealers hasn't changed much, but the wannabe dealers on ebay and elsewhere boomed. They made real money on ebay in the 90's and early 2000's and that brought in the forgers seeing a way to make a quick buck...they jumped in with both feet.
When I began seriously collecting in the early 70s it was very much a business albeit tiny by today's standards. I bought at yard sales, flea markets, antique stores and from catalogs. The old "Antique Trader" newspaper always had an autograph section. There were also dealers that issued catalogs and one in particular from Massachusetts I bought a lot of stuff from. I think I have copies of his old catalogs from the 70s I probably should dig those out and post some of the prices. I know I was getting autographed letters of Civil War generals for $10-25. I passed up an autographed letter all in the hand of Thomas Edison because they wanted $50 and I didn't think he was worth it. There were autograph collectors and dealers even in the nineteenth century often specializing in colonial figures. A lot of "book dealers" were autograph sellers. For the most part the catalog dealers were honest and very good. The double edged sword of eBay has put average people that never studied a signature in their life to the forefront of the autograph industry.
You know I stopped getting that sometime in the 80s I think. I am not sure if they still publish or not. I suspect with the internet it is almost obsolete except for articles. I even bought a Civil War rifle through the "Antique Trader" for $80 and I think that included shipping! I kick myself now for not getting that Edison letter it was in a "junk" shop that bought a lot of "remainder" materials from auctions. I did buy a lot of autographs there mostly letters. My autograph collection has certainly grown due to the internet since the early 70s when I began. Back then word of mouth, magazines and newspapers were the only way to really to find dealers.
The magazine must have been published at least through the 90s, and maybe even the 00s, as I recall seeing them at Borders and balking at the cover price.
Think of the autograph collecting hobby as a diamond with many facets. Some enjoy to obtain autographs in person for the thrill of the chase. Some buy autographs for their personal satisfaction of ownership without concern for future value. Some have a passion for becoming a dealer which is an honorable service to collectors. Some flip for profit or to simply grow their ability to upgrade their collection. I often sell pieces of my collection but for every dollar sold I've put two dollars back in. The one flaw in the diamond is forgeries and that will not stop but every effort must be made to weed the offenders out. In the end, whatever a person spends their money on they are the ultimate responsible party for spending wisely. For those who do not seek to understand what they are spending their money on then they are victims to themselves. Fool me once, shame on you. Fool me twice, shame on me. The free marketplace has always been buyer beware.
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