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October 2008 Dear Collectors and Colleagues, If you are like me, you have been thinking a lot about how the current global economic environment influences your family, profession and future. Some of you might even be thinking about how it affects your hobby of collecting autographs and manuscripts—you can be sure I have given that a lot of thought. Perhaps you are interested to know how things look from my perspective. The last couple of years have been very good due, in part, to the strengthening of the Euro against the US dollar. During that time we sold two seven-figure collections: a unique assemblage of over 300 letters by impressionist and post impressionist painters (including three letters by van Gogh and 120 by Monet) and a major Einstein archive containing many important scientific manuscripts. There have also been six-figure sales: more Einstein collections, another van Gogh letter, a collection of Toulouse Lautrec letters, etc. A good number of these pieces went into the European trade, suggesting that there is “new blood” in the market while the Euro to Dollar relationship still retained its relevancy. Recently, however, as the dollar paradoxically started to regain strength against the Euro and the topsy-turvy global stock markets began to wreak havoc on the sleep of billions of people, I became concerned about my participation at the Frankfurt (Germany) Antiquarian Book Fair from which I just returned on October 20th. Despite the fear of financial doom, buyers were still present and accounted for. In fact, the two most expensive items I brought with me, an important manuscript fragment of Heinrich Heine and a collection of letters by the early Zionist and author, Dr. Max Nordau, both found buyers. What lessons can I draw from these events? There are several. First and foremost is that I realized the world is not coming to an end and so I sleep better at night. I also better understand that although the relationship between the Euro and the Dollar is an important one, the time-worn observation that quality “sells” is still valid. Naturally, there needs to be a sensible relationship between quality and price and, of course, it is difficult for many of us to concentrate on “luxury” items when our financial future feels precarious. But, this, too, shall pass. I’ve been through painful hyper-inflation, the 1987 crash, the downturn in the early 1990s, the dot.com bubble, the post 9/11 period, and so on. In conclusion, after 31 years in the business, I believe I still have a couple of more decades in me to be filled with exciting purchases and discoveries. For those of you who are established clients, your credit is still good with us. For those who may have never bought from us before, we still believe in lay-away plans. For those of you too worried to continue with your hobby at this time, I understand. Remember, though, even Warren Buffett puts his pants on one leg at a time like the rest of us, and that we all need to move forward with our lives, our goals and our dreams. Hopefully, we as a nation will learn how to use our hard earned cash more wisely in the future and not spend more than we can afford. Even though my business is small and took a long time to grow, for years I have done better than General Motors—Lion Heart Autographs makes a profit, its employees get and keep their benefits, they have retirement plans, and they do not face lay-offs. I will have a lot to be thankful for this Thanksgiving—a loving and healthy family, good friends, devoted and conscientious employees, and enough rational self-confidence to believe that things will inevitably get better: maybe not as soon as we would like, but probably sooner than we think. Have a good holiday and don’t neglect to vote! Comment: I really much appreciate these interesting thoughts for our hobby and like to invite to discuss this topic in our Forum.
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Autograph Article 
