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Written by Administrator
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Tuesday, 19 February 2008 |
Collecting autographs - the philosophy of the German Autograph Club (AdA)
During 1987, the Board of Directors of the German Autograph Club published its principles regarding our fascinating hobby. Peter Michielsen and Romanus Krick were the authors of this article.
Autographs produce and initiate history, a fact that has been proven many times. The manuscipts of Nobel Prize Winners may include pioneering scientific theories. Manuscripts of political speeches can result in controversial political discussions. The re-unification of Germany, the collapse of communism in Eastern Europe and the dissolution of the USSR were only set into effect by - autographs! Yitzhak Rabin and Yassir Arafat set their signatures (or autographs) upon a couple of documents that ended a lot of controversies. And on July 29th 1987 French President Fanncois Mitterrand and British Prime Minister Margaret Thatcher signed a contract initiating the Channel Tunnel which connects Great Britain and the Continent.
George Bernard Shaw hated autograph hunters. He once wrote to a German lady:“The habit of asking people for autographs is pardonable in a very young lady. In a full blown woman it is inexcusable”. A gentleman read in a newspaper that the coffee Shaw brewed was delicious. He wrote the Literature Nobel Prize Winner and requested the recipe. Shaw replied with the recipe and a short note saying that he hoped it had not been a cheap trick to get his autograph. The gentleman responded: “Thank you very much for the recipe. I wrote to you with no bad thoughts. Please allow me that I am returning your autograph which seems to be priceless to you but unimportant to me.”
Autograph hunters can be a nuisance to VIPs. For this reason many of them have found an answer to the bulk of requests they receive per day: prints, secretarials, and autopen signatures. Inventiveness sometimes helps to receive a genuine autograph. A collector named Cornelius Greenway sent checks for a small amount to celebrities. The celebrity had to endorse the check in order to cash them. The endorsed checks were returned to Greenway by the bank. A fellow countryman from Pennsylvania named Colbert received many autograph letters from VIPs. Colbert wrote to them stating he had his child baptized using the celebrities first name. This trick was revealed when the late Yassir Arafat told this story to the press and it was discovered there was no Yassir Colbert.
There are different groups of autograph hunters. Some of them are happy to get a signed photo of a star. But some of them want more: a letter, a manuscript or a document.
Autograph collecting has a long history. 2000 years ago Cicero, the great opponent of Julius Caesar, was proud to have a letter from Caesar. This autograph, as a matter of fact, is no longer extant. The oldest autographs that still exist today are those of the predecessors of Charlemagne (768-814 AD) who could not write but added a line or two to their “signatures” which were produced by experienced writers. Other ancient autographs are those of Prophet Muhammad, Viking King Knut and William the Conqueror who became King of England in 1066.
Many prominent people of history were keen autograph collectors such as Johann Wolfgang von Goethe, Queen Victoria, Emperor Maximilian of Mexico, Edgar Allen Poe, Charles Darwin, Johannes Brahms and even Nazi leaders Adolf Hitler and Hermann Goering.
One of the most important prominent collectors of the 20th century was Stefan Zweig who compiled a marvelous collection within 40 years. He had splendid autographs of Napoleon, Bach, Handel, Balzac, Karl Marx, W. A. Mozart, Friedrich von Schiller, Dostojewsky and many others. As a Jew, Stefan Zweig had to leave Austria after the German occupation in 1938. He donated a part of his outstanding collection to the National Muaseum of Vienna. Some of the pieces he could take into exile were sold to make a living while others were donated to the British Museum in London before he committed suicide in 1942.
The prices for desirable autographs have been constantly going up for the last 40 years. This development has its history also. In 1902 millionaire John Pierpont Morgan paid approx. $ 25,000 for the autograph letter which Martin Luther had written to Roman Emperor Charles V on April 28th 1521. He could have obtained this letter for a quarter of the mentioned price but he intended to give this outstanding historic autograph to Kaiser Wilhelm - and paid more to make a greater impression on the German emperor. He got the decoration which was his real intention!
One must be aware of the fact that many autograph letters are in the collections of collectors and dealers from all over the world. But one must also know that the bulk of them are in archives. These autographs will never be available for sale. Only 35 letters out of those 375 that are known to exist written by Frederic Chopin are in private hands. The balance is in archives around the world.
When discusing the value of autographs it is not only important that they were signed by a prominent person. Scarcity is of most importance. Routine content letters by George III (1760-1820) or Queen Victoria (1837-1901) are less valuable than one of Queen Elizabeth II who has been Queen since 1952. The reason is simply that handwritten letters by Elizabeth II are extremely rare.
Many American collectors have specialized in the signers of the Declaration of Independence (4th July 1776). Many are not considered rare. Possibly the rarest is Button Gwinnet who was not really prominent in world history up to 1776. He was shot in a duel shortly after the Declaration of Independence. As a consequence his genuine autograph can be considered rare. During the 20th century, our research indicates that his genuine autograph was offered approximately four times. A letter from his hand costs more than $ 50,000, a fact that is surprising.
For the same reason the handwriting of Lee Harvey Oswald is more expensive than that of the person he shot: John F. Kennedy. Most interesting is genuine autographs of Kennedy are considered somewhat uncommon since it was published he signed little himself. From the beginning of the 1950s Kenedy used many secretaries which were authorized to sign in his name. Some were capable of imitating his signature which can cause confusion to some. In addition to this he made use of the Autopen machine. These machine signed signatures can easily be detected by those who have the proper autograph educational reference material. Former President Jimmy Carter had a secretary named Susan Clough. She not only signed many of Carter's letters but also signed laws passed by Congress, treaties with foreign powers and documents which were to be sent to foreign statesmen! This can be called an “autographical Watergate”!
The fact that modern statesmen use the Autopen machine and secretaries to “sign” various items in their name, has a long tradition. French Kings not only used stamps but also “secretaires de la main” who were charged to write the name of the monarch on documents. Louis XVI (the one who was beheaded in 1792 under Robespierre) however did not have a “secretaire de la main” since his signature was so complicated, no secretary could imitate it.
It is said, autographs were used for official state presents. When Germany’s Federal Chancellor and Nobel Peace Prize Winner Willy Brandt traveled to Moscow he gave Communist Party Leader Leonid Breshnev a postcard written by Lenin. French President Giscard d’Estaing brought an autograph letter by Leo Tolstoi (back) to Russia.
Some presidents of the South and Central American states keep the credentials given to them by the ambassadors of other states. Many of these documents are signed by Heads of State. When these Presidents leave office some sell their documents to professional autograph dealers! This way one can acquire rare signatures of Kings, Queens, and Presidents.
One has also to take autographs into considertation from those regarded as villains or rascals. Intrigues and mass murder, revolutions and mysteries could be attributed to them. Rasputin and Hitler, Uganda’s Idi Amin and Cambodia’s Pol ot, Goebbels and Saddam Hussein and Usama Bin Laden are on the “want lists” of many serious collectors. Mass murderes such as Marat are in the focus of some collectors. The document he was reading while having a bath when he was stabbed by Chjarlotte Corday is one of the historic treasures of France - though being bloodstained.
Genuine autographs of Billy the Kid and Jesse James can hardly be acquired. Lenin and Mao were politicians who made revolutions, who changed “the course of human events” - and who are responsible for the death of millions of human beings. Their autographs can be considered very scarce.
It is clear, the field of collecting the handwritings of persons who were and are “prominent” seems to be immense. The German Autograph Club cannot answer every question. It certainly can help to establish contacts between collectors on an International level. It can help to find answers to many collectors questions and advise of forgeries, forgers and to provide educational information.
We would be grateful if you joined us.
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Last Updated ( Friday, 21 March 2008 )
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