Understanding Content and Importance

Quality depends directly upon the autograph’s content or intrinsic importance (by this latter term I mean that it has importance in and of itself)....

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The Impact of Condition

Another factor affecting the value of autographs is condition. A significant condition problem will reduce the value of an autograph, even one of high...

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Steps in Autograph authentication: Apply the Burden of Proof, Ascertain Provenance

Many people start with the idea that an autograph is authentic and look further only if they are suspicious. This is backwards. You must...

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Buy Fewer Things, and Make Them Great

I first got started in this field back in 1985. At that time, I was like a kid in a candy store, buying without...

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Assessing Signed Photographs and Books

Many people collect signed photographs, and even here our concepts of content and intrinsic importance hold true. We always start with the perhaps surprising...

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Assessing Autograph Values

Within each of the primary autograph formats (letters, manuscripts and documents), there are four identifiable price levels. Three of these track the gradations of...

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Fundamental Definitions

Autographs come in six basic formats: letters, manuscripts, documents, signed photographs, signed books and signatures. The first three are of greatest significance in our...

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Avoid Things That Are Too Good to Be True

Beginners in the autograph field naturally want exciting things and may quickly gravitate toward the most spectacular pieces. They don’t realize that what they...

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Focusing on Sets

Many people start out by collecting sort of higgledy piggledy, but eventually discover one or two fields in which they want to concentrate, Others...

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The White Glove Myth

Nathan Raab is a contributor to Forbes.com. Here is his most recent contribution, the original of which can be found here. “Don’t you need...

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