My View on Signed Items and Autographs in Books

In general, I'm not that interested in purchasing autographs online.  Even if an autograph is authenticated, I can never be certain whether the autograph is genuine.  If I have some tangible evidence that gives me a distinct reason for believing the autograph to be genuine, then my opinion of it is higher.  I do think that signed items are great, but I have a very low interest in acquiring them for myself due to my skepticism.  I also tend to have lukewarm feelings towards autographs that I own and for the same reason.

It's just really easy to fake an autograph.  I am always skeptical, so I am just not that impressed by signed items that come up for sale.

I searched though my old posts here and on Facebook to find my past comments on autographs.  On March 21, 2019, I wrote:

Additionally, I am not that enamored with autographs.  I realize that sounds strange, but I can't help that I feel that way.

I wrote this on June 13, 2019:

After a couple of weeks, I decided that I wanted the dust jacket.  I actually didn't care about the signed book one way or the other.  Signed books do nothing for me.  That probably doesn't make sense to most of you, but I simply do not care about signatures in books.  I have no emotional reaction to a signed book.  Also, I am quite aware of the story about how Mildred Wirt Benson was allegedly not paid much to sign a large quantity of books.  That taints the signature.

I wrote about some Kennedy McMann autographs on September 7, 2019.

I purchased two Nancy Drew photos purportedly signed by Kennedy McMann.  I never trust autographs unless I have proof, and I have mentioned before that autographs don't mean much to me.  I am neutral on them.  The only autograph I own that I know for sure is real is the proof that Rudy Nappi signed that I purchased from him personally.  Otherwise, you just never know.  

These images will look great framed.  I was fortunate to purchase them before the seller raised the price of the ones with the logo.  The seller figured out fast that the most desirable photos were the ones with "Nancy Drew" printed on them.  Duh.

The Kennedy McMann autographs are probably real, since the seller was based in Vancouver and probably did get the photographs signed in person.  Also, these autographs were sold a month before the CW series premiered, and Kennedy McMann was a debut actress.  Would someone create fake autographs by an actress whose career was just beginning?  Probably not.  Still, probably isn't definitely, especially since I know that I could create fake copies of these particular autographs myself.  It wouldn't be hard.

On December 31, 2019, I found two tweed Nancy Drew books that were signed by Mildred Benson.  Or were they?

Dang, look what I just found...  I am sorting books to see if I can get together some small bulk lots of books in rough shape.  I was looking at my extra Nancy Drew books with jackets.  I was examining Shadow Ranch and discovered the Mildred Benson autograph on the title page. 😮 Okay... I remembered a bulk lot that I purchased this month.  I looked up the listing and began searching for the other books. I found Red Gate Farm with a Mildred Benson autograph.

I can't be sure if these autographs are real.  They don't look just like other Benson autographs, but Benson's autograph's varied greatly late in her life.

The bulk lot came from Florida.  Some of the other books have Farah's Guide numbers written in them, so the books came from a knowledgeable collector.  I am reminded of the deceased collector from Florida whose books were sold in 2015.  I wonder if these are some more of her books.  [Always click on images in order to view them clearly.]

Several people who commented on my post thought that the signatures were real.  Nobody stated that they thought otherwise.  I put the books up for sale advising that I didn't know for sure one way or the other, and they sold quickly.  I remain skeptical, but that's just me and how I view autographs. 

I've seen a number of books signed by Harriet Stratemeyer Adams, several in person and many online.  Her autograph isn't that hard to find.  In most books, Harriet signed in the upper left corner of a page.  For the books I have, Harriet signed in the middle of the title page.  Despite the slightly different appearance, I believe the autographs are real.  They were all signed to a specific person, and besides, it's unlikely that people went around forging Harriet Adams' signature. 

Eventually, I will sell them, because autographs are generally not that special to me.  

As I mentioned in one of my posts quoted above, I have one autograph that I know is real.

I posted the following on July 4, 2016.

I am beginning the process of going through some things in order to clean up my collection.  I'm finding things I forgot I had, like this dust jacket proof of Golden Pavilion signed by Rudy Nappi.  I am not that interested in autographs even with a certificate of authenticity, simply because one can't ever be sure the autograph is real unless signed in person.  Even though this one wasn't signed in person, I bought it from Rudy Nappi, and that itself proves that the signature is real.  I even kept the mailer with his name and address.  So I like this autograph.

And here's the proof.

I wrote this post to lead into my next post about Keeper of the Lost Cities books signed by Shannon Messenger.  In the case of the Keeper books, I am certain that the autographs are genuine.