Autograph collecting
Some of the most popular categories of autograph subjects are politicians, military soldiers, athletes, movie stars, artists, social and religious leaders, scientists, astronauts, and authors.
Joe DiMaggio was able to earn more money through signing fees than he made in his playing career, though he also gave individual autographs.
Michael Jordan reportedly did not sign for most of his career because of safety concerns about frenzied attempts to get his signature, which is worth thousands of dollars.
Boxer George Foreman, for instance, records the names and addresses of every person requesting an autograph to limit such abuses.
Some famous people flatly refused to autograph anything for fans, such as the actors Paul Newman and Greta Garbo,[7] and the aviator Charles A. Lindbergh.
Autograph collectors enjoy assembling signed historical documents, letters, or objects as a way of capturing a piece of history.
In October 2012, Chad Richard Baldwin of Gresham, Oregon, was sentenced to two years in prison for the sale of forged Babe Ruth and Beatles autographs.
A 1988 book that explores the production of impressive fake manuscripts pertaining to Mormons is A Gathering of Saints by Robert Lindsey.
During the American Civil War, Jefferson Davis's wife frequently signed his name to his dictated letters due to his extensive correspondence.
In the early months of World War II, U.S. Army Chief of Staff George C. Marshall felt obligated to sign every condolence letter sent to the families of slain soldiers.
In the 1952 U.S. presidential election, General Dwight D. Eisenhower often had secretaries forge his name to campaign letters and "personally inscribed" autographed photographs.
Due to these professional imitations, buyers are often wary of buying presidential or astronaut signatures from unknown sellers.
England's King Henry VIII and Pennsylvania colony founder William Penn used a deceiving hand stamp.
[citation needed] Many famous astronauts,[10] Arctic explorers,[11] musicians,[12] poets, and literary authors[13] have had forgeries of their epistles and signatures produced.
False signatures of Charles Lindbergh were clandestinely signed onto real 1930-era airmail envelopes bought at stamp shops and then re-sold to unwary buyers; the same has occurred with Amelia Earhart and the Wright brothers.
Mickey Mouse creator Walt Disney had several of his cartoonists duplicate his artistic signature on replies to children seeking his autograph.
The October 1986 Smithsonian magazine explored The Persistence of Memory, a 1931 painting by the Spanish artist Salvador Dalí.
He may have signed well over 50,000 in the remaining quarter century of his life, an action that resulted in a flood of Dalí lithograph forgeries."
This practice has expanded to include quotations from George W. Bush, Hillary Clinton, John F. Kennedy, and Franklin D. Roosevelt.
The autograph industry is currently contentiously split between two types of authenticators: those who rely upon their professional expertise and experience personally having collected or sold large inventories of autographs over a period of many years, such as the consultants at AutographCOA.com (ACOA), and "forensic examiners" who rely on academic credentials.
Potential autograph buyers uncertain of the legitimacy of the seller or authenticator may research both parties, and may check any dealer who claims membership of any association.
Daniels said that he had bought more than 2,000 signed photographs of athletes from Mastro and claimed that the catalog incorrectly described them as all being in color and 8" x 10" in size.
He produced two dealers who he said were autograph experts, but Superior Court Judge Matthew C. Kincaid excluded their testimony saying that neither Steve Koschal nor Richard Simon "possess sufficient skill, knowledge or experience in the fields in which they were asked to render opinions."
