| Collecting
Autograph
An autograph
is a document written entirely in the handwriting
of its author, as opposed to a typeset document
or one transcribed by an amanuensis or a copyist
The meaning overlaps with that of the word holograph.As
the word is used by non-historians, it has come
to mean a person's signature. This term is used
in particular for the practice of collecting autographs
of celebrities
Autograph of king Charles XII of Sweden
(1682-1718)
In East Asia,
an autograph from a famous gentry is regarded
as an honour. The value of an item bearing a high
official's autograph could rise incredibly. In
ancient dynasty of China, an autograph from an
emperor of that dynasty was priceless but selling
an item bearing it could be an offensive crime.
In Europe and
North America, asking for a celebrity's autograph
used to be seen as a kid's practice up to only
a few decades ago. The boom of collecting autographs
as a hobby came during the 1980s, and, as a consequence,
many memorabilia dealers took notice, and what
used to be an innocent hobby lost that innocence
as both dealers and celebrities began to charge
money for their signatures.
During the 1990s, many people started forging
celebrity autographs and selling them as real,
to the point of necessitating the involvement
of the FBI. This enraged some of the celebrities,
who would just stop signing autographs for everyone
or sign exclusive deals with companies to distribute
their autographs, to make sure everyone who got
their autographs by paying for it was getting
a real autograph and not a fake one.
Many dealers
also would wait for the celebrity to come out
of the place were they were at for hours, and
then put 25 photos in front of them for the celebrity
to sign and then in turn, the dealer could sell
24 of them. Other dealers also would find the
celebrity's home address and write them asking
for autographs multiple times. The celebrities,
of course, sometimes grow tired of that and make
it a point to sign only 1 autograph per person,
and in the mail case, although there is no way
they could all use to know who have they signed
for at multiple times through the mail, boxer
George Foreman has a peculiar way of knowing:
He keeps the names and addresses of every person
who writes him asking for an autograph in his
personal computer, so that whenever he receives
a letter, he will know if the person is a fan
who admires him or just a dealer who wants to
sell his autographs and needs more of them. |
