I have a basketball that is signed by various different players that I don't intend to sell. But I don't understand people who buy these things online for the intent of them having it. I mean it defeats the purpose of meeting someone and getting an object signed while having that experience. You're just sitting at home buying a signed object that you didn't even meet whoever signed it.
Possibly not (though you don't know who I am, I have technically been in the national spotlight at a low level on more than one occassion). But I don't see the value in it. If others do, that's fine. It's just always struck me as just weird beyond a certain age outside of something with real life experienced sentimental value. Maybe it's just me because I have encountered and talked to notable people and I'm not impressed with their status (which doesn't mean I don't show them their due respect).
Number one reason is because they have value. The real question is why do they have value? Because they are limited, they hard to get, and they are tied to history. Why are they limited? because people die. Why are they hard to get? We don't have access to celebrity. Why do we like history? because of the last 5 letters. Story. Why do we like stories? We like to be entertained. Why do we like entertainment? To escape our daily lives. Why is escaping our daily life important? Creativity. What does creativity lead to? Intelligence. The bottom line is that what you will find in the scientific research is that animals that collect useless items are the more intelligent species. It sounds a bit odd. But collecting material without a reason to do so is not only a sign of intelligence, but appears to be a primary cog in it's development.
I had a autographed basketball.. Zach randolph, Marcus Camby, Tony Allen, and 2 more players signed it.. Then I lost it.. It was pretty useless.
Just this week, I was helping my 85 year old mother go through some of her old papers. We came across some documents that have my great grandfather's signature on them. They also have Theodore Roosevelt's signature. I can't tell if its an actual signature or some kind of stamp. It LOOKS real, but I'm certainly no expert. He also has another similar document with William Mckinnley's signature. Both were land documents that show ownership of land parcells in Wyoming. I'm gonna look into it. I see online that Teddy Roosevelt's signature is worth about $500.
I have a few yearbooks with autographs of people I know in that book. I'm gonna sell them and get rich.
Not an autograph hound, but I do consider some autograph things to be cooled. I'm a basketball fan, and I like the Rockets, so I like things like Autographed Basketballs or shoes. It can't be any random joe blow. I have an autographed Jordan Hill Cap that is lost somewhere in my car in the back seat. Many shoes have stepped all over it. I have a Trevor Ariza autographed long sleeve. I wear it and wash it..often. I don't really care about those. My Miley Cyrus autograph picture is cool for two reasons. It has my name, and how I received it. Couldn't tell you where it's at. I think it's in a box in my garage.
I don't care as much for an autograph then getting a picture with a celebrity instead, its more personal.
I think autographs are only cool if you meet and person and get it. Because it's like a memory of you meeting that person, possibly your idol in real life. What I don't get is the people that buys autographs, I mean that's literally just ink on a piece of paper to me. I started hounding a bit in the past year, I prioritize picture with the person over autographs everytime. btw i have went for Rockets autographs, Lin and Harden were not very nice about it, in fact they didn't even look at the fans or say anything. Chandler was really nice, so was McHale and Delfino. I was surprised Omer was willing to take pictures even though he seemed super shy.
Years ago a roommate of mine went to a Rockets game during MerGady's peak years with us. He called on his way back and said he got an autographed poster from the man himself and thought he'd give it to me, knowing how big of a Rockets nerd I was. He came back and I was just super excited. Then he gave me a half-ripped poster of MerGady looking angry going for a layup, and in the back he wrote "t-mac" in a schitty elementary handwriting with a heart around it. We laughed for hours. Then I contemplated killing him in his sleep.
I'm not one for autographs, either. I like to chat them up, or do something like ask Steve Garvey to kiss my 16yr old sister, because it's her birthday. Or tell Dusty Baker on a Monday when he's signing autographs at the bullpen that I will be in left field at the Astrodome during fielding practice for the Wednesday game and "will you throw me a ball." I asked him, because he was the most fined player in MLB at the time for throwing balls into the stands. He remembered, and he did...from f!cking second base, right into my lap. The only autograph I ever got was Tom Wolfe at a book signing at Brazos Bookstore. If you're going to shell out the money for a first edition, it is cool to get it signed because you get to talk to them, too. Can't remember what I said...something lame, I'm sure. But it was cool to meet him, wearing his white suit with polka dots. Dave2000, Oh much does a Dave2000 photograph with Yao Ming go for nowadays?
I wished I had Todd Macfarlane autograph for my The Amazing Spider #298,299,300. They still in mint condition even after 14yrs and probably worth $200 each if I had his autograph.
you know what's funny...i totally agree with you. also totally agree with the original poster. i've never gotten autographs, never been into them, never understood the fascination. yet, i have had a 1994 rockets championship poster with pics of the starting 5. since 94, i've wanted to get it signed by the 5 of them, then framed. the only piece of autographed memorabilia i have that i remotely give a crap about pretty much. anyway, i was never able to track maxwell down. over all-star weekend, he's signing crap at a "private signing" for $30 a pop. and i'm mailing my poster in to be signed. don't even get to see him sign it. i know...CSB. just coincidental timing for me to read these posts.
Funny story but true. I work at a sports apparel retail store and on Friday I put together a theory based on some context clues. The theory was that a customer who had just asked me about "those caps you wear under your football helmet" was an NFL player, which was also because he was extrely muscular. Turned out it was true. I asked him if he played football right after the question, he said yes and instead of asking loudly if he played in the NFL, I walked up and whispered who did he play for and what was his name was. He's so obscure I can't remember his name, even after looking up and down the Chiefs roster, the team he plays for. I knew he just wanted to shop in peace though, so I didn't bring it up to anyone else till he left. My point though is that I don't go jumping for joy when I see these people, they're just people like you and me. But that's probably just me because I meet or talk to high profile people somewhat regularly (and no, I'm not a big shot obviously since I work at a retail place right now).
Collectors collect. In the case of sports, some collect tobacco cards, some collect rookie cards, some collect autographed items. I collect a little bit of everything as long as they are HOFers or a historical figure. The rarer autographs have gone up the most since I've started collecting. Autos sell and they sell very well in some cases. I've resold some for 15 times what I paid in some extreme cases. Why do people collect stamps, coins, etc? They find some joy in collecting and "hope" that value increases over time.
