How to Protect Any Autograph in Your Collection

Back when I collected autographs, people would invariably insist I see what turned out to be a mouse-nibbled, wrinkled, scuffed photo signed a celebrity which they incredibly believe is valuable. Didn't matter if it was John Wayne, Julia Roberts, or, more often, some minor actor or Nashville singer who performed locally.

People Treasure Their Autographs

I can understand as well as anyone that collecting and keeping an autograph can be an important souvenir to someone. It is a souvenir of history, however limited a niche of history that might be.

As a nation, after all, we go to such great lengths to protect and preserve the original U.S. Constitution and Declaration of Independence, Why, except as a valued keepsake? As a high school student in Illinois many years ago, I had to take a test prior to graduation on the Declaration of Independence, the Constitution, the Bill of Rights, and the Illinois Constitution. The contents of each could be found in the appendix of any civics text I ever used.

But we still go to great lengths to maintain the originals.

To preserve the value of the autograph in monetary terms, or if only to protect something they value, people should do the same when it comes to their autographed item.

Protect Your Autograph

I'm going to outline a few elementary steps to take in protecting your autograph.

First of all, if you know you will get a chance to have a celebrity sign something, find something worth signing. A photo, a magazine cover, their book, an article they wrote, a reproduced document, their CD, something other than a piece of paper.

But we'll assume that all you have is a piece of paper. Hopefully, you provided a pen for them to sign with since they might not have had one on them unless it was a formal event like a book signing.

Simple Steps

Autograph in hand, you need to make an effort to preserve it. People tend to stick it in a drawer, it gets wrinkled, torn. You may not care what a collector thinks, but generally, to them this is a pretty valueless item, even if the autograph is of a recognizable, lasting celebrity (we're talking John Wayne, Jimmy Cagney, Julia Roberts, or Al Pacino).