New to the boards-autograph question

[old13man]

This is my first post and I just want to say that these boards are very informative and helpful. It is a great place to learn about all aspects of the hobby. I stick mainly to the memorabilia side as I am an avid collector of pre-war autographs. That being said, I have a chance to acquire an authentic Harry Wright autograph. My question is does anyone know a fair current market value? I have not seen this surface often and I am unsure of a fair price to pay. Any input would be greatly appreciated.

CJ

[bigtrain]

If I recall REA had a letter in their spring auction that sold for about $4,000 to $5,000. Check their website and search past auctions.

[Scott Garner]

Originally Posted by old13man

This is my first post and I just want to say that these boards are very informative and helpful. It is a great place to learn about all aspects of the hobby. I stick mainly to the memorabilia side as I am an avid collector of pre-war autographs. That being said, I have a chance to acquire an authentic Harry Wright autograph. My question is does anyone know a fair current market value? I have not seen this surface often and I am unsure of a fair price to pay. Any input would be greatly appreciated.

CJ

CJ,
Welcome to Net54!
I would recruit the advice of board member Rhys Yeakley or any of these dealers to wrap my arms around value questions:
Phil Marks
Bill Corcoran
Jim Stinson

I have always found these guys to be especially helpful when posed with the same type of questions. They have all been at it for quite a while and are a wealth of knowledge.

If you need contact info for any or all of them, please let me know.

[prewarsports]

You are looking at about $1000-$2000 for a nice cut, and in the $4000-$5000 for a full letter. I had a 3 page letter from 1893 with Baseball content a few years back and sold it in that later range. The ways you find most of them nowadays is on those green scorecard pages. It was once a bound scorebook and Wright signed his name on each page as the official scorer. While authentic, these are in pencil and tiny so the price is less. You can pick those up sometimes for less than $1000, but they are usually right near that price. So.... he is really all over the place price wise but that should give you the three ranges depending on the item.

Rhys

[Leon]

Welcome aboard CJ. I mainly stay on the other side, the "card" side, but venture over here every now and then. There are a lot of helpful folks on our board. Thanks to the other members for helping in this thread, especially Rhys.

[barrysloate]

Welcome to the board. To continue what Rhys said, Harry Wright is among the easier 19th century autographs to obtain because of the find of personal scorebooks that were brought into the hobby around 1990. Unfortunately, some of them have been destroyed and the pages are being sold individually. I put a very low value on these pages because the signatures are in small pencil and they are not being offered as they originally appeared (for full disclosure I once owned the 1883 Wright scorebook that was torn apart). I would encourage you to purchase a nice signed letter (there are a fair number of those in the hobby) but would discourage anyone from buying a single torn scorepage (and as you can tell I am angry that book was destroyed. I owned it for quite a few years and it was one of my favorite pieces).

[HexsHeroes]

.

. . . for you old13man, from someone else who is mainly a memorabilia-type guy: check out the other side as much you do this side.

It's a wonderful opportunity to observe the many personalities, knowledge, and treasures shared generously by many Net54 members. We are all collectors at heart, and have a passion for what we collect.

[old13man]

I just wanted to thank everyone for the helpful input

[mighty bombjack]

Buy it and post it here! I would really love to get my hands on a Wright auto.

[prewarsports]

Here was mine, it now resides in a great home somewhere else.

Rhys