Most valuable living autograph?
 

Who has the most valuable autographs for living people? Maybe like the top 3-5 or so?

Who is most valuable living auto in sports?

What about in entertainment/Celebrity?


Thought this might be an interesting topic to start discussion.

I vote for Derek Jeter in baseball. unfortunately!!!

+1

I would say Jordan or Jeter...

I think Mays charges quite a bit,

Astronaut Neil Armstong goes for some big cash as well

Neil Armstrong, and it is not even close, in the non sports world.
Right, Zip?? :).

non peraonlised space shot of armstrong by far.

Koufax has got to be up there for living hofers.

armstrong is the most valuable, he doesn't sign anymore but on very rare ocassions, one-off, no mass signings. so if he signed just a cut like an index card , you could get 4 figures for it.

baseball, mike marshall is near the top, hard signature to get, he signs infrequently.

in boxing, alfredo evangelista (fought Muhammad Ali) is very hard to find, he is living, but is difficult to find and get to sign anything. a cut like an index card gets 250 dollars, and a photo brings 500. This is as much as Ali brings himself, and I don't think Ali can really sign anymore due to his health.

Both Pujols and Ichiro are also quite expensive to purcahse.

J.D. Salinger might be the most expensive. I think an Actual signature of his would probably fetch near $10,000.

EDIT, I forgot he Just passed away about a year ago. It is probably Armstrong as I know cuts of him are over $1000 and photos are in the $4000 range.

Rhys

To me, there's a difference between expensive and valuable...and value is in the eye of the beholder. For example, I collect baseball hof'ers in a hof book. Lee MacPhail is the oldest living hof'er and he's in poor health so the window for me getting him to sign and the oportunity is quite narrow. For me, he is one of the most valuable. Jordan and Jeter are both expensive and popular and many people want them as individual sigs and along with team sigs so they are also very valuable.

What about Ali? Especially that he can no longer produce viable autographs due to his illness.

LOL, I didn't know this! I live about 7 miles away from Dr. Mike and had an aquaintenceship while playing Men's baseball. He is a little ornery, :D.

Marshall just had a private signing with Chris Potter sports. $250 a pop.

Armstrong is probably the most valuable living person. $750 for a cut with condition issues and up from there. Easily $4000 for a boldly signed white space suit portrait unpersoalized. A generic personalized portrait with some fading is around $2000.

He signed freely for many years but stopped in 1994. The ironic twist is he often used a blue pen that faded badly over the years. So many signed photos have literally self destructed.

The reason he is so valuable is truly global demand. And he crosses over from space to historical to general interest collectors.

I have a few in my collection. I really regret not stocking up back in the 90s when you could get personalized ones for a few hundred bucks.

Dr. Marshall is a character, as evidenced by his refusal to sign. He has a curious resume: Cy Young winner to professor to secretive pitching guru. He got his Ph.d. from Michigan State while he was still pitching in the Majors!

I had his autographed baseball. And to his credit it was signed nicely and neatly.

an ali cut or simple autograph on an islamic pamphlet is about 150 dollars, thats his cheapest autograph, but it goes to a few hundred for a nice unpersonalized 8 x 10 and more for a nice 16 x 20.

the good thing for collectors is he has signed copiously for over 40 years and has signed probably a couple million autographs, more than any human being has ever signed in human history, so there is no shortage. there is a great demand, but his autograph is not rare, just will cost a bit.

When he passes, prices will double or triple, but that will just be a bump in prices due to emotion, not reality. reality is he really cant sign anymore, so it's basically the same in terms of overall autographs out in the marketplace, there really isn't going to be any more.

Getting a little off topic...

When I played against him, he would only pitch, never bat. He would meticulously write down every pitch ( or sequence) at the end of an inning in a notebook. Noone ever talked to him during the game. If you got a hit, he was annoyed. Hell, he seemed annoyed if you swung! Most times he left as soon as he was done pitching for the game. If he stayed, he would discuss the game, at bats you had, and general theory. But if anyone asked or mentioned his MLB career....icy stare or blank silence.

One highlight: One of my younger teamates ht a homerun off of him, We convinced him to ask for Mike to autograph it. LOLOLOLOLOLOL.

Neil Armstrong? I think Coach's has half a doze. They can't be that rare.;)

+1
The "value" for the sports autographs discussed on this thread has been determined by the greed of the player and the promoter who sell the autograph. They determine the value and hope that the public plays along.
The value of Neil Armstrong's autograph is based on global demand of a historic figure in world history. I have been lucky enough to obtain several of his autographs in the past year-year and a half and have always had great sales results including one to a Net54 member.

At least half the people who contact me looking for an Armstrong review are from outside the United States.

In terms of athletes, Ruth probably has some limited global appeal. Ali is the only athlete I can think of that might have true global demand.

If memory serves me right, Mays' autograph was $280 at the "50 Years of Amazin' Baseball" autograph show at Citi Field last January... and unlike the other players who participated in the event, photography was forbidden.

In entertainment, any of these are expensive and sought after:

Steven Spielberg
George Lucas
Harrison Ford
Sean Connery
Paul McCartney

And many, many forgeries.

Connery is probably going to be near impossible from now on. He was always kind of a dick about it but he's announced his retirement and withdrawal from public life, so what was a toughie will now be impossible.

Most big-name rock stars are very tough and very expensive.

Ford recently conducted a private signing that sold out very quickly. I believe 11x14 SPs were about $450. :eek:

Bill Watterson, creator of the great comic strip Calvin and Hobbes, is another who withdrew from the public and will not sign autographs.

A signed drawing might bring as much as an Armstrong to a comic art collector.