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Autograph letters, signed documents and questions of authenticity.
Content above all. A letter in which the writer discusses their work, their convictions or a documented historical moment is worth a multiple of a routine note of thanks by the same hand. Length, the presence of a full signature, the integrity of the sheet and an unbroken provenance then modify the figure.
Read the full answerThey have documentary interest but little market value, and we identify them as such without ambiguity. A secretarial hand, a rubber stamp and an autopen each leave characteristic evidence, and the independent specialists we engage examine for it as a matter of routine.
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Autograph collecting rewards those who value content over celebrity. This guide explains the standard categories of autograph material, how authenticity is assessed, and why a letter usually outranks a signature.
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4 min read
Letters are the most human of documents. This guide considers correspondence as a collecting field: what to look for beyond the writer's name, how letters were physically made, and how to build a group that holds together.
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