Sunday too far away...

So this is a half-decent Sunday with the sun shining and the dogs barking...
I'm thinking that one of the main issues for autograph collectors is finding reliable dealers...
Or finding addresses for their favourite stars...
The latter is well covered across the Net, but I will post addresses here now and again or build a list I can email to collectors...I won't be listing addresses of those people I interview because they have trusted me not to reveal personal details. However, if anyone wants to email me addresses of stars then I will build a list of names and addresses as I verify each one. Usually these addresses can be cross-referenced with other sources.
I have found the most important thing to do when either emailing or writing to celebrities is to be courteous, humorous (not flippant or sarcastic) and to show you have put in the time to know important details about their career (but not always their personal lives!!!)
Remembering birthdays, interesting screen roles and be able to ask a question that might take them by surprise (a pleasant one I mean!!!) will often sway that person into knowing that you are genuinely interested in them and their career.
Even as a dealer and interviewer, I love doing what I do, and always take the time to make sure the celebrity I am dealing with knows that it is not merely about making a buck. Besides the fact that there are a thousand easier ways to make a living.
Let me kick off for a second here to point out that some of my unhappiest moments collecting have been dealing with actors moreso than shonky dealers. Fortunately I have avoided most of the latter skunks over the years, but have been caught by several actors...
What I mean by this is that I have organised signings of my photos (or theirs) and ended up crying in my beer. One topline model sent my photos to someone else and refused to replace them (US$460 down the drain), another one sent me the worst laser printed photos you have ever seen (US$360 kaput) and now I have my fingers crossed that she will replace them with real photos as arranged. I don't mind prints per se as long as that is stated up front and the price is reasonable and I know it is what my customers will find acceptable.
Fortunately these incidents are fairly rare, and just as well because it takes ages to recover financially from these setbacks.
For the most part every actor/model I have dealt with has been fantastic. A list of these people appears on my website and I would recommend them all highly to you if you buy from their websites (those that have one) although I always suggest you ask celebs beforehand whether you are buying a photo or a print. Some actors will charge upwards of US$30 for a print...
I always try to explain to celebs that when they attend shows and sell signed laser prints etc that many of the public won't mind because they love that star. However, they won't pay dealers the same sort of price for inferior items.
With a few actors, I have gone out of my way to get my own glossies to send to them for signing to avoid this problem. Nowadays, I often supply them with extras to use at their shows. It is something that can mutually benefit both sides. The biggest breakthrough for me was finding a photo shop in Sydney which could print up 500-1,000 photos in one order at a price to make it worthwhile...They use high grade Fuji paper and never let me down...
Thus the second biggest problem is finding the actual images to get copied...
For some actors they are very hard to find, very expensive to buy when you might find one image here and one image there...
In a few cases, the actual actor is good enough to lend me their own photos to copy and then return, but it takes a lot of time to build up this sort of trust with people...and word of mouth is better than anything else...and one bad word can have you digging up daisies and looking totally stupid or worse, persona non grata...
Which brings me one of the reasons why there are so many forgeries being sold on the net...
Many dealers and backyarders just are not prepared to put in the hard yards to purchase authentic signings directly from celebs or from reputable dealers...when they can squiggle someone signature on a cute 10x8 photo that cost them about $1 and then resell it for $10-20 or $1,000 to some unsuspecting customer...
I remember the actress Karolyn Grimes (It's a Wonderful Life) seeing a cast signed photo from this film being sold for some US$500 on eBay...pity that it was an preprint and a copy of a cast photo that ended up being sold more than once on eBay (in that year alone...)
We are only touching the tip of the iceberg and will include many more anecdotes as time goes on...
However, for now I will set myself the long term task of building a database of celebrity addresses that I can email people as they request it...but please allow some months for me to get this up and running...Perhaps early January should be the aim...(perhaps we can also build a database of dealers to avoid like the X List that currently does the rounds) But these projects will definitely rely on your input as much as mine to be successful...
And for the next blog, I will look at ways that you can improve your knowledge of identifying and verifying signatures, which requires your time rather than your money...

Oh and a closing thought, Riddle me this Batman: how come British signers tend to charge so much more than Americans to sign for their fans, and why are Aussie actors such poor signers??? It always gets me when a very minor English actor charges twice as much as a topline American "star" to sign their photo...

Here endeth bloggeth #3