An absolutely gorgeous day beckons outside, so this will be cheap and cheerful...
Another project dear to my heart is the general care and maintainence of photographs...
Hopefully we will have readers of this blog (we may have some somewhere; probably south of Peru) who can offer up remedies for storing and restoring old photos...
Over the years, I have been told that you can often clean old marks from photos using lighter fluid and a cotton bud (very gently...) for old scratches (often where inscriptions have been removed) Applying olive oil or similarly margerine can also work well. (If you can find the extra virgin variety then all the better!!! But I wouldn't look around here...)
Pentel click erasers are one means for removing some inscriptions as long as they have been done with certain inks. Some photo surfaces are much better for removing them than others...and some leave a nice indentation and some you find half way thru that you won't remove...if you want to do this I suggest you practise on some cheap photos...make sure you secure the photo on a hard flat surface and hold firmly down with a soft cloth so you don't crease and bend the photo... I know an East Coast dealer who spends a lot of time removing inscriptions and does a pretty good job, but you can occasionally tell where he's been...I have tried it on some photos to good effect, but have stuck mainly to felt tip type ink or matt photos... (Gee, I hate matt photos!!!)
Personally I like inscribed photos as they are more likely to be authentic as most forgers are unlikely to write "Love Juan" or "Regards Tatyana" on their photos before they flog them to some mug on eBay or the local markets... they sell for a cheaper price so I can pass them on to my clients for a cheaper price so it tends to be a win, win situation although it still doesn't beat getting autographs directly from the celebrity.
I actually have a friend in Colorado to whom I get photos signed from whichever actor/model does a signing for me...he has some rather risque dedications and I remember a certain voluptuous Love Kitten writing something very encouraging for him that got his attention (and kept it!!!)
Apart from framing photos (and then hanging it in a dark place to avoid the ink fading) the best way to store photos is in folders...does anyone out there have a preference to what sort of sleeves, backing and folders they use for this process...because I deal in such huge quantities of photos I find only the time to store the up-market pieces of my collection in totally acid free sleeves and paper backing...otherwise I would go broke...and there are too many more great autographs I still want to collect before they bury me out on the lone prairie...
I tend to use photo albums for my index cards and smaller photos because you can actually pick these up quite cheaply and indeed I recently bought a pile at a clearance sale at a local shop for next to nothing...
One of my favourite suppliers is also shipping me some terrific matted items ready to frame which makes the job so much easier and he does a brilliant job...many people fail to realise just how good matting a photo (often of your own choice) with an index card, letter, cheque etc looks once it is framed and hanging on your wall....I have a couple of nice ones of Lizabeth Scott and Gene Tierney that look great and I'll try and get a decent shot...one day when I am rich I will get all the photos actors have signed to me up on a Wall of Fame, but I'm like the builder where the last house ever finished is his own. Besides I often sell the signed photos off my wall anyway to make way for something else...
Anyway, time for some sun before getting back to work (finishing an interview article with Connie Stevens: what a fine and talented lady she is too) and then some framing work, scanning photos, listings photos and hopefully packing some for shipping too...but the dog'swork has to be done and I am the chief dog around here...
Here Endeth Blog #4 (You all have a great day, here!!!!)
Thursday, October 27, 2005
Sunday, October 23, 2005
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
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
Saturday, October 22, 2005
Friday, October 21, 2005
THE BIRTH OF AN AUTOGRAPH COLLECTOR
So I am sitting down working out what to say that is coherent but doesn't sound like my 4th class school ma'am...so what got me into the game...over the years I had owned numerous signed books and had worked in an Antiquarian bookstore where volumes signed by TE Lawrence, F Scott Fitzgerald and Agatha Christie were not totally rare...but it had always been the age and appearance and contents of the book which had turned me on...for a long time during the 1980-90s I had been travelling locally buying a mixed bag of treasures from locals which ranged from Boer War Medals to Netsuke figures...and a hell of a lot of dross in between...I had been to one house a couple of times talking to a nice old couple and bought some old book and china and then one day the gentleman is chatting away and I find out he is one of the oldest living Olympic sportsmen in Australia having been born on ANZAC Day 1915...the actual same time as our Aussies and Kiwis were being massacred due to a certain stuff up by a chap called Winston Churchill (Winnie to his mates and #$^@ to many colonials)...anyway, this chap, Basil had competed against Jesse Owens in Berlin and had met up with him later in London where he been a tough time by his Yankee masters (and I mean literally!!!) in the AAA...anyway (this was also my first interview article) Basil arranged for me to sell a special White City Invitation signed by Jesse and a whole host of Olympic Gold Medallists...I also sold a Wehrmacht Dagger and a Hitler Youth Knive for him through eBay...and thus my love of signed memorabilia officially started...Basil still lives a few streets away from me and at the age of 90 still drives his car up to the nursing home to visit his wife and do the shopping...but he would stop by and tell me stories from his various careers...and show me his letters and other memorabilia and medals like his recent Federation Medal (which took our government about 3 years to get organised...)
When I look at a lot of autographs, it is often the history and the stories behind the signature that gives an item its special meaning...it is very much for me an iconographic venture and therefore certain images or signers will always have more meaning than others...
It is also why many modern signers can be regarded as pathetic when you see ever changing squiggly lines that barely can be interpreted by the signer much less the collector...the fact that this is now a multi-billion dollar industry involving unscrupulous forgers and the like has made collecting a lot harder, but these changes have also made collecting more accessible and far more enjoyable for people unable to attend shows in America and England or who must collect on a budget...
Now we must aim to avoid the traps and make the industry safer for everyone...
The time worn cliche "let the buyer beware" should always ring loudly in your every purchase...
And I don't mean this when just buying from dealers or other collectors...
But enough chatter for blog #2...
When I look at a lot of autographs, it is often the history and the stories behind the signature that gives an item its special meaning...it is very much for me an iconographic venture and therefore certain images or signers will always have more meaning than others...
It is also why many modern signers can be regarded as pathetic when you see ever changing squiggly lines that barely can be interpreted by the signer much less the collector...the fact that this is now a multi-billion dollar industry involving unscrupulous forgers and the like has made collecting a lot harder, but these changes have also made collecting more accessible and far more enjoyable for people unable to attend shows in America and England or who must collect on a budget...
Now we must aim to avoid the traps and make the industry safer for everyone...
The time worn cliche "let the buyer beware" should always ring loudly in your every purchase...
And I don't mean this when just buying from dealers or other collectors...
But enough chatter for blog #2...
The Autograph Collector in Cyber Space
So here I am stuck in the middle of cyber space with my pen in hand...looking like the blogger from Ludditesville...and listening to you say, oh no what's this Richard Cranium got to say for himself...
However, over the coming months, I hope to chat about the "ins & outs" of autograph collecting.
I've been collecting memorabilia from old books to Georgian silver and Royal Doulton to Moorcroft since I was a teenager.
I began collecting and then dealing in autographs in the 90s and about 16 months ago established my first website www.dpriol.com with the help of a friend Mickey Keenan, who is also going to help me keep this blog from falling into some black hole somewhere.
Anyway this is my first blog and I just wanted to wet me whistle before heading into the main stuff.
The main aim is to pass on info and a few tips over the coming months and also for me to learn some cool stuff from anyone who reads this #^#@ and wants to add their piece.
Hopefully in time it will become a helpful source of hints, celebrity addresses, people and places to avoid and other general stuff about autograph collecting...
Here endeth Blog 1 - October 2005
However, over the coming months, I hope to chat about the "ins & outs" of autograph collecting.
I've been collecting memorabilia from old books to Georgian silver and Royal Doulton to Moorcroft since I was a teenager.
I began collecting and then dealing in autographs in the 90s and about 16 months ago established my first website www.dpriol.com with the help of a friend Mickey Keenan, who is also going to help me keep this blog from falling into some black hole somewhere.
Anyway this is my first blog and I just wanted to wet me whistle before heading into the main stuff.
The main aim is to pass on info and a few tips over the coming months and also for me to learn some cool stuff from anyone who reads this #^#@ and wants to add their piece.
Hopefully in time it will become a helpful source of hints, celebrity addresses, people and places to avoid and other general stuff about autograph collecting...
Here endeth Blog 1 - October 2005
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