Customer Reviews

Standard Guide To Collecting Autographs: A Reference And Value Guide

5 star:		(2)
4 star:		(2)
3 star:		(1)
2 star:		(1)
1 star:		(0)

 

 

This huge 608 page volume is loaded to the gills with over 50,000 autograph values covering 15,000 names. More than 1,000 facsimile signatures and photos of autographed items are shown. There are numerous chapters of background information that will be of interest and value to experienced autographers as well as novices. This book covers topics including sports, entertainment, music, artists, literary, business, medicine, space, heads of state and much, much more. The index alone is over 70 pages!! It provides accurate pricing, informative insight into market trends and many current topics. A super reference book.

This book filled with facsimile signatures and finally some accurate prices for a variety of autographs. The author's analysis of the market is also included and alone worth the purchase price.Well worth purchasing by anyone who loves the hobby!

Wow, after reading so many books about autographs finally a realistic book enters the market. Unlike the Sanders guide it it deals with values at a realistic level and why not Baker has written more books about the subject than any other author in this genre. Not since Charles Hamilton's books on the subject have I ever learned so much, Bravo!

A comprehensive autograph catalog but his older books on celebrity autographs were much better. The past books dealt more with the acquisition of autographs and this book, while much larger, is more of a pricing guide. Would have liked to see more samples, more celebrity addresses (if available). The price aspect of this hobby is all relative and changes too much. More sample autographs would be helpful in determining forgeries.

I'm not a fan of monopolies, but in this case, the Sanders Price Guide is the one and only. This book tries to be the "standard?" Sanders is the standard in the field, and while ambitious, this book simply doesn't measure up. Good for facsimilies, but that's about it.

I don't know if there are many people out there who can lay claim to a Louis XIII autograph, or even a George Washington autograph. If they did, they probably also have Jesus Christ on a baseball.

My point is, there are listings for hundreds if not thousands of people whose autographs probably don't even exist. The book is good for referencing celebrities and sports stars, but there are far too many pages dedicated to the various types of William Henry Harrison signatures, and other topics we need not explore.

If this is the "standard guide" it should be a little more up to date. I would rather see five facimilies of a Robert De Niro or a Mickey Mantle autograph than of somebody who has been dead for 500 years, because you know what-- chances are I won't be getting their signature any time soon, so I won't need to compare it to a facimile.

This book is a very comprehensive price guide for today's celebrities and sports stars, which is why I give it a four star rating. But if the book spent less time dealing with signatures from centuries ago, and more time dealing with the stars of today and tommorow (I got Heidi Klum's sig the other day, and she isn't listed-- she is probably one of the most famous models in the world), it would truly be the best autograph guide out there.