I am sure this topic has been touched on but being new I wanted to start this conversation up fresh. What are your thoughts on signed books/modules/art? Is it important to you? Do you perk up when you see a signed item on auction? Are there more desirable signatures to acquire on certain books thank others? What is your trophy signed item, if any? Do you have an interesting story from a signed book? Are signatures with dedications worth less than just a signature only (seems so to me)?

I will go out of my way to find signed items. On occasion I have bought books from generic listings that had surprise signatures. My luckiest find was a 1st print DMG that was not advertised as being signed, had just 1 pic of the cover, BIN for 18$. It had 6 signatures including Gygax, Blume, etc and it also had a large Elmore sketch in the front cover. I snatched it quick being that it was a 1st print but I was shocked when I opened it up. I suppose the right thing to do would have been to contact the seller but I didn't even unpack the book for 3 months because I was in the middle of moving.

Please also feel free to link to an older discussion on the topic if it is convenient, much thanks.

Zhool wrote in Signatures/Autographs:I am sure this topic has been touched on

You are correct, more often it's been whether or not a signature looks real but these posts pertain to what you are looking for.

To autograph or not to autograph

Should Signed copies improve the value?

Value of autograph?

I guess I'll add some of my opinions here.

First I'll say that I wouldn't pay more for signed stuff in general. That said, I do have lots of things that are signed - concert tickets, cds, books, comic books, some perfume bottles of all things. I will go out of my way to meet artists, writers, etc and get their autograph. It's not really the autograph that I care about though, it's that I got to go out and support people that make things that I care about and meet them.

Every time I've met someone is a story in itself and I guess this is one of the best memories for me. At a local Comic Convention in the 90's (it was called 'More Fun' and only happened two years if irc), Jim Steranko was the guest of honor. I'll tell you what, if you ever get a chance to meet him - do, he's awesome! All of these people were in line to get their comic books signed and I was too, I had about 10-12 books and a poster he did. When I got up to him, he told me thanks for bringing the poster because he never sees it and then asked me "Did you want me to sign all of these?" pointing to the comic books. I answered "You can sign as many or as few as you want. If you don't want to sign any, that's fine too. I'm just here to meet you" He signed three of the comics, after signing the poster and I thanked him and asked if it was ok to hang out with him. He said "Sure" and pointed out a spot I should stand at. I took a big side step to the spot he pointed at and hung out with him for the next two hours. If you are into comics, that guy has the most amazing comic industry stories you've probably ever heard.
The thing that was sad was that I was the only person that did that, everyone else brought their books up, got them signed and left. Some people even brought whole long boxes full of books and he would immediately tell them "pick five, that's all I'm signing per person". Some Dads brought their kids that were just getting into comics and they wanted them to meet one of the Masters that Dad grew up reading and that was very cool too.
The line never ended, but when there was a pause he'd tell me to give him another one or two of my books to sign and he eventually did sign them all. What I did wasn't meant to be a ploy in any way, I meant what I said. But I was the only person there that got more than five books signed, and in the last hour of the signing with the line still packed, he did less and less to keep the line moving.
I've always realized that people don't have to do anything extra for you. It's nice when they do, but they don't have to. Try to keep that in mind if you luck out with a chance to meet your heroes... and don't ever bother them when they're out eating in a restaurant or the like, it's rude.

Anyhow, I think there's a lot of misunderstanding about signatures and value.

Like personalization, you'll see a lot of people say that personalization decreases the value of an Autograph. It really depends. In an example in one of the posts I linked, Gary's autograph is personalized to someone else in the industry at the time the book came out and proved it was the first book given or sold, that's a highest value autograph. Less than that but still very high level would be something like a person went to the first GenCon that the Player's Handbook was sold, bought it and had Gary's personalized Autograph done at the time. The guy kept the book, GenCon ticket and program together or had a picture taken with Gary at the time. That's provenance, that's the stuff autograph collectors are looking for.
A low value Autograph is someone hunted Gary down 30 years later and had him sign that Player's Handbook. Personalization would probably be less desirable than just the autograph in that case.

Also in the linked posts above somebody mentions this scenario. If I was being a total ass and got some famous writer to write in his or her book "Go 'beep' yourself Jeff, signed _______"  I think a lot of collectors would pay more for that personalized signature than any other personalized or not. Especially if it was someone very well known. Not saying here that people should try to do that, but it would be funny. I think most authors would just tell you to go away though.

It's also true that to more than a few collectors, autographs are just that someone scribbled on their book. They are always considered to be a defect and without provenance to prove an autograph is authentic, it really is something that should be considered by even collectors that do think autographs add value.

Obviously with your 1st print DMG, you hardly get hurt either way on an $18 buy. But if you are wondering what the value of it is - there are so many variables and ultimately it depends on the potential buyer what it's worth.

I'm sure people here would love to see some pics of the art and signatures in you book though if you'd like to post pictures of it. At least I would.

Grug Greyskin wrote in Signatures/Autographs:
In general, signatures don't seem to be that sought after in the RPG game.  I think this is because the luminaries were pretty liberal about signing stuff, so they not are particularly rare. It seems to me that the condition of an item tends to be much more of a driver than a signature would, in terms of value.

That being said, provenance holds considerable weight. Something 'From the collection of ? RPG great" will typically gain more attention and likely a significant premium, signed or unsigned.

Obviously, this should benefit you in building a collection of signed items.

Thanks for the feedback Grug. I did snag several items a little while ago from the Collectors Trove Gygax auction on Ebay. I agree that condition seems to be a big driver in value and this makes a lot of sense considering we are talking about books that were meant to be used heavily unlike, say, a a hardback novel which may get read once or perhaps twice.

If it were me, I'd say either have a ratty copy of an item signed, or have the person sign a piece of paper (maybe referencing the item in question) and add it to the item.
Signatures have never been a big deal to me, but I might be the exception. I've never really seen a reason to deify another person because of something they did, said, or were.

Zhool wrote in Signatures/Autographs:Thanks for those links and your story, not a short reply so I appreciate taking the time to share it.  8)

I've been known to be long winded a time or three   Not always a good thing. You are welcome though.

Autographs are a very complicated subject in collecting. Deserves plenty of discussion i think - thanks for bringing it up Zhool!

Lordan wrote in Signatures/Autographs:
I sat with Jim for over 2 hours at the R.I. ComicCon a couple years back....He thought it was foolish I wanted him to sign my X-Men #50 (It was a high grade and it would ruin it....I had picked it up from Millionaire Picnic waaaaay back in the 80's so it carried more sentimental than monetary value, was never going to grade it). He looked like he just walked out of smoking lounge in the 1960s....corduroy jacket, beige ribbed turtleneck...and that hair!! Totally white and full...lol. We talked about stuff and asked what I did...then all he wanted to hear about what it was like to be a High School Art Teacher in today's world...lol, even when I asked about him he turned it back to my life, my kids, etc.)....just a great guy.  If I wasn't going to go see Neil Adams I honestly could have stayed all day

Awesome story Lordan! He looked about the same at "More Fun" and yes that hair was amazing!! As I sit here writing with my steadily thinning top, at least the Gods bless some of us, LOL

Totally believe he would say that about your book too, definitely a modest genius.