New-York tribune. [volume] (New York [N.Y.]) 1866-1924, 1898-05-22
THE AUTOGRAPH BUSINESS.
vAGARIES OF COLLECTORS FROM A
DEALERS POINT OF VIEW.


Glad I known several weeks ago that IA
m,ral Dewey to win the greatest ""'
battle OF the century, said an autosrap" ''
er. II might have bought UP for song oil
the Dewey autographs In or out Oh s'sh''
"Is there demand?
mot at present But by buying up the sup
ply a demand could Dc created.
How
'Jf n dealer advertses Dewey autographs III
his catalogue naval collectors viii ORDER al
once while the sentiment of the moment will
stimulate others to begin the COLLECTION Oh
naval autographs. Had this been an English
victory London dealers would now be doing n
brisk trade"
A UNIQUE business. little understood by the
general public is The purchase and sale OF auto
graphs Much has been written Of notable
collections. Few localities are without the'r
autograph nend. No celebrity escapes their
opportunities Blu, autographs from the deal
er's point of view is another story" The pub
lie get what they want at sales through deal
ers or by begging. but they do not realize that
to deal in autographs requires an immense
amount Of knowledge OF a peculiar kind. ana
that great care and thought have to be ex-
crcised II the business is to pay. The auto
graph business Of the United States is largely
controlled by three New-York experts Messrs
Charles De Forrest Burns William Evart Ben
jamin and Joseph NJ. Sabine. Recently several
book dealers who make speciality of first edi-
lions have added autographs to their stock In
trade The great sales are held at Boston.
Ncw-York and Philadelphia. The dean of the
autograph experts is Charles De Forrest
Burns His second hand bookstore In Wall
at. and later in Astor Place was for years
the rendezvous Of bookworms lovers of script
and prints. During the Civil War he
drifted into the autograph business. The pur-
chase of a private library threw on his hands
q lot of historical documents. From decpher-
ing and disposng Of them simultaneously his
interest in autographs quckencd. His Skill in
determining the genuncness Of a signature or
document is now recognized on both sides Of
The water.
"You must observe great changes in the au-
tograph business since you first became a deal
err" remarked visitor TO Mr. Burns recently.
Eyes" was the reply There has been a
steady growth in interest and intelligence.
Autographs Of the moment worth double.
triple. what they were twenty-five years ago.
The value OF an autograph to the collector lies
in sentiment: to the dealer it is purely COM
mercaL"
4 FLUCTUATING COMMODITY.
what fixes the monetary value Of an auto
graph"
1T has no fixed value. II nucuates like
any other commodity 1t is subject To supply
and demand. Three things determine iis value
scarcity. contents and condition. An auto
graph may be scarce, very rare, and still have
little money value. because there Is not
at the time a demand for 1t. Three years ago
you couldn't sell royal signature. There was
h..Rs zinc GOOD
prices The American market runs to fads
Autograph collecting is largely fad. Caprice.
sentiment rather than intelligent interest. con-
troll It, Some time ago Napoleon brought fancy
prices. The died out. a year past Marie
Antoinettc the rage in London. 1t is now
here. If dealer could only have peep into
the future and what will be the craze
and lay in I supply accordingly. he might cor
ner to speak. the autograph market"
"How does condition affect the value?'
Same as condition affects the value Of any
merchandise. ragged. worn. faded. scarcely
deciphcrabe letter will naturally be less de-
sirabc than one that is well preserved, though
the genuineness be unquestioned At a book
sale in Boston the other day an early edition
Of Shakespeare sold at an unusually low fig
ure for that date The newspaper report at
trbuted it to the war. The fact is it was
an imperfect copy. and brought all that i,
was worth. Had it been IN perfect condition
II would have brought full value war or no
war"
"Contents must De a large factor in deter
mining valuc?"
every important" was the reply. "A detached
signature, save that Of royalty or very rare
celebrity. sells for comparatively little AT