Certain Holidays Leave Lasting Impressions
Question: Now that we’re into a popular holiday season, aren’t there collectibles, associated with certain holidays, that are so interesting they are sure to gain in value over the years?--G.B.
Answer: Greeting cards and post cards are among the most popular holiday collectibles. Among them, Christmas, New Year’s and Thanksgiving cards are high on collectors’ lists.
And even though some cards are products of industries with promotional goals (Valentine’s Day appears to have evolved in such a manner), they nevertheless have become very collectible.
Besides cards, a wide range of collectibles is associated with certain holidays, including buttons (union buttons with Labor Day slogans come to mind); decorated containers (such as glass candy bowls with turkey and Christmas designs); or prints illustrating the celebration of holidays at different times in the nation’s history.
Collectors tend to specialize in one holiday and look for items in top condition.
Q: I have a signed letter from John F. Kennedy. But I have been told that many signatures of the late president may actually have been done by a machine. What’s the story?--W.E.
A: Some veteran autograph collectors have said they didn’t discover that Kennedy was using a device to sign much of his correspondence until after his death. While he was alive, Kennedy appeared to have been a prolific correspondent; many of his letters are, of course, in private hands.
The problem, as it was later discovered, was that many JFK autographs were not personally signed by him, but were instead the work of the Autopen, a device that reproduces a signature.
Much of this came to light in 1965, when the prominent autograph dealer Charles Hamilton documented in a monograph that Kennedy had made extensive use of an Autopen.
Author John M. Taylor has this to say in his book “From the White House Inkwell, American Presidential Autographs” (Modoc Press Inc., Santa Monica, Calif., 1989, 257 pages, index and notes):
“(Hamilton) documented Kennedy’s extensive use of a device called the Autopen, in which the motions one makes in signing one’s name are mechanically duplicated. Hamilton identified a number of Autopen patterns and concluded that most of Kennedy’s correspondence from the summer of 1958 on was signed by machine.
“He concluded also that Kennedy had set some kind of a record for proxy signers. Dealers now believe that the vast majority of Kennedy’s signed photographs, as well as the many letters written after 1954, were signed by secretaries.”
The obvious result of this revelation--compounded by the fact that JFK was such a popular President who died under such dramatic circumstances--was a sharp jump in prices for a genuine JFK signature.
Concludes Taylor: “. . . Kennedy remains the most sought-after autograph among 20th-Century presidents, and he probably ranks no lower than fourth--behind Lincoln, Washington and Jefferson--in the entire presidential series.”
Needless to say, would-be collectors should have a JFK signature scrutinized by an expert before making a purchase.
Q: I have an old firehouse ax that my family brought West with us when we moved to Southern California more than 20 years ago. It has a fine wooden handle and a brass blade. I’m told it comes from a rural Ohio firehouse and, I would guess, is several decades old. What sort of value would it have?--T.S.
A: Depending on condition, the ax could have significant value. For example, in some dealer catalogues, well-preserved fire axes have price tags of $150 or more. And, from what we read regarding their relative rarity and popularity among collectors of firehouse items, this could be a low figure.
Soble cannot answer mail personally but will respond in this column to questions of general