Market Watch – 11 October 2007

By Michael Hall, CEO of Stanley Gibbons and Fraser’s Autographs

A Thousand Times Your Money
in Three Decades

In an Asset You’ve Probably Never Considered Before

Back in 1978, you could have bought a signed Beatles album for £45…

We know, because we sold it! It was the first-ever item sold by our sister company – Fraser’s Autographs.

Today, a signed Beatles album cover fetches £45,000 – that’s 1,000 times your money in three decades! (Maybe we should have held onto that one!)

Thirty years on from that first sale, Fraser’s Autographs is now the biggest autograph dealer in Europe. Like rare stamps, collectors desire rare autographs…and they continue to soar in value…

Key movers within Fraser’s 100 Autograph Index

For example, back in 1997, Fraser’s customers paid £4,950 for a signed photo of The Beatles. Signed Beatles photos now sell for £22,500 (up 355%). And Paul McCartney signatures sold for £125 back in 1997. Today they sell for £1,400 (up 1020%).

It’s not just the Beatles…

Following the tragic death of Princess Diana on 31 August 1997, signed Diana photos shot up in value. In 1997 they fetched £1,200, and today they sell for £8,000 today (up 567%).

Signed documents of famous historical leaders have been excellent buys as well.

For example, Napoleon Bonaparte’s signature sold for only £750 in 1997 but has increased to £4,500 now (up 500%). Meanwhile, signatures from Admiral Lord Nelson – Napoleon’s historical adversary – sold for £1,500 in 1997 and now sells for £8,950 (up 497%)… Nearly double the value of his historical adversary.

These items are extremley scarce and in limited supply

Call me today if you are interested on +44 (0) 1481 708 270 or

Toll free from the USA on 1 866 644 6146

Rare autographs beat the property market

To see the full picture, we created the Fraser’s 100 Index…The index covers 100 different autographs, and we designed it to include a broad spectrum of desirable signatures…from Mother Teresa to Madonna…and from Winston Churchill to Elvis.

The compound annual gain on Fraser’s 100 Autograph Price Index over the last ten years has been an exceptional 13.5% a year.

In crunching the numbers, we were even surprised to learn that the autograph market has actually performed better than all other asset classes we reviewed…even the property market!

Like stamps, autographs have enjoyed steady growth over the past 9 years (although from a considerably lower starting point). They’ve also shown a lack of volatility compared to traditional forms of investment. Take a look:

In 1998 you could have acquired all items in the Fraser’s 100 Autograph Price Index for £95,905. Today those items are worth nearly £300,000.

A passionate investment…

You’ve probably never considered autographs before. That’s quite alright…Autograph collecting in a serious form is a relatively new hobby. (The fact that you could buy a signed Beatles album for £45 just 30 years ago is a great example of this.)

Until recently, investors haven’t considered autographs as an investment asset class. As a result, investors haven’t over-run the autograph market. Therefore, it’s one of the last asset classes to have never seen a correction. New investors to the market can take comfort, knowing that, even though prices have risen, the demand has come from collectors not investors.

From my own personal experience, holding something in your hands that you would normally view in a museum is awe inspiring. For example I recently handled letters written by Albert Einstein, detailing his calculations on several theories of Quantum Mechanics and making mention of the general theory of relativity.

Just like the stamp market, passion drives the autograph market. Collectors are passionate about what they do, and place a value on these assets which no investor ever could. This provides the perfect type of market which an investor can diversify their wealth and benefit from the growing appreciation by collectors.

To give an idea of what an autograph can be worth, consider William Shakespeare which is one of the most valuable autographs in the world. There are currently only six authenticated signatures of the playwright in the world, each valued at around $5 million. This type of valuation is very rare in the autograph market at this time, but will this continue to be the case in the future?

The question of authenticity

The most common question shareholders ask me is “How do you authenticate autographs?” The process is not much different from stamps. The most valuable items typically have a known provenance and history of trading. Many come with certificates of authentication. Stanley Gibbons offers all clients a lifetime guarantee of authenticity as well. This removes any concerns collectors or investors may have in this regard.

The process Stanley Gibbons goes through to authenticate items is very detailed. We ask things like: Is the type of paper consistent with that in existence during the person’s lifetime? How about the pen? How about the photograph itself – could it have existed during that person’s lifetime? Stanley Gibbons owns an extensive reference collection of authentic examples (and known fakes), and we look for clues everywhere.

Once authenticity is established, the valuation can vary considerably, depending on the exact nature of the piece. With letters and manuscripts, it is the interpretation of the significance and importance of the content that creates the difference of opinion in value. Also, the scarcity of the item is important. Unlike stamps, we don’t have historical records of the number of autographs a person signed.

Why you should buy into this market NOW!

Wrapping up, the Fraser’s 100 Autograph Price Index provides definitive evidence of our opinion that autographs are a credible investment asset class in their own right. Buying now is still getting in early, in our opinion.

I personally feel that the prices are too low for important historical figures. I think they will ultimately be re-rated in the future once the appreciation of the true value is realised.

Imagine being able to own a historical document hand written by Napoleon Bonaparte…where he is discussing deployment of troops to Russia signed and dated 1812…All for less than £5,000. You can!

The late Malcolm Forbes, best known as the billionaire publisher of Forbes magazine was a well known collector of autographs. I will leave you with a quote from him, which I think sums up my view best:

“None of my other investments give me the joy that autographs do, because they make me feel like I am holding a piece of history in my hands. In my view they are the most undervalued of all areas of collecting, especially when you consider what people are paying for even second rate paintings”.

Click on the link below to view the constituents of the Fraser’s 100 index. You can then click on each personality to view what we have in stock.

Own a piece of history today.

Click here to view the Fraser's 100 Index

Contact Adrian Roose on +44 (0) 1481 708 277 or aroose@stanleygibbons.co.uk for further information on investing in the rare autograph market.

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