May your kindness return to you many times over,

Janai Lowenstein

I hope you had a pleasant conversation with Mrs. Onassis during your train ride. It’s universally understood that she was quite polite and an interesting conversationalist.

As for your autographs, you are correct when you say that getting an autograph on any kind of program, receipt, or invitation where the principals are known to have attended is the surest way to a quick authentication. I believe that is the case for your autographs.

The value of the autographs, though, especially with historical figures, usually determines when it was signed and whether it is part of something that was part of their historical standing. If Jackie signed a White House item, the value is much higher because that is where she is particularly well known. Still, any autograph from an historical figure will certainly have a certain value.\

For Jackie, collectors concentrate on the time before and during the White House years. After her time there, I understand, her collectibility is less certain. Searching the WorthPoint database you will find her signature may be in the $95 to $150 range, post White House.

Teddy Kennedy had a more troubled past. Sure he is from a well known family, but that doesn’t make him particularly collectable. His signature has never gone for more than $20 to $35 by itself. His brothers John and Robert continue to have a stronger collectibility.

I hope this helps.

Tom Carrier
Worthologist

On the 31st of January 1985 the Kennedy family attended Lord Harlech’s funeral in Bangor, Wales. I bumped into Jacqui and Teddy on the train coming back to London and asked them for an autogragh. They kindly signed the bed and breakfast receipt I had from the place I stayed, which is dated and has the address. I know this is all a bit obscure, and quite personal, but having both Teddy and Jacqui’s signatures on the same page with the proof of place and date seams to be quite unique. Obviously they are genuine as I was there and had a brief conversation. Does this signed receipt have any value. Are there many other examples of with Teddy and Jacqui’s signatures together?

Kind Regards

Ed Bird. (London, UK.)

Thanks

I just came across your site while researching Jacqueline Bouvier’s signature. I purchased a set of scrapbooks compiled by a Newport socialite in the late 40′s/early 50′s. The books included a complete invitation set to Jacqueline Bouvier’s 1953 wedding as well as two 1947 invitations to gatherings featuring Miss Jacqueline Bouvier. In your opinion, what would the value of these items be? They are currently listed on Ebay.

Thank you,
Bob

Since I haven’t seen the signature or the book, it is possible to have an early textbook owned by the student Jacqueline Bouvier and for her to have added her name to it, especially in pencil. It’s possible, but not likely, that a ball point pen would have been used as its real commercial success didn’t happen until well into the 1950s when she was no longer using textbooks.

The first question any professional dealer will ask is some variation of “where did you get it?” That is intended to determine whether the ‘back story’ fits the possibility of the book ever actually being in the hands of a young Jackie.

If the ‘back story’ seems plausible enough, then a professional autograph dealer will determine whether the autograph fits with an earlier signature of young Jackie. You can find any professional autograph dealer at the Universal Autograph Collectors Club (UACC.org) or the Int’l Autograph Dealers Alliance & Collectors Club (IADA-CC.com).

Depending on the signature, the value can be $75 to $300, a wide range I know, but it does depend on content and place or the ‘back story’ if you will.

All the best.

Tom Carrier
Worthologist

And you had a good presence of mind to get a nice autograph. Nicely done.

However, the Jackie Kennedy Onassis signature doesn’t command the same collector interest as a signature when she served as First Lady. It still has cache, just not as much, say about $125 to $195. The Ted Kennedy signature also doesn’t command as much as his famous brothers and is usually found from $50 to $95.

Still, a nice collectible and a nice memory.

Without seeing the photo, it’s hard to know its overall condition, that is not just the photo, but the autograph as well. Is it a personalized autograph made out to “Dear…” or is it just a generic signature. I would hopefully guess the former. The collectible value will be most likely in the autograph and only secondarily in the photo itself.

That said, there are a number of places to consider offering it for sale. WorthPoint’s Buy&Sell is gaining more and more, but of course there are the more traditional online auctions, too.

However, more of the larger auction houses may not consider the photo enough by itself to warrant a separate auction and certainly without the autograph first being evaluated. I would suggest you first send clear and detailed images of the photo to WorthPoint’s Research area for a specialized Worthologist to determine its authenticity and place a general value on the photo.

I hope this was helpful.

Tom Carrier
Worthologist

Thank you.

Jackie Kennedy was known for sending thank you notes even before her service as First Lady and continued well after she left the White House.

While there are plentiful examples of these thank you notes as First Lady, it’s hard to say how many were signed after the White House years. That’s not to say that they are rare or worth a lot, it just means they wouldn’t have the same collector value as ones signed during the White House years.

But it depends on the content, too.

Your example seems to be of a more personal nature. Is it signed by the staff secretary? Is it a printed signature? Hard to say since I haven’t seen an image of the note itself.

With that in mind, I will evaluate based from a printed or staff signed note to an authentic signed note and suggest that, to collectors, the value would be from $75 to $300.

Tom Carrier
Worthologist

In order to get a better evaluation, a clear, closeup photo of the signature and the letter will be helpful.

Thanks.

Tom Carrier
Worthologist

Unless your father was in a position to actually acquire actual signatures from the individuals directly, I’m usually safe in assuming that he sent away for the signatures and he was answered with a photo, card or letter bearing a printed signature.

Or a letter was returned with a pre-printed signature or a variant such as having a signature signed by staff.

Or he actually may have authentic signed photos.

Without a clear image of any of the signatures, it is hard to tell from here.

So, to boil it all down: any printed or pre-printed signatures of any of the individuals you have probably has a retail or collector value of between $20 and $35.

If the signatures are authentic (just from the examples you provided above), Reagan and Kai-Shek have a value of between $200 to $500, depending on how it was signed; Pat Nixon has a value of about $75 to $95.

How to tell? Show them to an autograph dealer credited with the UACC at http://www.uacc.info to find out for sure.

Hope this helps.

Tom Carrier
Worthologist