Usually I just say it would be wonderful to have a signed picture of them/character/show. If it's a celeb where I am unsure if they will sign, I mention my personal reasons for collecting which explain why i'm after an autograph and show I wouldn't sell it on, though usually I add a bit saying I would never sell on!

swiftndbieber wrote:i do sometimes but im not really a collector who would get an autograph from any one i only ask for autographs from people that i am a fan of and have been for a long time otherwise i dont want autographs off people i dont look up to as they dont mean anything to me

Thats how i see it too, i do it for me so each request should mean something to me, not just send a letter because of a high response rate. I have to want it and be a fan.

TheBritishBloke wrote:I've sometimes said "it would be a great addition to my collection" but that's about as close as ive gotten to that lol.

Same here.

I never do!

I mention I collect autographs from my favorite celebrities for a personal collection...
So I don't want them to think I'm gonna resell it on ebay or something ... Thats why I always ask if its possible to personalize them

i do sometimes but im not really a collector who would get an autograph from any one i only ask for autographs from people that i am a fan of and have been for a long time otherwise i dont want autographs off people i dont look up to as they dont mean anything to me

I actually do...but I'm not the average "collector". I'm an actor, performer and writer and I write to those performers who have inspired my life and career over the years...and each response I get goes into a binder I keep next to my bed that I call my INSPIRATION BOOK. My letters are more like Thank You letters and I mention the book in each of my letters. I do make the request for a photo as a confirmation that they received my letter and liked it. I rarely send my own photos either(except to wrestlers and football players) and I've had a very nice success rate. In fact, I've pretty much stopped writing as I've run out of inspiratations to write. :-)

But like I said, I feel like I'm an exception.

I sometimes put that in my letter if the one im writing to is not a performer eg. producer, company president, owner, etc...

I think I have said that like twice, when writing to LOTR cast members as I'm trying to get the whole cast but otherwise...Never. I don't want them to think I wrote to them just to have another autograph in my collection, like I have thousands of them and it'd be great to have one more...I want them to see me as a fan, not as an autograph collector.

Generally not. Depends on the celeb. Someone like Amanda Seyfried I don't think would get too bent out of shape lol. What I often say is, for example, I am collecting autographs from a certain movie.