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Howdy all,

I don't collect autographs regularly and often mine are of a very specific subset (music composers mostly) but I've had some very good luck over the years. I "met" a few through Facebook while others took a polite letter and I'd often get a reply or autograph for my troubles. That said, this is on again, off again for me and I don't even know if I'm asking he question in the right forum, so pardon my ignorance.

That said: I met a celeb in person last year and we ended up talking about music a bit and it seemed we had similar tastes. We recommended stuff to each other and I thought about sending the one of the albums I had mentioned.

While "gifting" strikes me as weird, a friend had very good luck in the 1970s after he sent some old movie posters to Kirk Douglas and asking for an autograph in reply got *several* autographed, personalized headshots and even a picture of Kirk standing in front of one of the posters, framed and hanging in his house.

So while I'm not asking for an autograph per se - I guess I'm asking for etiquette on such a thing? Is it ever done? Is it taken seriously? Or do agencies "unofficially" just chuck the stuff out?

All input on this is welcome. Thanks for your help.

I find it rude to just flat out ask for an autograph...
In my letters I'm sure to complement their work, like what movies/shows/ect... I like, I'm always sure to try to be as formal and polite as possible...
Usually when I get to it I politely ask if they could send me a personalized signed photo. I never ever use the word "autograph". I also never send more than two pictures for signing, if you load them down with pictures they would probably suspect you for trying to sell on Ebay or something. It's also considered polite to include an SASE with every "autograph" request.

There are a ton of threads in this forum regarding etiquette. Surf around if you have questions. :]

. Write in formal english - use complex words

. Compliment her/ his career and, obviously say how big a fan you are

. Thank her/ his at the end

. Ask them politely "if it's not too much trouble could u please send me a signed photo? thank you.."

. Send an SASE (if you can) receiving an autograph is much more satisfying when the celebs use their own envelopes - shows how much they love their fans! BUT it's always nice that they dont have to pay for it...so you choose what u wanna do with that. However it comes faster if you send your own SASE.