Why do you (mainly) collect autographs?

[lizane]

Hi all! ;)

So, I decided to do a little "survey" here amongst the users of Fanmail.biz to see exactly why we're all here! Sure, we all have one thing in common - that being we love autographs, but for what reason exactly? {thumb2} I've put up a poll for everyone who wants to vote, to vote (I know, there's some crazy ones there - but I've wanted it to be specific!).

My reason? I picked the second option - "I'm a fan and I enjoy writing mail to my favourite celebrities". I don't intend on having 1000 autographs one day (I don't even know that many celebrities!) but rather a cozy little book, filled with signed photos from people I admire the most. I only occasionally write fan mail and I only bother to write when I know the autograph will be authentic (of course, you get some unpleasant surprises sometimes) - secretarials get thrown out, and the same for preprins, autopenned, stamped, etc.

Feel free to vote & post - thanks!
zanne

[nich9494]

Hey zanne :razz:

Interesting topic, now that I think about it, I too am curious as to what brought us to this hobby. I voted number 2 as well, I'm a fan and everytime I decide to send a new batch of requests I enjoy writing the letter and telling the celebrity why I admire them . I would never consider selling them and preprints/autopenned/stamped/secretarials just go on the wall. I prefer my autographs to be 100% authentic and personalized.

I only send to celebrities that I'm a huge fan of, since I'm a pretty well rounded person, that is quite a lot. But it just feels pretty awkward looking at someone's autograph if I don't really like them, that's why I only send to people who I really admire. E.g. I'm such a huge fan of Manchester United and so I'm trying right now to gradually build up my collection for the first team and substitutes. Also, I both like rap and rock, so as you can see I have a T.I. response pending and also some bands VV. Not to mention the actors that I'm a fan of

Nich
x

[aamir]

Hey, this is a good question.
On the poll, I actually voted for number 2, but my answer is a mixture of a few of them.

1. I am an autograph collector, so I could have chosen this option.
2. It is a hobby to keep me busy, so I could have chosen this option.
3. I do show off to people admittedly, because I am proud of my collection, so I could have ticked this.

But mainly I just write to the celebs so that they know that they have a fan in me, and it is oh-so-special when they send you a personalized reply back.
Thanks fanmail.biz {thumb2}

[Selise]

I picked Other.

My reasoning on this:
I mainly collect Military autographs, Astronaut/Cosmonaut Autographs, Authors and Broadway. I do occasionally send to other "celebs" but not too often.

I started with the Military autographs in the late 80's, early 90's because of my grandfather who was in World War II, when he took me to a reunion. My other grandfather was a POW then KIA. So I was writing to people to find out more about what he was like. Then when my living grandfather took me to meet two Medal of Honor recipients, I was in awe. And now that I'm a teacher (I have 4 degrees - 1 in History, 1 in Spanish, 1 in Education and 1 in English as a Second Language/Linguistics) I collect for the history class I teach and I use them (well copies of the autographs) in my class.

My mom was a science teacher, and she has training from NASA with Astronomy - so she is the one to blame for getting me into the Astronauts/Cosmonauts. She also took me to my book signings when I was younger - and she taught me to love to read - hence the authors I collect.

And my grandmother is a huge Broadway fan. We live about an hour away from New York City, so I've been to Broadway shows since I was a little girl. My grandmother started me collecting signed Playbills when she gave me 8 of her shoeboxes full of Playbills.

[ladybird]

Hi!

It's an interesting question! I voted for number 2 - I've just started collecting (now I'm having two autographs in my collection, yeah ), but I'm going to write to celebrities who I really like, it's so enjoyable to write a letter to them and get a reply! One day I found Fanmail.biz and decided to try - "It's great! It will be fantastic to have my own collection of autographs from my favourite celebrities!", I thought. And... here I am! ;)

Good luck everyone!
Anna :razz:

[SelenaandDemiFan]

I too picked the second option.

When I write I hope that they know no matter how many scandals they go through, they will always have my support, and such. When I write to celebs, i try to put a lot of thought into it and I think it's worth the money stamps cost

[missmaexox]

This is an interesting topic, zanne! {thumb2}
I picked the second option.
I send to all my favorite celebrities,
but I also keep PP, secs, etc. though I don't have many and most are authentic.
I keep them because if/when the celebrity passes away even secs and PPs/APs (usually, but sometimes they are still given out) won't be given out.

[Gracie84]

I picked number 2, I only send out to people I really like and want their autographs although I'm doing collecting for charity too but I'm mainly for number 2, I want to write to people I really like and admire and would cherish their autograph and I like having just a little photograph albulm to show off, so far I only have 1. I have pp, sec and ap but mostly I have authentic. Currently I'm trying to write to people that give out authentic autographs because I think it's much more personal not to say PP aren't great, but I like the fact that a celeb takes the time out to sign authentic it's an added bonus when it's personally signed and even more of a bonus when they write something that shows they read your letter.

[guilder1st]

I picked no.1
I am an autograph collector. With that being said though, I only collect from people that I admire/am a fan of.
I don't get peoples autographs just to have them. There has to be something about them I really like, otherwise their autograph will have no value to me.

btw I really like this new smily. lol.

[jasonw]

I picked others.

TV/ Movie - I only write to those who I admire and not random, famous celebs.

Football - I am very specific TTM, I only collect players from my favourite team. But for IP, I do collect autographs of players from other teams.

Political - This is the hard one. I must say that I am not a "fan" of all the political figures in my collection. I guess this is the case for most political autograph collectors anyways.