The World of Rare Signatures and Autographs: William Shakespeare

by Rigel Celeste (RSS feed)
Jan 29th 2008 at 4:07PM

Think "autograph" and images of crowds of screaming fans mobbing celebrities comes to mind, or maybe a more organized event with people lining up in droves and the celebrity sitting behind a table. Either way the end result is the same: a lot of signatures leaving with a lot of satisfied fans. And that's great for all those people who now have a souvenir to cherish, but not so much for collectors. In order for a signature to be worth a lot in terms of money it has to be fairly rare.

He may have done a lot of writing, but with only 6 of them in existence William Shakespeare's signature is one of the rarest of all and is valued somewhere around $3 million dollars. And as far as present-day celebrities go it's a harder call to make, but this past year Will Ferrell topped the list of worst celebrity signers (which would, in theory, make his John Hancock just a little more rare).

Tags: autograph, autographs, celebrity, ferrell, rare, rarest, shakespeare, signature, signatures, will ferrell, WillFerrell, william shakespeare, WilliamShakespeare

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Reader Comments (Page 1 of 1)

artifex Jan 30th 2008 3:22PM

Funny how the first and last names in your image look like they were written by totally different people. Especially considering how even the brushstroke thickness is on the "William."

nattygirl Jan 31st 2008 3:07PM

My aunt has a book that he wrote she found it in a box of books in her attic when she bought her house. It's falling apart but pretty awesome. she won't part from it!

Mea Jan 31st 2008 3:56PM

He gets an F in penmanship LOL!

Janet Feb 2nd 2008 6:15PM

Eric, methinks you must be quite young, because scholars have supected for as long as I can remember that WS did not write much of what has been attributed to him. Some have given credit to Francis Bacon. Who cares? I love the stuff, no matter who penned it!

Haylee Jan 31st 2008 8:06PM

...WOW, looks like Shakespeare could only write his last name. I agree with Mea, he gets an F in penmanship.

rob Feb 5th 2008 8:17AM

some people use his signatures as proof that he did not write any of his stories. a lot of people think that the man who supposedly wrote the greatest plays ever and who had a ridiculous vocabulary was not educated. they point to the fact that it appears that he could barely even write his own name. in fact, there are no plays or sonnets in his handwriting at all...only a few signatures

wanda Feb 5th 2008 12:57PM

it does not look like the same person wrote it and the last name looks like shurbfire. funny

Michael Feb 7th 2008 11:40PM

He spelled "Edward de Vere" wrong.

Doctor Bob Feb 22nd 2008 7:13AM

The reason you don't find many of his manuscripts in his handwriting is easy to explain. He used a computer.

armgold1 Feb 22nd 2008 11:56AM

oh its my signature what is it doing there ? lol

Marcel Elfers Mar 3rd 2008 3:46PM

Very interesting signature, signed under unknown circumstances. There are signs of cruelty / brutality in last name and poor relationship to family name (illegible). The odd initiation stroke of the S and h as well as the ampersand for unknown reason, are odd.

First name is more optimistic.

Marcel Elfers (Elfersdocexam@aol.com)