1948 High School Yearbook with James Dean Signature

Appraised on: July 11, 1998

Appraised in: Louisville, Kentucky

Appraised by: Caroline Ashleigh

Category: Collectibles

Episode Info: Fame & Fortune (#1016)

Originally Aired: May 29, 2006

IMAGE: 1 of 4  

Appraisal Video: (1:35)

GUEST: It's James Dean's junior yearbook from 1948.

APPRAISER: Well, let's take a look inside, Michelle. Let's see, we've got a few little places that show us some pages that has his picture in it.

GUEST: Right here.

APPRAISER: Right here. It's his regular school picture. Okay, that's his junior picture, correct? This was his junior yearbook.

GUEST: Right.

APPRAISER: And then we have in here... I think we have another interesting picture... The junior class play of James Dean, and what was his nickname?

GUEST: Rack.

APPRAISER: Rack. And then finally we have...

GUEST: The basketball picture.

APPRAISER: The basketball picture, okay. And then the coup de grace--

GUEST: Right.

APPRAISER: --is this item right back here, which is his signature and his nickname, Rack. So we have James Dean's signature with his nickname in his junior yearbook. Now, we know a signature alone is valuable. Do you have any idea what it goes for these days? Well, we know that a signature alone is usually worth about $1,500 to $2,000.

GUEST: Whoa.

APPRAISER: Now, the only thing is, if this were his senior yearbook and we had a picture of him in his Frankenstein outfit in the drama, it would probably fetch around... I would say around $4,000. But this piece as it is, is easily worth about $3,000 to $3,500.

GUEST: Wow!

APPRAISER: Thanks a lot, Michelle, for bringing it.

GUEST: That's great.