Celebrity Signed Photos, ca. 1945
Appraised Value:
$10,000
IMAGE: 1 of 9
Appraisal Video: (1:54)
Appraisal Transcript:
GUEST: These were my husband's father's, and he was a manager for Commonwealth Theatres in the '40s and '50s in southwest Missouri and southeast Kansas. And when the stars would come for a premiere, they would send these photographs to him and he would get them from the studio.
APPRAISER: And you have a little picture here of him.
GUEST: Yes, this is a picture of him at a premiere in Sedalia, Kansas, for a Commonwealth Theatre event.
APPRAISER: Well, that is just wonderful, because to have them dedicated here to him and have these wonderful signatures is just fantastic. So when the stars would come in for the premieres of these, they would sign these photographs and dedicate them to him. And these are the original Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer photographs done by the studio for each of the stars, so these photographs alone are very rare. The other thing that's so interesting is a lot of these stars that you have here-- Bogart, Clark Gable, Judy Garland-- these are stars that hardly ever signed.
GUEST: Oh, okay.
APPRAISER: They almost always had these printed signatures, or they had their secretaries sign them. Now, these aren't in the best shape, but because of these original signatures, they are wonderful. They are incredibly valuable, and most of these kind of things are worth $40 each, but the Bogart one is probably the most valuable. This alone would bring about $3,000 to $5,000.
GUEST: Oh, my gosh.
APPRAISER: The Clark Gable here-- this one would bring about $2,000 to $3,000.
GUEST: Okay.
APPRAISER: And this wonderful Judy Garland would bring about $2,000 to $3,000. So you have here about $10,000...
GUEST: Oh, my gosh.
APPRAISER: worth of photographs.
GUEST: That is incredible.
