In the Summer of 2018 we were approached by a private vendor who had a large private collection of autographs to sell. This was the Laurie Butcher Collection. The first part of the collection was approximately 30 albums filled with signed photographs. In the most part these were taken by Laurie who then returned to the stage door and got the stars to sign the photographs in person. The first part achieved £11,000 – all of which was donated to the North London Hospice as per his wishes.
The second part of the collection was even more fascinating and jaw dropping. Approximately 240 autograph albums containing signatures from the worlds of sport, TV, film, theatre and music to name but a few.
Several weeks of research and hard work created a master list of all 15,000 autographs. We selected several autographs to remove from the books to create key lots within the auction and the rest of the signatures remained in their books. We soon discovered it was a question of whose autographs we didn’t have rather than whose we did. There were all of those pictured above including Nelson Mandela, Muhammed Ali, Neil Armstrong, Buzz Aldrin, Audrey Hepburn, John Lennon and Yoko Ono Lennon and Salvador Dali; in addition to many more of the greats of stage, screen and sport. This second sale raised £38,000 for the charity.
At the end of the third and final part of the sale of this lifetime’s hobby the total donated to the charity was approximately £50,000.
We have also had other autographs to sell such as a first edition copy of Harry Potter and the Philospher’s Stone with J.K. Rowling’s signature in addition to others pictured below. We are always interested in both full collections of autographs as well as individual signatures, especially if there’s provenance or an interesting story to tell. If you would like some help in valuing your collection then please do contact us or use our request a valuation page.
