HOW DID AUTOGRAPH COLLECTING START ?

[johnnylightning]

I was just thinking about this yesterday,how did autograph collecting start and how far back does it go. Did it start in the 1920s with baseball players or in the 30s when hollywood started to take off ? Or does it go back even farther because i just can't help but wonder back before people collected autographs as a hobby who would have thought to even want somebodys autograph or ask for it the whole concept would have been new and almost odd i would think. Like maybe it all started with baseball players signing baseballs at games so that kids could take something home from their fav players i don't know. I know there is probably some older collectors on here or autograph experts so maybe somebody knows the history of this great hobby?

[Icena]

http://www.raabcollection.com/pliny.aspx <---- This site is extremely helpful for finding out the history of philography.

[johnnylightning]

I had no idea it went back so far.

[Icena]

I had no idea it went back so far.

Neither did I! I only found out a few months ago when I did a bit of research into autograph collecting, and I was astounded at how long it's been going on!

[Star9685]

http://www.raabcollection.com/pliny.aspx <---- This site is extremely helpful for finding out the history of philography.

I just scanned the article, and that's very interesting really!