If you met your favourite artists say at a weekender like cleethorpes/Prestatyn in the past and you wanted their signature. Would you rather have it on the sleeve or the label?

We all know about Frank Wilson and Kenny.

But if the artist just signed their name on the label would it increase or decrease the value ?,

Sleeve every time , writing on record labels , vinyl vandalism & shouldn't be encouraged, & definitely not dedicated to the current owner , be it sleeve or label ..

If a record is in near mint condition and then someone/anyone writes on the label, it has now been defaced! That makes it of less value to me.

There is plenty of paper for autographs, no need to deface records.

Asked Madeline Bell , a close neighbour of mine to autograph a handful of her UK collectables , I applied the golden rule of, " please write on the sleeves,, and no Lovey Dovey bits. She returned them a few weeks later At 80 plus she is still performing all over Europe,. all signed in Large font with a Gold marker " Best Wishes Johnny ,Love Madeline B"! I Thanked her Sheepishly ,, having worked with eveyone from Led Zeppelin to Mc Cartney and Elton she is still one Fiesty lady. Vandalism , no , i think she has increased the value of these " cheapies !

john Hart Malaga Spain.

I have dozens & dozens signed @ Southport (& Morecambe) , Cleggy & Prestatyn, maybe even a couple from Fleetwood ... all on the sleeves (apart from a few early ones & a couple where the artist just did their own thing). Got Garnet Mimms autograph back in 1967 but as I didn't know I'd get access to his Mojo Club dressing room till a few minutes before the event happened, it's just on a scruffy bit of paper (though I have done my best to 'upgrade' it).

Edited July 19Jul 19 by Roburt

I Have The Fascinations" Girls are out to get you " signed by Curtis Mayfield on the record

I asked Don Gardner to sign the B side of my copy of “Is this really love”. He pulled out from his pocket a big fat pen turned it over and wrecked it. So what I was lucky to be in the presence of such a fine man.

I do have a few signed 45s , I think this is the most subtle, mostly on sleeves fortunately.

Bought this for 15 pound sometime last year - probably the best version of the track. Was pleased to see the WOL was actually a hand written note and signature by Bobby Hutton himself and not another collector! Sold it shortly after to fund another want.

I sold a number of Motown/ Kent / NS vinyl albums years ago. Autographed , including Smokey Robinson, David Ruffin, Eddie Kendricks. Good relationship with the Dealer, but informed me that Autographs on the jackets devalued the album. Wasn't sure about that, but some of these comments sort of back it up.

my take be that an autographed 45 would be a personal memento

as in, it be worth something to me but not much to anyone else

fair call?

2 hours ago, Owd Codger said:

I sold a number of Motown/ Kent / NS vinyl albums years ago. Autographed , including Smokey Robinson, David Ruffin, Eddie Kendricks. Good relationship with the Dealer, but informed me that Autographs on the jackets devalued the album. Wasn't sure about that, but some of these comments sort of back it up.

Can't imagine any Beatles, Stones, Dylan etc. record being worth less because it's signed by the artist(s).

Sign the sleeves every time.

Anything that has a genuine signature of Jimi Hendrix, Jim Morrison, Janis Joplin, a Beatle, Stone or the like on it will go for a lot of money; 45's / LP's included.

But can't think of too many from the soul genre (apart from say Otis Redding, Marvin Gaye, Curtis Mayfield) that would follow suit.

If there were two very rare identical mint records on a table and you could have only one, would you pick the one with writing on the label or the one that is totally clean?

Edited Friday at 13:233 days by Solidsoul

I would take the signed 45 myself. It's that that plays the music. Sleeves rip, get lost or weren't even kept when you stashed your "joys" in a card sleeve in the little box fastened to the seat on the GP200 with an elastic in the early 70s ; ) ktf

Sleeve generally ,but was pleased when I found this signed by Shirley Karol in Chicago …

4 hours ago, Roburt said:

Anything that has a genuine signature of Jimi Hendrix, Jim Morrison, Janis Joplin, a Beatle, Stone or the like on it will go for a lot of money; 45's / LP's included.

But can't think of too many from the soul genre (apart from say Otis Redding, Marvin Gaye, Curtis Mayfield) that would follow suit.

...I think your bang on here and the key is "genuine" you'd have sure of the provenance, otherwise its just writing on the label...

I'll post some more up later

I did have Edwin Starr Ric Tic 45s signed but under his birth name Charles Hatcher, just as the Larry Wright and the Johnnie Mae Mathews I no longer own them.

I have a large number of autographs in my autograph book though, that aside of the thread of course

ill sort a couple out later

18 minutes ago, Gilly said:

I did have Edwin Starr Ric Tic 45s signed but under his birth name Charles Hatcher, just as the Larry Wright and the Johnnie Mae Mathews I no longer own them.

I have a large number of autographs in my autograph book though, that aside of the thread of course

Hi Gilly, is that the copy that you see in the clip that Johnnie May wipes first on her jumper , & my like was for the autograph book lol .

13 minutes ago, Happy Feet said:

Hi Gilly, is that the copy that you see in the clip that Johnnie May wipes first on her jumper , & my like was for the autograph book lol .

yes, the very one in the video, now owned by Gary Steele

7 hours ago, Mike said:

my take be that an autographed 45 would be a personal memento

as in, it be worth something to me but not much to anyone else

fair call?

8 hours ago, Mike said:

my take be that an autographed 45 would be a personal memento

as in, it be worth something to me but not much to anyone else

fair call?

7 hours ago, Davey S said:

Sign the sleeves every time.

Yes and yes every time !

Cheers Paul

Jimmy Cliff on a great Ska 45....

This one was special,Eddie actually said these words to me at Stafford ,so fast forward to Blackpool weekender ,I thought it a good opportunity to get him to write it down permanently….

I have a few signed records, but this would be the pride of them. Signed at New Orleans' Jazz Festival in 1989 I think. Aaron Neville, the master. Sleeve or label, this one doesn't matter to me. Would NEVER be sold.

Edited Saturday at 06:512 days by Kev Moore
added txt

My uk soul city 45 of, the beat, major lance signed by the great man at i think a Peterborough all-nighter in the mid 1970s, Paul/mithras you was probably with me at the time,???

I had Terry Collier signing a couple of albums for me which made them priceless to me.

Once bought a Jimmy Witherspoon album, condition WOC. Turned out it was his autograph. Also have Mike & Ray if only you knew on Giant, signed by both.

I have no problem with most aspects of a records label , initials of previous owners , artist signature, radio station stamps etc.

have lots of Jamaican 45s where the artists and title are scratched out completely

it’s just patina on a records journey

If you are collecting records that must be mint obviously you may not accept these types of marks

If you are willing to accept writing on label etc then you will always expect the grade to be lowered , regardless

I think the difference with northern soul artists is most of them are really not that famous in the big scheme of things

So you don’t have the fanatical autograph hunting that takes place within the likes of football and famous movie stars and music legends

I remember my son paid 500 quid for a framed signed Mason Mount Chelsea football shirt with providence - a few weeks before he left for Man City I might add😂

But we love our in the main obscure hero’s so to have a signatures by an artist that you have such a connection to their records is really nice, especially as most of them are gone now.

I have a signature from Ray Pollard from the 100 club, to Gaz with love Ray pollard. When I see it it reminds me of the night, the emotion, it’s a lovely moment captured with his signature

So if I have a Bob Marley signature on a record or a Beatles record signed by the band I think with providence that would generate interest and increase the value. I believe there are price guides covering these type of items

As we are collecting obscure records by obscure artists I don’t really think signed copy’s are going to increase the value , in fact it would have to lower the grade to WOL

That’s my ten pence worth

👍

1 hour ago, Gaz T said:

I have no problem with most aspects of a records label , initials of previous owners , artist signature, radio station stamps etc.

have lots of Jamaican 45s where the artists and title are scratched out completely

it’s just patina on a records journey

If you are collecting records that must be mint obviously you may not accept these types of marks

If you are willing to accept writing on label etc then you will always expect the grade to be lowered , regardless

I think the difference with northern soul artists is most of them are really not that famous in the big scheme of things

So you don’t have the fanatical autograph hunting that takes place within the likes of football and famous movie stars and music legends

I remember my son paid 500 quid for a framed signed Mason Mount Chelsea football shirt with providence - a few weeks before he left for Man City I might add😂

But we love our in the main obscure hero’s so to have a signatures by an artist that you have such a connection to their records is really nice, especially as most of them are gone now.

I have a signature from Ray Pollard from the 100 club, to Gaz with love Ray pollard. When I see it it reminds me of the night, the emotion, it’s a lovely moment captured with his signature

So if I have a Bob Marley signature on a record or a Beatles record signed by the band I think with providence that would generate interest and increase the value. I believe there are price guides covering these type of items

As we are collecting obscure records by obscure artists I don’t really think signed copy’s are going to increase the value , in fact it would have to lower the grade to WOL

That’s my ten pence worth

👍

I agree with this post about autographs on rare soul records, if anything, lowering the price of the record.

Personally I collect Northern Soul original records in the best condition I can get them. Not with writing on the labels.

I don't collect autographs, but the good autographs I do have are in a note book. We used to take this to venues where artists were performing.

At the grt yarmouth weekender ray pollard signed my usa demo of its a sad thing,i also had just bought 2 shrine records moments before,whilst neither were ray pollard, i thought he would be interested in looking at them,i asked him to sign one,to which he did,i then looked at it later on and he had signed it "to lee...joe hunter" WHY?