GUEST: When I was about ten years old, I wanted a hobby, and my mother had heard about people collecting the autographs on the cover of “Time” magazine, and suggested that I try doing it. I started by writing a short hand-written letter addressed to whoever was on the cover of the “Time” magazine, and then my mom would help me. She'd usually read the article, get a good idea of where that person was, and we'd always give return postage and an envelope, and amazing, we got several of them back.
APPRAISER: What you have here is about, what, 170 or so?
GUEST: Yeah, well, I think about 163.
APPRAISER: 163 “Time” magazine covers, signed, all from 1964 to about 1970.
GUEST: Right.
APPRAISER: What I really love about your collection is the variety-- it's incredible. I mean, here we have Marc Chagall the artist and Apollo XIII, the three astronauts. Here we have Neil Armstrong, right after the moon landing, and then entertainers-- Rowan and Martin. It's a tapestry of history, a very significant time in history, the mid to late '60s.
GUEST: I've always kept this as a collection. I've never taken anything out and framed it or had it appraised separately, and I just was wondering if it's really important to keep this together as a collection and make sure it's passed down to another generation, or does there come a time when each one should be on its own merit and just is worth only what that person's autograph is worth?
APPRAISER: I would keep it as a collection. Now, as far as value goes, certain ones are going to be worth more than others.
GUEST: Right.
APPRAISER: I mean, the Apollo XIII, the Neil Armstrong, these have true value. But as part of a giant collection, it really raises the value of everything. And that's what we like to see. If I were to insure the collection, and I would, because it's very important. It's ephemera, it's paper. You got to take care of it. I would insure it for no less than $12,000.
GUEST: Really? Wow.
APPRAISER: Yeah.
