Kennedy signatures might be too good to be true

Dear Helaine and Joe:I am enclosing pictures of a letter I received in 1961 from the secretary of Jacqueline Kennedy along with signed business cards from Mrs. Kennedy and President Kennedy. I had written to Mrs. Kennedy telling her I loved her pillbox hats and was wearing one for Easter - I was 11 years old at the time. Do these have any value?Thank you, K.B., Ramsey, N.J.Dear K.B.:Autographs seem to be of great interest to our audience, so we decided to discuss another one since it seems so appropriate as we near the end of the 2008 political season.John Fitzgerald Kennedy was the second child of Joseph P. and Rose Fitzgerald Kennedy of Brookline, Mass., and was born on May 29, 1917.After serving in the Navy during World War II, Kennedy was elected to the House of Representatives in 1946 and to the United States Senate in 1952. In 1954, he married Jacqueline Bouvier, and was elected president of the United States in 1960. In 1961, John F. Kennedy was a hero to many, and his beautiful wife was a model of chic fashion to young girls - and many women. He was assassinated on Nov. 22, 1963.Today, his signature as president has attained almost iconic status and some typed documents bearing his authentic signature are valued at more than $10,000 depending on the content. The problem is that Kennedy signed few pieces of correspondence himself and widely used what has been referred to as "an army of secretaries" and autopens (a mechanical device used to produce multiple signatures) to do the demanding job for him.Autopens have been around for a long time. The first patent for such a device was issued in 1803 and it is said that Thomas Jefferson used a version of one in 1804. Harry Truman is said to have been the first U.S. president to use the autopen as a matter of course, but presidential secretarial signatures have been commonplace since at least the mid-19th century.For the most part, if someone saw JFK at an event, he might give a personal autograph on the spot, but if you wrote the White House for an autograph, the chances are that you received something signed by either an autopen or a secretary. We searched a large number of Kennedy autographs and the closest thing we could find to the example in today's question was an autopen signature Kennedy used while he was in the Senate.It is important to keep in mind that we are not graphologists or autograph specialists, and we recommend that K.B. check this matter out further with someone who is an acknowledged expert in this field. But, we are reasonably sure that the card signed "John F. Kennedy" is not actually in his hand and has only a modest value.However, we have also compared the Jacqueline Kennedy signature with known examples and feel that this signature very well may be genuine. This signature alone -- if proven to be authentic -- is worth for insurance purposes around $600. If President Kennedy's signature turns out to be genuine (which we seriously doubt) the value for this card would be approximately $1,300 to $1,500.In any event, we feel that the grouping -- the White House letter signed by Letitia Baldrige and the two signatures -- is worth approximately $750 for insurance purposes.Helaine Fendelman and Joe Rosson are the authors of "Price It Yourself" (HarperResource, $19.95). Contact them at Treasures in Your Attic, PO Box 27540, Knoxville, TN 37927. E-mail them at treasures(at)knology.net.)