How to Successfully Receive Autographs from Celebrities

First of all, there are some abbreviations you need to know:
SASE – Self-Addressed Stamped Envelope
SAE – Self-Addressed Envelope (not stamped)
IRC – International Reply Coupon

In order to receive your autograph from the celebrity you have chosen, some important aspects are needed to know so that you succeed in getting the so wanted reply. I’ll just explain the basic, so beginners can easily enter this hobby and find it rewarding.

First of all you need to know the address of the person you will be contacting. You can get it via the set the celebrity is presently filming at (Via Venue), via the studio of the movie, and so many other ways (you name it!). Just write down on the envelope that exact address. Then, on another envelope, the SASE or SAE, you will write your own address as the receiver address and you will put this envelope inside the first one. If you live in the same country as the celebrity you are contacting, you’ll better stamp it according to what you’re sending, so the celebrity won’t have to be charged for that. If you live abroad, you may buy IRCs and put them in your envelope, the celebrity will exchange them for stamps, any expenses being needless. This procedure makes things easier for the celebrity, another envelope not being needed and avoiding to write your return address to reply to you. Next step is writing your letter to the celebrity, in which you ask for the celebrity’s autograph. Then you have to decide if you want a specific photo to be signed. If so, don’t forget to include it in the envelope you’re sending. Once again this is most suitable for the celebrities as they might not have photos available to send them back to you. Nevertheless, some celebrities have their own special photos for this purpose, and usually insert those signed in your package.

All right, most important things are said and explained. I am sure that you will soon be gathering a lot of interesting autographs and start your collection, which you should organize and catalogue in the proper way.

It is important to distinguish between the different types of autographs you will be receiving:


Authentic – Personally signed by the celebrity (handwritten). It may be inscribed on any support, paper, photo, etc.

PP – Pre-Print: an exact copy of the celebrity’s signature to be used on any support or document. It may be photocopied, printed, etc…

Secretarial – It’s the same autograph of the celebrity, but signed by an assistant. This allows the celebrity not to spend time signing the requests (imagine they receive hundreds of them!). So the staff takes care of it.

AP – Autopen: it’s a machine that reproduces the exact signature of the celebrity. Celebrities sometimes have these machines for the same reason above.

These are the most common different types of autographs you’ll be receiving. And it is important to distinguish between Authentic and PP, PP and AP, Authentic from Secretarial and so on, something I might write about next time.

I hope you enjoyed reading this, and that it aroused your interest on becoming an autograph gatherer yourself. If so, my main purpose was successful and I hope to be hearing from you as well, contributing for a more thorough knowledge on this very special, cultural and interesting hobby and collection.