Victor Niederhoffer Collection: Where content is king

[vc_row][vc_column][vc_raw_html]JTNDZGl2JTIwZGF0YS1jb25maWdpZCUzRCUyMjE0ODcxMzAlMkY2MTMyMzA4NyUyMiUyMHN0eWxlJTNEJTIyd2lkdGglM0ExMDAlMjUlM0IlMjBoZWlnaHQlM0E4MDBweCUzQiUyMiUyMGNsYXNzJTNEJTIyaXNzdXVlbWJlZCUyMiUzRSUzQyUyRmRpdiUzRSUwQSUzQ3NjcmlwdCUyMHR5cGUlM0QlMjJ0ZXh0JTJGamF2YXNjcmlwdCUyMiUyMHNyYyUzRCUyMiUyRiUyRmUuaXNzdXUuY29tJTJGZW1iZWQuanMlMjIlMjBhc3luYyUzRCUyMnRydWUlMjIlM0UlM0MlMkZzY3JpcHQlM0U=[/vc_raw_html][/vc_column][/vc_row][vc_row][vc_column][vc_column_text]Victor Niederhoffer is more than a well-known hedge fund manager, champion squash player, bestselling author and statistician. He is also a world-class collector. In June 2018, RR Auction is pleased to present more than 100 rare and significant letters from his vast collection. Niederhoffer only selects content-rich and historically vivid correspondences, and these offerings are the best examples of the diverse writers featured, from the arenas of politics, science, sports, literature and more. From Werner Heisenberg to Thomas Jefferson to Charles Darwin, each intimate letter sheds a rare light on their personal day-to-day lives.

In Victor’s own words:

 

A family tradition of the written word

“Books and letters have always been an important part of my family life. My father was a policeman in the book publishing area of east New York. In those days, they didn’t sell their overstock – they dumped them in the East River. They hired policemen to do the unloading. My father was paid 50 cents an hour to dump them in the river; instead, he saved them. Our house of about 750 feet, plus wife and two children, had his book collection. The whole house and basement were lined with books.”

“Letters were always a traditional highlight of our family. The parents, the adults have always written letters supporting their children. My grandfather sent one to the coach of the Brooklyn College team when his son was taken out of the football game; I wrote my first letter when my daughter was taken out of a third grade talent contest.” [You can read about both of these, and the uproar they caused, in the Niederhoffer memoir, “The Education of a Speculator,” pg. 115-116.]

 

The collection begins

“When I learned that books and letters were available, I started collecting at 25. Very eclectic interests. The publishers and sellers have told me that often people collect one or two fields; what’s unique about me is that I collect in every field. Each week, the sellers would come to my office. If I’d had a good week in the market, I’d use my entire winnings. I bought them from key sellers in the area, and from auctions.”

“I collected for about 20 years, buying most in the 1970s. I kept them in archival volumes and often looked at them with great longing and nostalgia. I gained a lot of happiness looking through them and sharing with my family.”

 

Content is king

“I tried to garner the best writing and significance the author could have, [that best displayed] the writer’s contributing to western civilization. I love my letters.”

“The letters form a real tapestry of history. Nothing was bought just to fill a hole. They all show a tremendous vitality and the key events of their time. Eventually the sellers were aware that I only wanted the most vivid and influential letters, and would bring me those. I didn’t mind paying a premium price for a significant contribution, rather than buying a commercial or mediocre example of a person’s humdrum thinking. That’s important. I evolved so that my collection became very heroic and poignant.”

“What’s amazing is that all the writers were very salient; e.g., presidents Grant or Monroe or Jackson, you never think of them as great intellectuals. Reagan, Teddy Roosevelt… they always wrote great, poignant letters. I prefer letters to historic documents, because by the time they come to the president, they’re antiseptic and for posterity. Letters explain how people were really feeling. It gives you a feeling of what the normal day-to-day life was.”

“I particularly enjoyed the letters from wives about husbands. I know almost every great man had a great woman, caring for the reputation and impact of their spouses on the current generation. Since I have seven children, I was particularly interested in letters that described the family life, triumphs and tragedies, and hopes of great men and women. For instance, the letter when Ronald Reagan wrote to his daughter [Patti Davis] asking her where it went wrong… It’s so emotional. Every family has had some uncertainty.”[/vc_column_text][/vc_column][/vc_row][vc_row][vc_column width=”1/2″][vc_column_text]

Sharing the Niederhoffer Collection

“My collection became so voluminous, that a letter that was the piece de resistance connected with that writer was lost in the myriad. For that reason, I wanted to share the triumphal [examples] of those contributions to western civilization with those [collectors like me] that had a special interest in the area.”

“I was pleased RR went through them; I gave them full access of the collection and they chose the ones they thought would be most salient and heroic of western civilization. I think the letters are unique in that they span every field: it’s a good sample of heroic life from the 17th c. to the present.”

“When you have many thousands of letters, [you want] them to come to life. I’m happy to sell my best letters because they’ll be the ones more interesting and valuable to those who can appreciate their significance. I never bought a letter just because of a signature, a name or to complete a set. It will be nice to find surrogates who will enjoy them now.”[/vc_column_text][/vc_column][vc_column width=”1/2″][vc_single_image image=”10029″ img_size=”full” add_caption=”yes”][/vc_column][/vc_row][vc_row][vc_column][vc_column_text]

Endless inspiration

“The letters are very inspirational. I think about them when I’m trying to do great things. They provide a beautiful background, very resonant. They also come to life often – for example, I just read today a big article about the significance of Superman. I have the first draft of the original Superman. When you collect the great contributions, you see things come back around.”

 

Curating historic letters into the future

“I’m pleased that these letters are going to contribute to awareness of the greatness and impact of these people. I hope the recipients enjoy them and will share them with their colleagues and families, the same way I have.”

The Significant Letter Collection of
Victor Niederhoffer:
Bidding is June 22-28
View Auction Now

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John Brennan Collection: 5 quick questions

Autograph collector John Brennan Nirvana Dave Grohl RR Auction

This is third in a series of blogs highlighting the life of autograph collector John Brennan. The Brennan Collection will be offered by RR Auction from May 10-17.

 

Five quick questions with John Brennan

 

  • Favorite band of all-time, as a fan?

 

Guns N’ Roses.

 

  • Favorite band to follow on the road?

 

All of them! Guns N’ Roses, Van Halen, Paul McCartney – following any of them, you knew something exciting was going to happen. It was always so crazy and so cool.

 

  • Favorite person to get photos/autographs from?

 

Slash – It was chaos, total madness (with Guns N’ Roses); they were all partying up a storm. I had that fever – the adrenaline rush of never knowing what was going to happen. My favorite photo with Slash would have to be the one in Chicago in 1989 at like 6 in the morning in the back of a van. Total stoned look on his face; I can always imagine it.

 

  • Favorite photo of yourself with a celeb?

 

Man, that’s hard. Do I say a certain person because it’s rare? The one with Ronald Reagan? The one where Bob Dylan has his arm around me? Prince, Madonna, Michael Jackson?

 

  • Favorite place to hang out to meet celebs?

 

Easy. Parker Meridien, New York City, 1984. The best place to be to meet celebrities in 1984.

 

See the results of the John Brennan Collection auction here.

 

John Brennan Collection: Brennan’s Big Apple

Autograph collector John Brennan Rolling Stones Keith Richards

This is second in a series of blogs highlighting the life of autograph collector John Brennan. The Brennan Collection will be offered by RR Auction from May 10-17.

 

John Brennan’s Big Apple

How long is your commute? Teenager John Brennan was logging 150 miles daily on the round-trip driving back and forth from his home in Shelton, Connecticut, to New York City – and loving every minute of it.

Once he got his first autograph from the B-52s in 1979, he began a hobby that would come to define him. “Early on I realized, ‘this is IT, this is what I want to do in my life’,” Brennan said. He would go on to amass tens of thousands of autographs from all the pivotal music stars of the last 40 years. Brennan’s autograph collection is a labor of love by a passionate rock music fan.

Nobody had what we had in New York City;
it was the rock capital of the world.

Beginning in the early 1980s, Brennan was driving his IROC Camaro back and forth to the city every day, collecting autographs by day, dodging deer at 4 a.m. on the way home. But it was all worth it. Nobody had what we had in New York City,” he recalled. “It was the rock capital of the world.”

 

Dropping names

Brennan’s timing couldn’t have been better. British rockers like Keith Richards and Mick Jagger of the Rolling Stones, Roger Waters of Pink Floyd, Bowie and Sting all lived in New York City in those early years. Sassy unknown Madonna was making “Desperately Seeking Susan” when Brennan met her and co-star Rosanna Arquette in the hip neighborhood of St. Marks Place. From Prince to the Grateful Dead, everyone came through the Big Apple. And John Brennan was there to get their autographs.

One Big Apple hotspot was The Parker New York (aka the Parker Meridien back in the day) – “the” hotel for hanging with celebs, Brennan said. He began an acquaintance with Julian Lennon (and mom Cynthia) and was lucky enough to be at gatherings that included the Grateful Dead, movie and television stars of the day like Don Johnson, and many others. “There were always [famous] people there. I followed Iron Maiden there once,” he said. “But the first time I stayed there was in early 1984 because Van Halen was there, and I met other people. Then Duran Duran was there and all the girls following them. It was like the hot club where all the teens hung out,” he recalled.

 

See the results of the John Brennan Collection auction here.

John Brennan Collection: Collector life

Autograph collector John Brennan Collection Robert Plant Led Zeppelin RR Auction

This is first in a series of blogs highlighting the life of autograph collector John Brennan. The Brennan Collection will be offered by RR Auction from May 10-17.

 

Collector life: John Brennan

Lifelong autograph collector John Brennan is ready to (reluctantly) part with a sliver of his vast 20,000+ collection. Gleaned over the past 40 years, the Brennan Collection features pretty much every rock n roll band of the last half-century, and then some. He used to be out 270 days a year collecting; he’s still out there, but only about 50 days a year nowadays. But it’s still a total labor of love for this diehard music fan.

I was a collector first; I just wanted my own albums signed.

“I was a collector first; I just wanted my own albums signed,” said Brennan, 53. Now living in New York City, he grew up in Connecticut and developed his love of rock n roll at an early age. From Aerosmith to Zeppelin, he listened, collected and followed the defining bands of the last decades of the 20th century. “Music WAS the drugs (for me),” he said. “All the Led Zeppelin, the Black Sabbath.”

‘The original selfies guys’

“We were the original selfies guys!” he joked about himself and his fellow hobbyists, posing with rock stars for photographs taken with actual cameras. “I was the Master of Getting. In the early days, it was always at the stage door; I was a teen with no connections, just wanting to be part of it. I wasn’t going up to these people to make a living; I just loved music. Once you do it just to sell it, you start to cut corners. I was a collector first.”

Daily life of collecting autographs was on-the-job – or maybe on-the-hob(by) – training. Brennan learned as he went; where the stars hung out, when and how to approach them. And for him, it wasn’t going to be just anyone. “The key to my success was that I was listening to the music. I stuck with what I knew; I wasn’t, like, going after Garbo,” Brennan said. “Whoever I listened to, I had to like; they had to have talent. I was a music guy; just a total maniac fan.”

It wasn’t easy

He cautions seekers to know when to say when, while soliciting autographs or photos. “My advice is just be nice and polite; if you get rejected, try again another time,” he said. “Keep asking. Their niceness [about signing] goes in and out, based on where they are in their own personal lives” – e.g., relationship problems, etc. Stars are human too, after all.

Modern-day autograph collectors might not realize how much more work it was just a few decades ago. No cellphone pics, no touchscreen finger-signatures. If you wanted an autographed photo with a celebrity, it was going to be more than one interaction.

You had to go through a time-consuming process to get a physical photo,” Brennan explained. “After we’d get a photo with someone, we’d immediately run to a photo store and print a photo — you didn’t even know if the picture came out! You’d wait a day, or at least an hour or two, hoping it’s not blurry, etc. And you had to order and wait for an 8×10. It was much more difficult to get the actual photo. And then you had it to get the autograph!”

Finding the celebs was no picnic, either. Remember that just a few decades ago, there was no social media oversharing; no instant check-ins at locations to let you know where to find your music or Hollywood hero. “I don’t think people [now] realize what a different world it was back then,” Brennan said. “There weren’t huge crowds of autograph seekers crowding around [celebrities] who just tweeted where they were. They weren’t guarded and annoyed because they figured you’d be turning around and selling their autographs on eBay or wherever. It was a totally different vibe back then,” he said.

See the results of the John Brennan Collection auction here.

‘Sign’ of the times: Are signatures a thing of the past?

Sgt. Pepper’s Lonely Hearts Club Band album, fully signed by The Beatles John Lennon Paul McCartney George Harrison Ringo Starr autographs signatures RR Auction

[vc_row][vc_column][vc_column_text]Above: Sgt. Pepper’s Lonely Hearts Club Band album, fully signed by The Beatles. Sold by RR Auction for $179,358.

With credit card companies eschewing them, are signatures signing-off?

Two articles recently took contrarian viewpoints on whether or not the handwritten signature is going the way of the dinosaur.[/vc_column_text][/vc_column][/vc_row][vc_row][vc_column width=”1/2″][vc_column_text]

An antiquated notion?

In the New York Times story “Credit Card Signatures Are About to Become Extinct in the U.S.,” writer Stacy Cowley notes that as of April 2018, American Express, Discover, Mastercard and Visa have stopped requiring card users to sign receipts during transactions. With the advent of microchips to authenticate purchases, “the signature has really outrun its useful life,” said Mastercard’s Linda Kirkpatrick.

“I think they’re done,” added Mark Horwedel of the Merchant Advisory Group, a trade group that represents large American retailers. Horwedel predicts three-quarters of his group’s members will have stopped asking customers to sign their names on credit card receipts by the end of the year, the article states.[/vc_column_text][/vc_column][vc_column width=”1/2″][vc_single_image image=”9955″ img_size=”full” add_caption=”yes”][/vc_column][/vc_row][vc_row][vc_column][vc_column_text]The NYT article paints the signature as an antiquated notion on its way out:

The signature, a centuries-old way of verifying identity, is rapidly going extinct. Personal checks are anachronisms. Pen-and-ink letters are scarce. When credit card signatures disappear, handwritten authentications will be relegated to a few special circumstances: sealing a giant transaction like a house purchase, or getting a celebrity to autograph a piece of memorabilia — and even that is being supplanted by the cellphone selfie.

[/vc_column_text][/vc_column][/vc_row][vc_row][vc_column][vc_single_image image=”9959″ img_size=”full” add_caption=”yes”][/vc_column][/vc_row][vc_row][vc_column][vc_column_text]The story even included this video where people talk wistfully about the significance of their signature as it relates to their personal evolution, as if the “extinction” has already happened.

It’s clear that signatures have little bearing on 21st century purchasing validation. NYT also included this humorous video of two friends on a comedy buying spree in L.A., signing obviously fake names on their receipts, including Justin Bieber, Jessica Alba, Vin Diesel and Oprah – even “Mr. Fake Name.” None were rejected by the cashiers, even when pointed out.[/vc_column_text][/vc_column][/vc_row][vc_row][vc_column width=”1/3″][vc_single_image image=”9963″ img_size=”full” add_caption=”yes”][/vc_column][vc_column width=”1/3″][vc_single_image image=”9964″ img_size=”full” add_caption=”yes”][/vc_column][vc_column width=”1/3″][vc_single_image image=”9965″ img_size=”full” add_caption=”yes”][/vc_column][/vc_row][vc_row][vc_column width=”1/2″][vc_column_text]

Signatures still carry a certain cachet

In his Washington Post article, “The digital age killed cursive. But it can’t kill the signature. Here’s why,” Adam Arenson disagrees that there is no value left to the handwritten signature. He asserts that signatures still carry a certain cachet, “a power we can attribute to their long history as marks of personal authenticity.”

From clipping signatures from handwritten letters, to in-person requests of notable figures, to printed “carte de visite” calling cards, all the way to signed glossy photographs of the modern age, collectors have sought and savored autographs for centuries. [/vc_column_text][/vc_column][vc_column width=”1/2″][vc_single_image image=”9967″ img_size=”full” add_caption=”yes”][/vc_column][/vc_row][vc_row][vc_column][vc_column_text]Said Arenson in the WaPo story:

And yet signatures still matter. Documents signed by Abraham Lincoln — even mere receipts — fetch thousands at auction. And even the absence of a personal signature attests to its power: I have peered at the signed “X” on many government documents — the mark of a Native American on a treaty, an ex-slave on a deposition, a veteran on a pension claim — wondering at what we cannot know about them because the subjects were unable even to sign.

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What does RR Auction think?

We certainly agree with the Washington Post article here at RR Auction. Though signatures may not be necessary for making credit card purchases, they nonetheless still hold value in the arena of autograph collection and historical artifacts.

“Our business was built on signatures,” said RR Auction founder and CEO Bob Eaton. “Interest in historically significant autographs on manuscripts, documents and correspondence has only increased in our 40-plus years as an auction house.” Eaton further notes that celebrity autographs from entertainers, politicians or other notable personalities – whether on the previously mentioned formats or on photographs, posters, books, etc. – continue to garner passionate collector interest and huge paydays for consignors.[/vc_column_text][/vc_column][vc_column width=”1/2″][vc_single_image image=”9973″ img_size=”full” add_caption=”yes”][/vc_column][/vc_row][vc_row][vc_column width=”1/2″][vc_single_image image=”9975″ img_size=”full” add_caption=”yes”][/vc_column][vc_column width=”1/2″][vc_column_text]Bill White, lead autograph appraiser at RR, said there’s no sign of signatures slowing down in the collectibles marketplace. “With handwritten items becoming more scarce in the digital age, it’s very exciting to own something put on paper with pen, pencil, quill or whatnot,” White said.

Collectors desire these items because there’s a palpably personal feel to them –
a more vivid connection to the author.

[/vc_column_text][/vc_column][/vc_row][vc_row][vc_column][vc_column_text]So while perhaps signatures will become obsolete in realm of credit card purchases, RR Auction will still seek out the very best examples of history-makers putting their John Hancock on it.

Read about how Steve Jobs signatures are a hot commodity here.

Scroll through some of our best-sellers, including items with signatures, in this list.[/vc_column_text][/vc_column][/vc_row]

Rare and Remarkable: The evolution of RR Auction

Land grant signed by President Abraham Lincoln 1863 RR Auction

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How did RR become the leader in historic manuscripts and autographs?

Recently, Tom Hoepf of New England Antiques Journal sat down with RR Auction EVP Bobby Livingston, to discuss the evolution of the auction house. Here’s what he had to say.[/vc_column_text][/vc_column][/vc_row][vc_row][vc_column width=”1/2″][vc_column_text]From a small mail-order catalog business started in Boston in 1976 to a multimillion-dollar international online auction house, RR Auction has grown to dominate categories of collectible memorabilia across many genres. Livingston explained the rather amusing “first come, first served” method of acquiring our offered historic manuscripts and autographs, wherein the catalog recipients would call in to purchase the items. He talked about how annoying it was for the West Coast buyers because the New Englanders received the catalogs a couple days earlier and would be able to purchase items before them.[/vc_column_text][/vc_column][vc_column width=”1/2″][vc_single_image image=”9072″ img_size=”full” add_caption=”yes”][/vc_column][/vc_row][vc_row content_placement=”middle”][vc_column width=”1/2″][vc_empty_space height=”50px”][vc_single_image image=”8085″ img_size=”full” add_caption=”yes”][/vc_column][vc_column width=”1/2″][vc_column_text]Once RR moved from catalog sales to auctions, the 1980s were still pre-internet, so all bidding was done by phone-in buyers, who would often “filibuster” to stay on the phone until the midnight bidding deadline. Thankfully the advent of the digital age in the 1990s allowed bidders and RR employees alike the ability to get more sleep, as auctions went online. The company also began hosting live auctions for special items and collections, like JFK or Bonnie and Clyde memorabilia. [/vc_column_text][/vc_column][/vc_row][vc_row content_placement=”middle”][vc_column width=”1/2″][vc_empty_space height=”50px”][vc_column_text]Livingston explained to NEAJ readers how RR grew from being the known source for historic manuscripts and autographs into other categories like Space exploration collectibles and Olympics memorabilia, sheerly due to our current collectors offering their own items in those genres. It grew organically from the needs of our clients, into extremely successful categories.[/vc_column_text][/vc_column][vc_column width=”1/2″][vc_single_image image=”8097″ img_size=”full” add_caption=”yes”][/vc_column][/vc_row][vc_row][vc_column][vc_column_text]RR thanks NEAJ for the profile piece on our company. Read Hoepf’s entire article here.[/vc_column_text][/vc_column][/vc_row]

Auction results: Space

Above: Buzz Aldrin’s Apollo 11 lunar surface-flown Double Star Chart. Sold by RR Auction for $50,618.

Spectacular Space auction results –
and a great testimonial

RR Auction’s April Space auction was another smashing success, as important space exploration artifacts were obtained by passionate collectors. More than 20 items achieved a hammer price over $10,000, eight over $20k, and the top lot earning nearly six figures. Here are the auction results.

The top lot was a superb archive of 26 items by Dr. Wernher von Braun related to the iconic ‘Man Will Conquer Space Soon!’ series, which appeared in Collier’s Magazine between 1952 and 1954, which achieved a final sales price of $98,644.

Astronaut-validated flown artifacts did extremely well in the auction. An incredible Apollo 11 lunar surface-flown double star chart, signed and flight-certified by Buzz Aldrin, garnered $50,618. Dave Scott’s signed and certified Apollo 15 lunar surface-flown combined LRV ‘Photo’ and ‘Contour’ maps were purchased for $49,889. Gene Cernan’s Apollo 17 lunar surface-used Rover map achieved $45,353.

A unique collection of 109 unflown Space Shuttle Robbins medallions – 102 sterling silver medals and 7 rare pre-production bronze examples – went for $49,000. The top results are further listed below.

 

‘I felt like family’

RR Auction is always so pleased to work with NASA engineer and collectSPACE member Daniel Schaiewitz; we guess the feeling is mutual, because he and wife Nilda were kind enough to drive over to see us in New Hampshire so Dan could film this incredible testimonial video:

 

 

With nearly two dozen items in this auction, Dan had a great showing in our most recent auction. His top sold artifact in April was a spiral-bound training cuff checklist personally worn and used by Apollo 15 LMP Jim Irwin and Schaiewitz, which sold for $4,577.

One of Dan’s items also received some rather amusing press.

 

Top auction results for April Space
($10k or higher):

Wernher von Braun Archive: $98,644

Buzz Aldrin’s Apollo 11 Lunar Surface-Flown Double Star Chart, $50,618

Dave Scott’s Apollo 15 Lunar Surface-Flown Combined LRV ‘Photo’ and ‘Contour’ Maps, $49,889

Collection of (109) Space Shuttle Robbins Medallions, $49,000

Gene Cernan’s Apollo 17 Lunar Surface-Used Rover Map, $45,353

Apollo 1 Signed Photograph, $34,549

Dave Scott’s Lunar Surface-Used Lunar Module Malfunction Procedures Manual, $30,202

A6L Space Suit Glove Made for Neil Armstrong, $20,246

Apollo 13 Lunar Module Contingency Checklist, $19,067

Dave Scott’s Lunar Surface-Flown Apollo 15 PLSS/RCU Cover, $18,987

Dave Scott’s Lunar Orbit Flown Apollo 15 Photography Chart, $18,751

Dave Scott’s Apollo 15 EVA Cue Card, $18,528

Apollo 9 Flown DAC Camera Utility Bracket, $17,254

Apollo Model, $16,114

Dave Scott’s Apollo 15 Lunar Surface-Flown License Plate, $14,867

Charlie Duke’s Lunar Surface-Flown Apollo 16 Checklist, $14,649

Mercury 7 Signed Photograph, $13,133

Tom Stafford’s Apollo 10 Flown Robbins Medallion, $12,251

SpaceShipOne Flown Beanie Baby, $10,412

Sericho Pallasite Meteorite Slice, $10,412

See all results here.

Ready to join the crew?
We’re currently acquiring for our next Space auction, slated for October. Consignments are requested to be in-house by July 17. Please contact us for your free appraisal.