Edelibg9
GOUJIS
In fact, Jews are among the foremost collec-
tors of Nazi signatures, according to Mr.
Panagopulos of Alexander Autographs. "I
attribute this to a desire to preserve this
material and retain it before the pub-
lic eye so that no one will forget
the Holocaust," he said. "Of
course, I suspect there are
some nuts out there, neo-
Na7is who worship this type
of material, but I have yet
to encounter one."
Mr. Panagopulos ac-
knowledged that as a
dealer he faced a moral
dilemma in deciding
whether to sell Nazi au-
tographs. "We do deal in
Nazis, although many
dealers do not," he said.
"As I see it, the Nazis, as
repulsive as they were,
were as much a part of his-
tory as Josef Stalin, Mao Tse--
tung and so on — all mass
murderers."
Siwiding
Small
For many collectors, the allure of celebri-
ty signatures has as much to do with the pre-
sent as with the past.
They want to make a personal connection
with their living heroes, to let those people know
their work is admired and appreciated.
And there's one big advantage to collecting from
live folks: you often can acquire their signatures
for little more than the cost of a couple of
stamps.
Harry Burstyn, a 33-year-old resident of Bal-
timore, has been collecting for about eight years.
He got started when his wife Linda was sleep-
ing her way through her first pregnancy, and he
CO
e went on an imagi-
nary shopping
spree, gathering au-
tographs of Jewish interest
from a number of catalogs.
We looked for entertainers,
political figures and great
thinkers — people whose
names would be instantly fa-
miliar to all, whose ideas and
efforts have left an indelible
mark in the world.
For starters, we thought
. we'd pick up a couple of con-
temporary celebrities. We
could have just written to
these folks — but hey, we've
got imaginary money to burn,
right? So from Odyssey
Group's Internet catalog we
chose signed 8-by-10 glossy
Rabbi Mark G. Loeb's
passion for opera was the impetus for starting an autograph
and memorabilia collection that includes some 500 pieces.
needed a hobby to fill the lonely hours. He start-
ed writing to famous people he admired, and they
wrote back. Today he has more than 1,000 au-
tographs in his files — many Jewish.
One of his favorites, he likes to joke, comes
photos of Dustin Hoffman
($85), and Steven Spielberg
along with the cast of "ET"
($400). From Star Struck In-
ternational's on-line catalog
we opted for a Barbra
Streisand signature ($175),
and an autographed Bob Dy-
lan album cover ($550).
From Celebrity Auto-
graphs of Southern Califor-
nia we picked signed photos
from Peter Falk ($35) and
Milton Berle ($45), as well
as a photo signed by William
Shatner, Leonard Nimoy
and several other members of
the Star Trek cast ($425).
And from a firm called Front
and Center in Fort Laud-
erdale, Fla., we selected 8-by-
lOs of filmmaker Woody
Allen ($75), comedian Jack-
ie Mason ($50) and singer
David Lee Roth ($50).
To dig a little deeper in the
entertainment archives we
went to the catalog of Alexan.-
der Autographs. (It's an auc-
tion house, so
these prices
represent an
average of
recommended
starting bids.)
We found an
8x10 of "fun-
ny girl" Fanny Brice ($400).
From the Lion Heart Auto-
graphs catalog we picked a
letter from Irving Berlin
($2,000), and from the list-
from arguably the most celebrated Jew of all time
— the man who brought us the Ten Com-
mandments. Of course, the original Moses
is some 4,000 years past his prime, so
Mr. Burstyn had to settle for the next
best thing: a signed photo of Charl-
ton Heston in full prophetic garb,
holding aloft the two stone
tablet props. For this one, Mr.
Burstyn shelled out a whop-
ping $25.
He has • autographs
from Schindler's List au-
thor Thomas Keneally,
Olympic great Mark
Spitz, and Disney CEO
Michael Eisner. As a Dis-
ney stockholder, Mr.
Burstyn gets its annual
report in the mail every
year, and he promptly
sends it back to the top
mouse for personalized treat-
ment.
He's got Elie Weisel, and Si-
mon Weisenthal too, but some of
his most sought-after heroes still
elude him. "I've written to Jonathan
Pollard many times, and he never writes
back," Mr. Burstyn sighed, referring to the
American Jew convicted of spying for Israel and
sentenced to life in prison. "And I still haven't
got a Rabbi Kahane."
Meir Kahane,
the
extreme
right-wing Is-
raeli politician,
was banned
from Israel's
Knesset as a
racist, and later
murdered. In
ings of a firm call Profiles in
History we chose a photo
signed by Groucho, Harpo
and Chico Marx ($2,500).
For the "great thinkers"
file, Alexander Autographs
offers a letter from Albert
Einstein ($2,500). From Lion
Heart we
chose a copy
of "Introduc-
tory Lectures
on Psycho-
analysis"
signed by its
author, Sig-
mund Freud ($5,500), and a
letter from Theodor Herzl,
in which the founder of Zion-
ism remarks, "It is a Lord's
miracle if I don't become an
David Ben-
Gurion
anti-Semite ..." in regard to
an ungrateful employee
whom he was forced to fire
($4,500).
For political figures, we
went to Alexander Auto-
graphs for a letter in which
David Ben-Gurion writes
that he is "one of the lovers of
my people and of our coun-
try" ($500), and for a 1974
Time magazine cover show-
ing an artist's image of
Yitzhak Rabin, signed by
the late prime minister
($145).
Total bill: $19,935.
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