Great Economists’ Autographs
28 May 2007 at 3:53 am Nicolai Foss 14 comments
| Nicolai Foss |
If you are into collecting autographs and admire Nobel Prize winning economists, ebay is (of course) the place for you. Here is Ronald Coase’s autograph — with a buy-it-now price of 10 USD; here is Nash’s — a bit more fancy (First Day Cover), and (therefore?) with a buy-it-now price of 85 USD; here is Uncle Milton at 34 USD, and one more Nash at 24 USD. The latter Nash autograph, the Friedman and the Coase ones are all on 3×5 unlined index cards. Still, there is a heavy disparity in terms of the asked price. The market values Friedman more than Nash who is valued more than Coase.
Organizations and Markets 
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Guan Yang | 28 May 2007 at 5:47 am
How much for your autograph, then?
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jonfernquest | 28 May 2007 at 6:38 am
How do you spot lemons? Even if eBay has a money back guarantee, who would know what a Ronald Coase signature looks like? Probably cost more to verify than purchase.
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Peter Klein | 28 May 2007 at 8:11 am
I have a first printing of Risk, Uncertainty, and Profit that I picked up for a few dollars at a flea market years ago. It is inscribed “To M.M. With regards, F.H.K.” What do you suppose that’s worth?
I knew Murray Rothbard fairly well during the last years of his life, but never asked him to sign any of his books. Being young and stupid, I figured I was WAY too cool for that. Now I wish I had.
4. Unicast » Autographs of economists | 28 May 2007 at 2:22 pm
[…] reading Nicolai Foss’ field report, I simply had to buy the John Nash and Ronald Coase autographs from eBay. Couldn’t help […]
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Mark Brady | 28 May 2007 at 4:04 pm
Peter, that book is surely dedicated to Frank H. Knight’s elder brother, Melvin Moses Knight (b. 1887), who taught Classics at Berkeley. There was also another brother, Bruce Winton (b. 1892), who taught Economics at Dartmouth.
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Peter Klein | 28 May 2007 at 5:06 pm
Thanks Mark, that is good to know. The flea market was in Berkeley, further corroborating your hypothesis. Sounds like I may have something valuable on my hands.
I’ve already drafted my next blog post, “Is Profit the Result of Entrepreneurial Foresight or Dumb Luck? Evidence from Used Books.”
7. Top Posts « WordPress.com | 28 May 2007 at 7:01 pm
[…] Great Economists’ Autographs | Nicolai Foss | If you are into collecting autographs and admire Nobel Prize winning economists, ebay is (of course) […] […]
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Carl Marks | 29 May 2007 at 10:50 am
Anyone know how much Mises’ sig goes for? I would love to find a signed first edition of Human Action.
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David Hoopes | 29 May 2007 at 4:46 pm
Dick Rumelt carried an autographed copy of Scale and Scope up Mt. Baldy(?). I had organized the hike suggesting everyone bring water, spare socks, …and an autographed copy of Scale and Scope. A 15-30 page paper on Scale and Scope was due on the first day one of the doctoral seminars at UCLA.
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J. West | 13 February 2009 at 12:16 pm
Well, here’s what I’ve got…
F.A. Hayek autograph on a 3×5 card = $60
Ludwig von Mises autographed 8×10 picture = $160
Murray Rothbard autographed ‘For A New Liberty = $30
I know a thing or two about handwriting, and I can say with absolute certainty that the Hayek autograph is legit.
I’m still working on finding other examples of Mises & Rothbard for comparison. …but those two are signed with felt-pens, so I probably will never know if they’re authentic. I’ll only know if they’re obvious forgeries.
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J. West | 13 February 2009 at 8:31 pm
In my last message, I meant that “this is what I paid for the autographs”. It was in response to Carl Marks’s post.
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G R Steele | 29 April 2012 at 10:10 am
I have a letter from Ralph Hawtry + envelope (1968). His was the ‘Treasury View’ in opposition to Keynes in the 1930s. I would like a FAH signature, but can find nothing online
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DaveA | 16 August 2012 at 6:56 pm
Hopefully the guy with the Rothbard signature is subscribed to replies on here. Please contact me, I’m very interested in buying it. daiellojr , gmail.com
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cazare evia grecia | 15 October 2014 at 2:33 pm
Thanks for finally talking about >Great Economists Autographs |
Organizations and Markets <Loved it!