this can be great from a historical perspective but there are so many forgeries out there that i would be wary about purchasing one.

I don't really get the worship of other people all that much. I just don't get how other people are just so much better than others that their signature is worth something while others are not. But, if it's your thing, go for it, I guess.

With the onset of Ebay, sports memorabilia conventions and the like, this has become both highly profitable and rife with fraud. I saw a 60 Minutes episode some time ago where experts espoused educated conjecture that approximately 70% of the autographs of prominent professional athletes that are bought and sold are forgeries. They opined that the only safe way to get an autograph was to go to a sports memorabilia show and watch the (former) athlete sign the item. Apparently, Ted Williams (before his son deep froze him) was the subject matter of a lot of fraud. It was easier to sell bad forgeries of his autograph later in life b/c he had had a stroke and thus the fake copies could be sold even though they didn't look like his original signature.

This is OK but not the most interesting or useful hobby.