What's the oldest person who's autographed a card in your collection?

I've got two signed cards by people born in 1905. Wassily Leontief on a Univ of Michigan Famous Economists card, and Joseph Cotten on the back of a Hollywood Walk of Fame card. I've got maybe 20 or so signed cards by people born before 1920.



Richard Fleischer was born in 1916 and has a signed Betty Boop card that was factory-issued as signed. Is there anyone born before that who has pack-issued signed cards? Maybe some old guy on Star Trek:TOS, or Twilight Zone?

Millvina Dean who was born in 1912 signed for the Dart Titanic set .

Yeah, she is the oldest person who has signed an autograph card that I have had.

quote:

Originally posted by Triple-Frog:
Millvina Dean who was born in 1912 signed for the Dart Titanic set .

Walter Pidgeon (1897) cut I made but I am sure that is breaking the rules. I also have a Vincent Price cut from Pop Century 1911.

I think Fleischer and Rooney are my oldest official card signers.

Warren Stevens 1919, Kevin McCarthy Feb 1914, Ernest Borgnine 1917

This message has been edited. Last edited by: mykdude,

I stand corrected, think my oldest is Gloria Stuart July 4th 1910.

Carla Laemmle, an actress born in 1909, signed for 2012 Pop Century, so she was already more than a century old when she did so. She passed away in 2014 at 104.

(Or did she? She was in 1931's "Dracula". Could it have actually been a documentary?)

Buddy Ebsen, who was born in 1908, signed for the 2nd Rittenhouse Twilight Zone set, issued in 2000, so he's probably the earliest born certified signer in my collection. He passed away 3 years later, at the age of 95.

This message has been edited. Last edited by: chesspieceface,

quote:

Originally posted by chesspieceface:
Carla Laemmle, an actress born in 1909, signed for 2012 Pop Century, so she was already more than a century old when she did so. She passed away in 2014 at 104.

(Or did she? She was in 1931's "Dracula". Could it have actually been a documentary?)

Buddy Ebsen, who was born in 1908, signed for the first Rittenhouse Twilight Zone set, so he's probably the earliest born certified signer in my collection.

Carla's career was mostly uncredited which is why I probably didn't pick her up. Yeah, was working my way to Ebsen...kinda figured he would be in this group. Unfortunately he is no longer in my collection.

Pretty cool to have our little hobby cover a span of nearly 115 years.

Since pack-issued autograph cards only began in earnest in the mid to late 1990's, the upper percentile is pretty much going to be comprised of people who signed during that era when they themselves were in their 90's.

I would imagine some of the Rittenhouse James Bond and Star Trek sets have a few more people who fit the bill, but I never collected those lines.

I have autograph cards from three of the signers already mentioned, but I think my oldest signer is on a 1/1 cut signature card that I pack pulled from Prominent Cuts some years ago. I did have to look her name up at the time.

Elissa Landi, Austrian-American actress, born in 1904 and died in 1948. She made a slew of movies between 1926 and 1936. Probably her best known one, and the only one that I myself saw, was 1934's "The Count of Monte Cristo", starring alongside the great actor Robert Donat.

A few others before 1920

Barry Morse 1918
Efrem Zimbalist Jr. 1918
Ib Melchior 1917
Phil Brown 1916
Don Keefer 1916
Jonathan Harris 1914

I don’t want to google their ages(or what they would be) but I have in my PC:

Dual Kevin McCarthy/Dana Winter - now both deceased
5x7 Breygent Cut Joan Fontaine signature - deceased
Twilight Zone Kevin McCarthy auto card - again, deceased
Christopher Lee LOTR ROTK auto card - deceased
My Deforest Kelly & James Doohan auto cards - both deceased.

My oldest still living autograph is my Pitch Black Judi Dench autograph card

Jane Wyatt (born 1910) signed for Star Trek Cinema 2000 (SkyBox, 2000) and Star Trek 35th Anniversary HoloFEX in (Rittenhouse, 2001).

The oldest signer in my PC is probably Lois Nettleton (born 1927).

Where cuts are concerned, you can find examples of them with the signatures of people who would be hundreds of years old now. About 15 years ago, Topps baseball had an autograph cut set of US Presidents going back to George Washington and signers of the Declaration of Independence, with the latter set being composed entirely(?) of signers born in 1700s.

My personal definition for something like this only includes people who intentionally signed for a card set (sticker or hard signed), so cuts don't make the cut -- but that's just me.

For pack-pulled non-cuts, it looks like Buddy Ebsen (1908) from Twilight Zone Series II is the current leader in this thread.

quote:

Originally posted by webjon:
My personal definition for something like this only includes people who intentionally signed for a card set (sticker or hard signed), so cuts don't make the cut -- but that's just me.

I agree with this as well except for cuts signed when the set was made.

Jane Wyatt was mentioned, she was born in August and Gloria Stuart was born in July of 1910



Jack Haley 1897 which could be my oldest cut from a manufacturer.

Another way to compile a list might be the oldest, still living, certified autograph signer on-card and/or on a sticker. But that's a little bit like holding the world's oldest man/woman/dog/cat record. The title is always on shaky ground.

quote:

Originally posted by mykdude:

quote:

Originally posted by webjon:
My personal definition for something like this only includes people who intentionally signed for a card set (sticker or hard signed), so cuts don't make the cut -- but that's just me.

I agree with this as well except for cuts signed when the set was made.

Good call, I agree on that too -- I think one of the Americana sets had cuts that were signed for the set -- way better than stickers.

quote:

Originally posted by Raven:
Another way to compile a list might be the oldest, still living, certified autograph signer on-card and/or on a sticker. But that's a little bit like holding the world's oldest man/woman/dog/cat record. The title is always on shaky ground.

At the beginning of the year it probably was Nehemiah Persoff -- born 1919. But he died in April, age 102. Right now the oldest I'm coming up with is June Lockhart, age 97.