I almost had a card signed by a person born in 1896. In 1992, I sent a Starline Americana card to Jimmy Doolittle. He didn't sign it, but he did send an autographed label, like a book plate, back to me.

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Originally posted by Bill Mullins:

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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.

That sounds about right. After Persoff it probably was Leslie Phillips for a time. He signed for "Harry Potter" as the voice of the Sorting Hat. He passed away last month on November 7th at 98 years old.

I wouldn't be surprised to find another British signer older than Lockhart. I'm just not familiar enough with all of the actors in the many British movies and TV shows that have had cards to say.

June Lockhart was born June 25, 1925.

Slightly younger is Eugene Richardson, a member of the Tuskegee Airmen, b. Sept 18, 1925. There's a signed version of his 2012 Panini cards.

As near as I can tell, though, Roscoe C. Draper, also a member of the Tuskegee Airmen, is still alive, age 103, having been born 5/14/1919. He also has a signed card in the Panini set.

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Originally posted by Bill Mullins:
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?

Congrats on the Joseph Cotten. I’m a big fan of classic movies, and Cotten was in a lot of great films, most of all Hitchcock’s SHADOW OF A DOUBT.

Also Citizen Kane. And Ruth Warrick also was in Citizen Kane, and had All My Children cards. I wish I had had enough sense to try and get her to sign one.

This is, I think, the oldest autograph I have. I pick up silhouettes on ebay when I like them and they are cheap. Nancy van Court is a reasonably collectible silhouette artist, and I have been looking for a piece of her work for a while. She would set up in fancy hotel lobbies and restaurants in New York in the 1930s and cut silhouettes. Sometimes she would cut two of the same person (fold over the paper into a double layer before she cut), and keep one for herself, and get the sitter to sign it.

An ebay seller had a couple dozen of her silhouettes. I checked all of the signatures that I could read, and most of them were not famous, as far as I could tell. The seller didn't seem to check at all. So this one was offered without anything special in the listing, and I got it for about $15 or so.

Billie Burke, though, was quite famous. She played Glinda the Good in "The Wizard of Oz". She was born in 1884, and although this isn't a nonsports card, it probably is the oldest-born autograph I have.

I remember Billie Burke well from a slew of roles more minor than Glinda. She always stole one or two scenes in every picture she was in with that confused, slightly nutty persona. Check out her small but pivotal role in an underappreciated Paul Newman film called "The Young Philadelphians".

She started as a silent screen actor and made it to the talkies. She was also married to the famous Flo Ziegfeld Jr, creator of the Ziegfeld Follies, until his death.

That signed silhouette was a great find.