Markus Brandes Autographs

03/09/2026

Genuine John Wayne autographs are always a rare find, and this is a particularly handsome portrait.

Wayne signed this vintage studio photograph in blue ink and added a personal dedication to Anita. The clear signature, warm expression and classic studio setting make this a piece I am very pleased to offer.

As an autograph dealer, I particularly enjoy finding photographs where the portrait and the signature complement each other so well. This is a lovely example for a collector of classic Hollywood.

You will also find more beautiful vintage film autographs in our collection at www.brandesautographs.com.

View the John Wayne photograph:
https://brandesautographs.com/products/john-wayne-autograph-15998727258493

Warm regards,
Markus Brandes

11/08/2026

WWW.ISITREAL.COM IS BACK.

More than 1,200 documented autograph references are available free for collectors — including autopens, stamps, pre-prints, secretarial signatures and known forgery patterns.

But a reference library becomes truly valuable when the community contributes. Share documented examples. Discuss open questions. Help other collectors look closer before they buy.

Our first Community Research case examines the remarkably similar signatures found on Charles and Diana’s 1981 royal wedding thank-you letters. Were they personally signed, secretarial, or produced from a reproducible pattern? We are looking for further examples, high-resolution scans and — especially — a confirmed line-for-line match.

This is an open research question, not an authenticity accusation. Evidence and constructive opinions are welcome.

ISITREAL is free for every collector. Your knowledge makes it stronger.

Explore the archive and join the discussion:
https://www.isitreal.com

03/08/2026

Before modern immunology had found its answers, Élie Metchnikoff was already asking the difficult questions.

Probably written in Paris in the autumn of 1903, this remarkable letter to the physician and writer Maurice de Fleury discusses Emil von Behring’s proposed campaign against human tuberculosis.

Metchnikoff describes two experimental ideas: administering specially prepared tubercle bacilli to infants, or feeding them milk from cows hyperimmunized against the bacillus. But his conclusion is strikingly cautious: nothing had yet been established — neither for treating tuberculosis nor even for vaccination.

Five years later, Metchnikoff received the Nobel Prize in Physiology or Medicine for his pioneering work on immunity.

This is more than the autograph of a Nobel laureate. It is a scientific mind evaluating medical history while it was still being written.

Now available at Brandes Autographs:
https://brandesautographs.com/products/autograph-15965493952893

You can not change history but you can own it.

Exceptional autograph letter signed, 5,5 x 4 inch, [probably Paris, 1903], to physician and writer Maurice de Fleury - discussing Emil von Behring's plan, to combat human tuberculosis, written and signed by Élie Metchnikoff in ink, mounted for display with a photo (8,25 x 11,75 inch), in fine to ve...

20/07/2026

AN ORIGINAL LETTER — WRITTEN AS EVENTS UNFOLDED

Berlin, 4 March 1819. In this remarkable private letter, August Neidhardt von Gneisenau writes about Carl von Clausewitz, resistance to Prussia’s military reforms, and General von Hake as a possible successor to War Minister Hermann von Boyen — nine months before von Hake took office.

This is more than a signature. It captures history while it is still unfolding.

You can not change history but you can own it.

Now available at Brandes Autographs:
https://brandesautographs.com/products/august-neidhardt-von-gneisenau-autograph-dd

20/07/2026

LOUIS PASTEUR — A LETTER AT THE CROSSROADS OF SCIENCE AND HISTORY

Paris, 9 September 1892. Written on Institut Pasteur stationery, this remarkable autograph letter is addressed to a government minister and concerns the forwarding of a letter on cholera vaccination to H.R.H. Prince Damrong of Siam.

Written and signed in black ink “L. Pasteur”, the letter offers a direct connection to one of the founding figures of microbiology — and to the international history of medicine at the end of the nineteenth century.

The original letter is attractively mounted, fully removable, together with a portrait of Pasteur at work as a chemist. It is preserved in nearly very fine condition.

Now available at Brandes Autographs:
https://brandesautographs.com/products/louis-pasteur-autograph-dd

15/07/2026

FEATURED ITEM

Greta Garbo correspondence is genuinely rare, and letters with a direct connection to Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer are particularly desirable.

This typed letter was signed by Garbo in Santa Monica on 23 June 1936 and addressed to Mr. Mannix at MGM in Culver City. It concerns the handling of her legal and business correspondence. The context places the document unusually close to her professional life during the height of her film career.

What distinguishes this piece is not only the large, well-placed signature. It is a complete document with meaningful content and a clear studio association, presented together with a fine vintage MGM portrait and an engraved name plaque. In our experience, Garbo material of this quality and substance is seldom encountered.

Now available on our website.

14/07/2026

Today New Arrival: Herbert Hoover Autograph

A signed oversize vintage photograph of Herbert Hoover, photographed by Harris & Ewing in Washington, D.C.

The autograph is placed below the portrait and reads: "Kind Regards of - Herbert Hoover".

After many years of handling presidential autographs, we always like pieces where the image and the signature work well together. This is not one of those items that needs to be described as a great rarity. It is simply a good, honest and very presentable Hoover piece, with the look collectors expect from a classic presidential photograph.

Now available on our website.

14/07/2026

A remarkable result for the market in historical autographs:

A letter by Carl Linnaeus, dated 1737 and addressed to the German botanist Christian Gottlieb Ludwig, has sold in Sweden for nearly SEK 1.9 million. According to the report, it is the most expensive Swedish letter ever sold at auction in Sweden.

What makes the letter especially fascinating is not only the price, but its content: Linnaeus discusses the system of botanical classification that would later make his name known throughout the world.

This is precisely the enduring power of great autographs. They do not merely document history from a distance; they bring us close to the moment in which ideas were still forming.

A handwritten letter is more than paper and ink. It is thought, personality, and historical evidence in its most immediate form.
Read the article here:

Reference:
https://www.antiquestradegazette.com/print-edition/2026/july/2752/books-works-on-paper/linnaeus-letter-to-ludwig-sets-a-record-in-sweden

08/07/2026

Gary Cooper: A True Hollywood Legend

A wonderful piece of classic film history: this vintage glossy sepia-tone photograph shows Gary Cooper in a beautiful half-length portrait, personally signed and inscribed in blue ink.
Dated August 15, 1943, the inscription reads: “To Pedro Lima - Wishing you all good things and happiness…”

A charming and highly collectible autograph from one of Hollywood’s most iconic leading men: elegant, understated, and unmistakable.

Now available at Brandes Autographs:
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03/07/2026

Thank you very much for this kind review :) We are very proud :)