Autographs at Felzmann Signatures, Autographs, Collections

A few years ago, the Ulrich Felzmann auction house is once again taking up the subject of "Autographs / Autographs" in its auction programme with an extraordinary offer. This is made possible by the estate of the enthusiastic collector Axel Schirrmacher, who passed away in 2017. Since then, some remarkable knockdowns have already been achieved for autographs and autographs of famous personalities from the most diverse fields.

As part of the 2023 spring auction at the Felzmann auction house, an original envelope by the most important German poet Johann Wolfgang von Goethe went under the hammer. Interest was already very high in the run-up to the auction, and chief philatelist Peter Such presented the item in a YouTube video beforehand.

The envelope was addressed by Goethe himself and signed with his initials on the reverse. This envelope comes from the well-known correspondence with Carl Friedrich Zelter, which was cultivated over decades. The letter sent with this envelope is in the Goethe Archive of the Klassik Stiftung Weimar and can be viewed there. In the letter, Goethe enquires about the health of Mendelssohn Bartholdy, among other things.

This item is also special from a philatelic point of view. The envelope is postmarked Weimar 16.11.1831 and bears several additional postmarks.
Two passionate bidders finally engaged in an exciting battle for the lot with the number 2470. At € 32,000 for the telephone bidder, the history-laden piece fetched several times the restrained starting price of € 1,200.

Axel Schirrmacher - born in 1955 - grew up in Hamburg and collected postcards and picture cards as a schoolchild. He took up the challenge of not only having a portrait photo of celebrities or artists, but also having this with his own handwritten signature early on. The first picture card with a signature he received is said to have been that of Hans Albers.

He pursued his passion for collecting by building up an extensive collection, which he systematically arranged in 268 Leitz folders according to various categories such as music, politics, sport, fine arts, etc. This collection contains more than 165,000 individual objects.

From 2000 onwards, he was no longer able to find the necessary time for this elaborate sorting due to his professional duties. In the meantime, the centre of his life had shifted to Bremen. He only pre-sorted his acquisitions with the corresponding classifications in groups and marked each autograph with the name and the corresponding life data, as far as this was necessary. After his retirement, his intention was to continue the work he had begun. Regrettably, this was not granted to him. Due to a serious illness, he died at the age of 62.

Within the framework of this year's autumn auction from 16 - 20 November 2021, we will be auctioning the first part of his collection, divided into individual lots and parts of the collection, in the special section of the autograph auction. This offer has been supplemented by some interesting consignments that we have been able to accept in recent months. The Autographs / Autographs offer will be part of our offer for the following auctions.

For philatelists, this area includes covers under the heading of "social philately", an exciting field of collecting that has received special attention for many years.

There are thousands of picture cards, autograph cards, photos and letters that will be offered at Ulrich Felzmann's upcoming autumn auction. The collector Axel Schirrmacher has spent his life collecting everything he could find on the subject of autographs.

Folders and boxes are lined up with partly sorted and partly unsorted collector's items. The collection covers the categories of film, music, opera, sport, politics, science and much more.

Here you can find everything a collector's heart desires. The spectrum ranges from newer pieces from the 90s to historical photos and letters. Surely there are still some lost treasures among them that want to be discovered...

Among the highlights seen so far are autographs of Charly Chaplin, Princess Diana, Mzuhammed Ali, Stan Laurel, Michael Schumacher, to name but a few.

We will be happy to advise you and estimate the value of your stamps and letter items free of charge. Simply send us a message with your request via our contact form.