Autographs are dying out, in the view of leading German autograph hunter Christian Bach, 44, who has collected 10,000 signatures of the famous and not-so-famous.
“Of course it’s hurting, but I can’t stop the trend,” says Bach, the head of Germany’s autograph collectors club. Now, the zeitgeist is catching up with him as selfies take over.
Bach sees social media behind the change.
“Interest in the signature has been lost, I believe,” he said. Whereas many people used to leaf through their photo albums, “today, you look at your mobile every couple of minutes and see endless images”.
While Bach also collects photos of his meetings with stars, he prefers them to be taken by someone else, and not as a selfie.