Clipboard : FRAMERS’ WORKSHOP

Most people, when they come face-to-face with someone famous, will be flustered and slightly awe-struck. What they usually carry away from that meeting, besides a good story to tell their friends, is an autograph.

While autographs of famous people--actors, actresses, athletes, politicians--have particular value to the person who received it, they have become increasingly valuable from an investment perspective as well.

Joe Hodulik, 35, should know. He is the owner of Framers’ Workshop in El Toro, a store where people can bring in their old autographs to be paired with a photograph and framed. Already paired and framed autographs are also for sale.

Hodulik parlayed his hobby of autograph collecting into a business four years ago, and has seen the value of autographs escalate tremendously over the last few years as people realize the investment potential.

While there are two or three other places in Orange County where autographs are bought and sold, Framers’ Workshop is the only place Hodulik knows of that pairs them with photographs and frames them for display.

The most expensive piece he remembers selling consists of autographs of three of the Marx brothers--Harpo, Groucho and Chico--on which Harpo had also drawn a self-portrait. It fetched $3,500.

The least expensive? He said a framed James Cagney autograph with photo is currently being offered at $475.

The bane of Hodulik’s business is fake autographs.

“There are guides for autographs available to those in the trade, and I know several experts I can call to find out if an autograph is authentic,” he said. “There are obvious ways to tell, too, of course, like if you have one of Humphrey Bogart’s on a 1980 issue of Time magazine.”

“Fakes are all over, even from the old-timers,” Hodulik added. “Babe Ruth used to have his wife sign. Only an expert would be able to tell which is what.”

He estimates he has about 1,000 autographs in his collection, 100 of those framed and ready for sale.

“Each is like an individual work of art, and is treated as such,” he said. Hours: 10 a.m. to 6 p.m. Monday, Friday and Saturday; 10 a.m. to 8 p.m. Tuesday through Thursday; closed Sunday. Address: 23342 El Toro Road, El Toro Telephone: (714) 859-1557