If you've seen my thread in the general/general-investing forum you know I got a 1st edition (white box) Lego "Hancock Center Building" sealed in plastic and signed by Adam Reed Tucker.

 

I'm never, EVER going to sell this.  I already have it in a plastic freezer bag and hidden from the sun!

 

But I was curious, do sets that are signed by their designers ever command a premium?  I can see a limited marked of people (like me) who would be interested in having an autographed set, but does it really make a difference?

 

I also have an autographed "Robie House" instruction booklet but I can't imagine that being worth anything to someone other than me or another Architecture series devotee.

 

Thoughts?

Only worth what someones willing to pay for it. Sometimes signatures command more money other times its not a big deal its definetly not easy to find the right buyer at a higher price just for a sig though. Depends on subject matter and who the set is signed by the will count as the real diference if its worth more or not.

Say if you had a Ecto 1 signed by the cast of ghost busters then you'd be talking some money.

The Harold Ramis auto would be tricky

The Harold Ramis auto would be tricky

 

Weekend-at-Bernie's it...no problem!

Cool item, but I doubt the combination of autograph and Lego would be of interest to many, if any, collectors.

 

It would be a great collection to get the entire series signed, though.

Sounds like something very nice to pass down and will most likely do very well at trade shows.  When I first read your other post, I thought you wrote Adam Savage, and i was devastated that I did not go get one myself (since I live 45 minutes away).  An Adam Reed Tucker signature is still cool, nonetheless. 

Cool item, but I doubt the combination of autograph and Lego would be of interest to many, if any, collectors.

I respectfully disagree. Having one of the items signed would be the prime of a collection, worth additional money for sure. But I agree that the memory of getting it signed is worth much more.

This would be of great value to someone for whom it would be of great value.  For everyone else, the signature would add no value.  Personally, I think that the universe of people who would care to have a set signed by the person who designed it is -- at the moment -- very very very small.  Maybe that will change in the future if Lego designers become rock stars, but I wouldn't bet on that happening.

The pawn stars watcher in me says "Oh yeah thats cool. Ill offer a dollar for it.".

if it was pawn stars the expert would be called in, they would say it's real, and has a retail or auction value of around $5000, then Cory would offer them $200, Rick would offer them $2200, and the old man still wouldn't want it

$2,200 eh?  Maybe...