Collecting celebrity autographs has a very long tradition, but the new company FanFair Signatures is giving it a high-tech update. A number of Star Trek celebrities have joined FanFair, which offers original Star Trek (and other) fine art with personalized hand-signed autographs done virtually.
FanFair’s next generation of celebrity autographs
Born as a response to pop culture conventions shutting down during the pandemic, FanFair Signatures developed a proprietary app that allows celebrities to individually live sign autographs and custom messages for fans anywhere across the world. These personalized signatures are then printed on original art prints via FanFair Signatures’ global network of 30-plus printing locations, which produce and ship the signed art prints directly to customers.
Deep Space Nine actor Armin Shimerman with framed, signed FanFair art print
FanFair has partnered with Paramount Consumer Products and is now offering original licensed Star Trek prints. They have signed up a dozen Star Trek celebrities, including Jonathan Frakes, Kate Mulgrew, John de Lancie, Armin Shimerman, Nana Visitor, Robert Duncan McNeill, Denise Crosby, and Robert Picardo. More Star Trek celebs are being added soon including George Takei. It’s no surprise that FanFair is leaning into Trek, as the company was founded by Owen de Lancie, son of Q himself, John de Lancie. FanFair also includes other celebrities and public figures like Bill Nye “The Science Guy,” with plans to expand into athletes via a partnership with the NFL Players Association.
A personalized FanFair art print available to be signed by John de Lancie
For those familiar with the celebrity video message service Cameo, the process of getting your FanFair signed print is pretty similar. You go to fanfairsignatures.com and select which celebrity autograph you are interested in. You select which art print you want and add your custom message for the celebrity to add to your print. There are multiple unique prints available with each celebrity, including licensed Star Trek prints, and you can choose different sizes and framing options. You can even buy prints with no signature at all. Prices for 8 x 12 signed prints range from $74 to $110 depending on the celebrity.
You can get autographs for yourself or send them as gifts with local delivery all over the world. The time to get a signed print varies based on celebrity availability, but once signed, the autographed print is shipped within 4 business days. Signing times are estimated on each celebrity page. For example, Nana Visitor (Deep Space Nine’s Kira Nerys) signs within 2-5 business days so you could get your own poster with her signature as soon as the next week.
Actress Nana Visitor using the FanFair app to sign an autograph
“People ask me all the time if these are real, genuine, actual autographs,” said CEO Owen de Lancie in a statement. “It’s a fair question, and the answer is yes, absolutely. FanFair prides itself on authenticity. We partner directly with our celebrities to ensure that every signed print is 100% genuine. We also know how important personalization is to fans, and that’s a priority for us. It’s why we’re creating made-to-order prints that are tailored to each fan’s unique preferences. It all comes together in the end result, which is a creative and uncommon, personally autographed art piece. It’s thrilling to launch with Star Trek, which has one of the most dedicated and enthusiastic fandoms in pop culture.”
The following video with John de Lancie shows you how the personalized virtual live signing process works.
To learn more or to get your own autographed spring visit fanfairsignatures.com.
Find more Star Trek celebrity news at TrekMovie.com.
Wow this sounds really cool and a way for fans to get signed copies personally without being in the same room. Would love to get a signed copy from De Lancie if I could afford it lol.
The world is just changing. I have a new barber and she only accepts Venmo as payment.. Adapt or die Borg style I guess.
Yeah Accept or die….. Rad. Eat sh*t or die….
I mean seriously m Accept everything or…. Die?
Are you OK?
His cat was probably walking on his keyboard…
I hope you recover soon from the stroke.
I would have replied to her that there are a lot of barbers out there and that If she doesn’t want my money I’ll go spend it elsewhere… But you’re a nicer guy than me Tiger2 so you were probably smoother than I would have been.
But forcing a customer to use an obscure payment method is not smart customer service.
To be fair, I should’ve mentioned they take Venmo and cash…but who in the hell carries cash these days?? ;)
It was a little weird at first but I don’t mind it now. And I go because they are so close to where I live.
I’d carry cash if going to a hair stylist who only takes cash or venmo.
Then again, I’m bald AF and know nothing about going to hair stylists today.
LOL!
Yeah.. It was Rude. Sorry.
I honestly applogize.
It was just that phrasing… Accept or die… I don’t think that every nee Bit of technology is good old. And don’t even mean that autograph thing.
Sorry
I appreciate that, but no apology is necessary. And I wasn’t trying to ruffle any feathers, but I realized a week ago I don’t even need a wallet anymore because it’s all on my phone and that now includes my driver’s license. Everything is just becoming more digital.
And we know this will get tons of fans who doesn’t have the time, money or energy to be in London, Chicago, Las Vegas or anywhere these big conventions are held to be in front of your favorite actor to sign something That will obviously stay the preferred way but I see this being pretty popular if you just want a personalized autograph and no other way of getting one.
I always figured that autographs weren’t actually about the signature; they were about having something that the star you admire had TOUCHED. Now Fan Fair is selling autographs that the star never touches.
Before he died, I bought a print from Leonard Nimoy of one of his photographs. It’s a picture of his hand doing the Vulcan salute, which he photographed, developed, printed, and signed. So it’s his hand, a photograph he took, a photograph he developed and printed, and something he signed. I consider it a quadruple Nimoy. :-)
I quite agree. Half the fun (I suppose – I own no autographs) of having someone’s autograph is the story BEHIND that signing… I’ve only had one opportunity to even get a Trek autograph – it was Jonathan Frakes – but I was too star-struck (and shocked — i was running the drive-thru at a Maine Burger King in 2007 and he came through with his wife) to ask for one at the time. But, damn it, I have the story of how I asked him “Are you…?” and he responded, with that shit-eating grin of his, “I sure am!”. That memory is priceless and I’d rather have this story than a digitally reproduced signature, even if it was a digital reproduction of a one-of-a-kind inscription.
Corylea, cherish that memory – it’s a beautiful story.
Hee! That’s a cute story about you and Jonathan Frakes. I’m glad he was okay about being asked, and I can certainly imagine the shit-eating grin. :-)
Mr. Nimoy’s photograph is the only celebrity autograph I’ve ever been motivated to get. There are lots of people whose work I admire, but Spock helped me survive a difficult period in my life, and Mr. Nimoy will always be one of a kind.
Just no. I actually don’t owe any autographed Trek material, but if I would get some, the whole point would be that the actor actually handled the item and manually put something on there. I would only be interested in an autograph anyway, if they would do it on the spot. Like at a convention or something like that.
I met RuPaul and he put his autograph on an album I had bought.
virtual autograph? that’s really stupid and is basically a scam lmao
not a fan of the thing, but I’d be reluctant to call it a scam, as they’re being upfront as to how the autographs are sourced.
This sounds like a more personalized version of autopen, that politicians use.
I could buy one of these… if the images themselves were better looking. Kinda weird, but none of the designs speak to me, like, at all. (And why did they spell it wrong on this one: “Quarks bar”…)
Yeah, it’s a shame the artwork is so poor quality. I’m 98% certain that Riker picture is a Photoshop job.
Um…. Quark’s is spelled properly.
Um… “Quark’s” is spelled correctly, so not sure what you mean.
On the above picture, on this page, that Armin is holding up; yes. But on the site there’s an alternative one, an art deco styled picture of Quark’s bar – which I actually do kinda like – EXCEPT for the title, because it lacks the apostrophe!
From a collector standpoint, these “autographs” … and that isn’t even the correct word to use with these things that involve no live ink … would have absolutely zero financial or collectible value. Or actually, they’d have the same value as churning out scans off of a computer printer of an actually signed 8×10. Hey, why stop there? How about producing signed-through-the-internet prints from Jeffrey Hunter or even that oft-quoted-in-Star-Trek writer known as William Shakespeare?