Barack Obama
Recorded sales
| Date | What sold | Certified | Price | Evidence |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2021-04-06 | 2012 NCAA tournament bracket filled in and signed on live television | Beckett | $18,000 | auction result |
| 2020-09-21 | Signed Punahou School replica basketball jersey framed | Beckett | $5,700 | auction result |
| 2022-07-14 | Signed cheque dated 12 March 1998 | PSA/DNA Authentic | $4,440 | auction result |
| 2023-11-18 | 2022 The Bar cut autograph card numbered 1 of 1 | Beckett Card BGS 9 / Auto 10 | $976 | auction result |
| 2023-11-17 | Signed copy of his birth certificate | Beckett Auto Authentic | $900 | auction result |
| 2025-10-19 | Signed cheque | PSA/DNA Authentic | $856 | auction result |
| 2026-06-21 | Signed title page of The Audacity of Hope (2006) | PSA/DNA Auto Authentic | $732 | auction result |
| 2026-07-08 | Signed print | PSA/DNA Auto Gem Mint 10 | $702 | auction result |
| 2026-02-26 | Signed issue of Newsweek | JSA | $475 | auction result |
| 2014-11-01 | Signed official 2009 All-Star Game baseball | JSA | $360 | auction result |
| 2025-04-03 | Signed photograph framed display | JSA | $328 | auction result |
By certification level
These are 11 results this index has recorded from Heritage Auctions between 2014 and 2026, not every sale that happened. They under-represent inexpensive items, which sell constantly and are reported rarely, and they exclude private sales this index has no record of. Read them as documented evidence rather than as a complete market.
About this signature
- Status
- Living
- Note
- The president whose earliest signatures cost the most
- On this index
- 0 listedno sales recorded yet
What does a signed Barack Obama item cost?
Most certified items sell for under a thousand dollars: a framed photograph for $328, a signed Newsweek for $475, a signed title page of The Audacity of Hope for $732. The prices rise with what the item is. A signed replica of his high school basketball jersey from Punahou School in Honolulu made $5,700, and the NCAA tournament bracket he filled in and signed on live television in 2012 made $18,000, the most of anything on this page.
Is an early Obama signature worth more?
It was, for a while. In the late 1990s, as an Illinois state senator, Obama signed cheques on his campaign committee's account, and those cheques have been coming to auction. One dated 12 March 1998 made $4,440 in 2022. But the price of these cheques has fallen as more have appeared: RR Auction sold one in 2021 for over eight thousand dollars, and Heritage sold another from 1998 in 2025 for under a thousand. A signature from before someone was famous is scarce only until more of them turn up. We set out the whole story in before they were famous.
Why did a basketball bracket sell for more than any letter?
Every year of his presidency, Obama filled in an NCAA tournament bracket for ESPN, a segment the network called "Barack-etology." The 2012 bracket on this page was filled in by hand on live television and signed. It joins two things collectors care about, a president and basketball, which is the same crossover that makes Harry Truman's baseballs sell for many times his letters.
Signatures are reproduced more often than most buyers realise, by outright forgery and also by machines and assistants signing on somebody’s behalf. Every item on this page has been examined by PSA/DNA, JSA, Beckett, SGC or CGC, and this index carries nothing else. That is a deliberate restriction, and the investigation that created the modern authentication industry is worth reading, along with what a certificate actually claims.