Theodore Roosevelt
Signed until 1919, so the supply is fixed — nothing new is being added to this market.
Recorded sales
| Date | What sold | Certified | Price | Evidence |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2018-03-24 | Signed Rough Rider photograph | PSA/DNA | $4,800 | auction result |
| 2026-07-08 | 1905 signed presidential appointment countersigned by Robert Shaw Oliver Multi-signed | JSA | $2,196 | auction result |
| 2013-07-19 | Signed naval commission countersigned by Charles J. Bonaparte Multi-signed | JSA | $2,125 | auction result |
| 2022-02-23 | Signed photograph | Beckett Auto Authentic | $1,440 | auction result |
| 2021-08-09 | 1906 signed White House photograph | Beckett | $1,440 | auction result |
| 2026-07-08 | Signed White House card | PSA/DNA Auto Authentic | $1,348 | auction result |
| 2021-04-06 | 1914 signed typed letter about the Panama Canal | JSA | $1,200 | auction result |
| 2023-11-18 | Signed black and white photograph | JSA | $1,047 | auction result |
| 2021-03-07 | 1908 signed presidential document | JSA | $900 | auction result |
| 2020-12-13 | Signed pencil sketch | Beckett | $900 | auction result |
| 2025-07-31 | Signed letter of 11 October 1915 | Beckett Auto Authentic | $854 | auction result |
| 2021-08-09 | 1908 signed document countersigned by the Acting Secretary of War Multi-signed | PSA/DNA | $840 | auction result |
| 2023-07-19 | 1899 signed document with vintage photograph display | JSA | $660 | auction result |
| 2017-08-05 | 1900 handwritten signed letter on New York Executive Chamber stationery | JSA | $660 | auction result |
| 2020-12-13 | Signed framed document collage | Beckett | $450 | auction result |
By certification level
These are 15 results this index has recorded from Heritage Auctions between 2013 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
- Signed until 1919supply is fixed
- Note
- The most affordable president on the index; the Rough Rider image costs three times the rest
- On this index
- 0 listedno sales recorded yet
What does a signed Theodore Roosevelt item cost?
Far less than the earlier presidents on this index. The certified results recorded here run from a few hundred dollars to just under five thousand, and most signed letters, documents and photographs sit between about six hundred and fifteen hundred. Compare that with George Washington, where a bare clipped signature costs over ten thousand. Roosevelt lived until 1919, into the age of the typewriter and the mass-produced photograph, and the prices suggest far more of his signed paper survives.
Why did a typed letter sell for more than a handwritten one?
Because of what it was about. A typed 1914 letter in which Roosevelt writes about the Panama Canal, the project he had driven as president, made $1,200. A letter written entirely in his own hand in 1900, on the stationery of the Executive Chamber from his time as Governor of New York, made $660. Collectors usually prize a letter in the signer's own handwriting, and here the subject outweighed it. It is the same lesson as Washington's letter on raising the army, which was written out by his aide.
Why did one photograph sell for over three times the others?
It shows him as a Rough Rider, the volunteer cavalry he led in the Spanish-American War of 1898, the episode that made him a national figure. It made $4,800. His other signed photographs recorded here made between about one thousand and fourteen hundred and forty dollars. Across this index, items tied to the moment that made a person famous sell at a premium over everything else they signed, from Roger Maris's 61st home run to Vince Lombardi's Ice Bowl.
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.