Million-Dollar Autograph Collection Revealed on Strange Inheritance

A huge autograph collection -- perhaps the largest ever amassed by a single autograph hound -- will be revealed Monday on the hit Fox Business Network series Strange Inheritance.

Jack Kuster personally requested all 30,000 signatures over the course of nearly 70 years, said his surprised heir Juan Carlos Saucedo Campos. Kuster kept the extent of his collection secret until he died in 2012. Campos, who has since lovingly and meticulously organized the vast collection, gave SI host Jamie Colby access to it for her program.

The existence of Kuster’s collection has long been the stuff of legend in collecting circles according to attorney Spiro Verras. He advised Campos on his inheritance, which one appraiser valued at $1 million.

“Initially, I handled this as I would handle any probate in my practice,” Verras said. “I wrote to a lot of the auction houses and they were all extremely interested. The largest ones knew who Jack Kuster was before I wrote to them.”

The Strange Inheritance episode airs 9PM/ET Monday on the FOX Business Network.

Kuster got bit by the autograph bug in 1943 when Broadway and Hollywood star Carmen Miranda came to his hometown of Rochester, New York for a USO show.  The teenager approached with pen and pad, and Miranda’s swirling signature remains in the collection.

Kuster later moved to New York City, where he worked as a graphic artist. He traveled the world collecting autographs from several generations of screen stars, sports heroes and politicians.

“Jack was so fussy, if he didn’t like how they signed it -- he’d ask them to sign it again,” said Bob Levine, one of Custer’s friends and fellow autograph hounds. “His main purpose in life was to take care of that collection.”

Strange Inheritance is in its second season on FOX Business. New episodes premiere Mondays at 9PM/ET, with encore presentations Tuesday through Thursday 9PM-11PM/ET.