Save Those 1st Selectman Proclamations. They’ll Be Worth Something Someday.

Everybody has his price.

Gordon Joseloff’s is $9.50.

That’s what the winning bidder (out of 3) paid for a recent authentic autograph recently, on eBay. (Plus $4.30 shipping.)

This was not on an official document, signed when he was 1st Selectman (or, before that, RTM moderator). It had nothing to do with WestportNow, his popular town news site, which is online (so there’s of course nothing to sign).

No — Joseloff’s auctioned signature was on a 1979 letter he sent, on official CBS News letterhead, while serving as Moscow bureau chief. Mr. Henry J. Lohrengel of Kansas City apparently mailed Joseloff some photos; this letter was a polite thank-you in reply.

There’s no word on why the letter was saved, or how it ended up in Worcester, Massachusetts, with the current owner. Or, for that matter, why he (or she) decided to put it up for bid now.

That $9.50 bid may sound low. (Another political leader, George Washington, fetched $9.8 million, at Sotheby’s.)

On the other hand, a postcard signed by H. V. Kaltenborn — a very famous radio commentator (like the Chicago Tribune, he called Dewey the presidential winner in 1948 over Truman) — is currently being auctioned on eBay.

It’s drawn just 1 bid.

For 99 cents.