Signed Birthday Greetings from President Eisenhower

Q:         I have two birthday greetings notes mailed to my father-in-law by President Dwight Eisenhower. They shared the same birthday, Oct. 14. I have one of the franked envelopes the greeting was mailed in, too. The envelope, postmarked Oct. 17, 1967, was mailed from Gettysburg, Pa. Do the greetings have any monetary value? What bothers me is that the Eisenhower signatures on the notes are identical.

A:         President Eisenhower sometimes used an autopen to sign his name before, during and after his presidency (1953-1961). If you have two signatures exactly alike, they were no doubt signed by autopen. After Ike left Washington, D.C., he retired to a farm in Gettysburg. If the note with the franked envelope had Eisenhower’s real signature, it could be worth more than $400. A note signed by autopen is a nice family souvenir.