SELFIES with celebrities are a one-off but getting an autograph means starting a relationship.
So says Derby's friend to the stars, autograph hunter Andy Broughton, who has a collection of 10,000 signatures worth £100,000.
He believes the selfies do not give people the chance to form life-long relationships with celebrities, which he says he has had since 1977, when his hobby started.
Andy, 50, has spoken out because he thinks the craze of people taking pictures of themselves with celebrities is going too far and is "cheapening" the relationship between famous people and their fans.
The customer service adviser said: "Selfies are a one-off but to keep relationships with people over time is a big difference. Autographs still have an historical importance because it is a signed item and is physical.
"A selfie is personal and is important to the person who is taking it but not really for anybody else. They are very quick and can be forgotten but autographs can be big business. You will never get a £100,000 collection of selfies.
"Building a relationship with people like I have is great. And having it inscribed to you, then you know they have taken time to write it and put some effort in to it.
"I don't see the point in a photograph with the signatures unless it can be signed. A signature is far more personal and means much more.
"The last time I wrote to the comedian Roy Hudd, he commented on the amount of Christmases we have spent together."
Royalty forms a big part of Andy's autograph collection and he has corresponded with Camilla, Duchess of Cornwall.
Andy said the fact he was inundated with more than 70 signed messages for his 50th birthday in October from famous faces, including Prime Minister David Cameron, comedian Ken Dodd, actress Joan Collins and footballer-turned-presenter Gary Lineker, proved his point.
But Andy, of Ashbourne Road, said that things now were very different from when he started collecting autographs .
He said: "There was no internet or e-mail addresses and it was very hard to get personal home or businesses addresses. With the selfie and on the internet, the people are very random."
He said there had been a 50% drop in the number of people hunting for autographs since he started.
He said: "The drop is disappointing but I think it is down to a number of different things.
"The rejection can be sometimes difficult to deal with if things don't work out and people do not get back to you but that is par for the course."
