- Erkki Rapo
Erkki Rapo (1946-2004), known to Finnish people and celebrities alike as "Uncle Eki", was a Finnish amateur
autograph collector. He dedicated the last 40 years of his life to his hobby, and is among its best-known practitioners worldwide.Biography
Erkki Rapo lived a rather nomadic, lonely life. He had a series of odd jobs, including stints as limousine driver, club MC and porter at a local university campus. However, autograph hunting was his passion and he never held a job for long. He never married, and his apartment has been described by those who visited it as "chaotic". One of his few friends was
Jukka Häkkinen who served as Rapo's personal driver from the late 1980s until his death. Rapo was diagnosed withdiabetes as a child and suffered from the condition throughout his life.Rapo's celebrity encounters began in 1959 when he met
Paul Anka before a concert inHelsinki . Over the following years Rapo made it his mission to meet other famous people in person, and he would spend hours planning and executing his autograph-hunting campaigns. In 1966 Rapo metThe Beatles and managed to obtain all four signatures, which is considered something of a rarity because onlyJohn Lennon andPaul McCartney are regarded by autograph experts as consistent autograph signers. Rapo also met and obtained autographs fromJim Morrison ,Frank Sinatra ,Plácido Domingo and various other celebrities. Tom Jones considered Rapo a personal friend, even though his visits to Finland were limited by his tour schedules.Along with the
album cover s,magazine s and similar items favoured by autograph hunters, Rapo is said to have had supermarket receipts, plain paper and other odd items signed. He is said to have regularly carried autographed items with him, and many times he would try to sell these or offer them to agas station or food store owner in return for gas or meals. Sometimes, if a buyer thought his prices were too high, he would photocopy the signed item and sell a fake autograph, albeit for less money than originally asked for.As a result of his activities Rapo became a celebrity himself in Finland. He appeared several times in Finnish newspapers alongside the individual whose autograph he was seeking, and curious readers called the newspapers to ask about him. This motivated journalists to find out more about Rapo, and his life was later chronicled in Finland through newspaper interviews and articles.
In 1988 Rapo's collection was displayed at the
Marnitus Hall inVantaa .Bob Dylan incidents
Rapo tried to obtain
Bob Dylan 's autograph on a number of occasions. Dylan apparently disliked this. There are accounts of a 1989 encounter between Dylan and Rapo in Helsinki, where Dylan allegedly shouted at Rapo to stop following him. Rapo nevertheless went the next day to Dylan'shotel but Dylan, signing autographs for a younger crowd, left the area upon spotting Rapo.In 1996, Rapo and Dylan crossed paths again, at a music festival. According to Rapo, Dylan told him that he didn't like giving autographs to adults, and stepped away.
Rapo also regretted not being able to obtain the autograph of American comedian
Dean Martin , but it is unclear whether or not he actually approached Mr. Martin for his signature.Later years
Rapo did not stop autograph hunting until late in his life when, affected by diabetes complications, he scheduled fewer autograph-seeking dates. Rapo's illness forced him to stay at home for a large part of his final few years, until he died in 2004. His death was relayed by Finnish newspapers to readers across the nation.
Auction
Shortly after Rapo's death, his autograph collection was
auction ed by well known dealerMartin Sinisalo in Helsinki. Many items brought significant sums of money, but others turned out to be copied replicas of real autographs and were sold relatively cheaply.External links
* [http://www.helsinginsanomat.fi/english/article/1076153068265 helsinginsanomat.com]
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