Looking back: Joseph Maddalena turned a childhood interest in collectibles into a dealership of movie and historical artifacts, often going up against larger auction-house rivals.

JOSEPH Maddalena has had a standing offer on the table for nearly 20 years: $10 million to anyone who brings him the original notes of the Gettysburg Address.

"Lincoln supposedly wrote the speech on the back of an envelope on the train from Washington to Gettysburg," said the boyish looking chief executive. "It's the Holy Grail of collecting, the find of a career, and it may not even exist."

That shouldn't deter Maddalena's customers.

His Beverly Hills-based Profiles in History, with $12 million in revenues last year, targets some of the most discerning and eclectic collectors.

Need to find Dr. Milo's Ape-o-Naut suit from "Escape From the Planet of the Apes"? Too late. It sold at auction in July for $64,900, about twice the amount brought by Mel Brooks' handwritten lyrics for the song "Springtime for Hitler," from the movie "The Producers."

In Maddalena's document catalog is a 19th century Ohio land grant signed by John Quincy Adams, the nation's sixth president. The asking price is $3,500.

In cluttered, windowless offices near the intersection of Wilshire Boulevard and Doheny Drive, Maddalena's nine full-time employees preview, log, store and photograph material. The two specialties they deal in, historical documents and Hollywood memorabilia, differ in significant ways.

Historical documents are obtained from individuals, institutions and Sotheby's and Christie's auctions, where material sometimes falls through the cracks. He sells these items on his Web site and through a catalog published three times a year.

The entertainment market is more raucous, with movie memorabilia accounting for 40 percent of the business. "Collectors come from everywhere: a textile institute in Chile, a Mercedes dealership in Belgium," Maddalena said.

With Hollywood artifacts, he is often approached directly by the person with the item and then auctions it off on consignment, taking a flat 15 percent fee from both the buyer and the seller.

One goal is to double the number of auctions per year to eight, and to include comic book art, rock 'n' roll memorabilia and vintage musical instruments. "Once investors begin to drive a market, like coins or baseball cards, it's artificial and on its way out," he said.

Maddalena fell into memorabilia collecting while on the road with his antique-dealer parents. He accompanied them to a baseball card convention, then used his paper-route money to rent out the American Legion hall in his hometown of Cranston, R.I. With his parents serving hot dogs and sodas, Maddalena staged the city's first-ever baseball card enthusiast's show.

"I had about a million cards by the time I was 14," he remembered. "My first hand-signed letter was from Larry Fine of the 'Three Stooges.' From then on I was hooked."

After high school, Maddalena went to Pepperdine University to study broadcasting. But the lure of collecting found him spending time in Hollywood bookshops searching for signed copies of works by Hemingway and Fitzgerald.

"It was a different world before the Internet," he said. "Dealers in the 1980s were purists who thought that marketing and spreadsheets were antithetical to collecting. I applied modern business models to the business."

Questioning other authorities

In 1997, he was at the center of a national media storm over the authentication of JFK/Marilyn Monroe papers that sold for $13 million. (He correctly identified them as fakes). Of late, Profiles in History has been getting attention for its high-profile Hollywood memorabilia auctions. The last event in July saw more than $1 million in sales.

A December auction will feature "Black Beauty," the car that Bruce Lee drove in the TV series "The Green Hornet" (market value $200,000 to $250,000) and the leather jacket that Arnold Schwarzenegger wore in "terminator 2: Judgment Day."

"Collecting is driven by emotional passion and academic curiosity, not by sound investing," said Gary Milan, a retired dentist and collector for 35 years. "You'll wait 10 to 12 years (to make a profit) if you buy fully-priced from a dealer."

Milan owns one of two original Maltese Falcons, now on loan to the Warner Bros. Museum, as well as Sam's piano from "Casablanca." Each item is insured for $2 million.

"Owning the binoculars that were in Lincoln's box the night of his assassination is a way for collectors to get close to President Lincoln and the story of his life," he said. "To the dealers it's a business, but for us it's a powerful intellectual addiction."

As for Maddalena, he has yet to locate a seller of that $10 million Gettysburg document. But he has dropped $1.5 million for an excerpt from Lincoln's second inaugural address, and sold Captain Kirk's "Star Trek" chair for $310,000.

"I've never handled the ruby slippers from 'The Wizard of Oz,'" Maddalena said wistfully, gazing past a $6,000 rocking chair once owned by JFK. "But I do have Margaret Hamilton's witch hat. How cool is that?"

PROFILE Profiles in History

Year Founded: 1985

Care Business: Dealer of autographed historical documents and Hollywood memorabilia

Revenues in 2002: $12 million

Revenues in 2003: $15 million (projected)

Employees in 2002: 9

Employees in 2003: 9

Goal: Increase the number of auctions and material to include original comic book art, rock 'n' roll memorabilia and vintage musical instruments; increase the number of historical document catalogs issued per year to four from three

Driving Force: Longstanding relationships with elite collectors and a mandate to sell only top-quality material