Tom Fontaine IS the true pioneer collector in music and entertainment artifacts! It all began innocently at the early age of five years old in 1963. A gift was given to Tom knowing and understanding the importance of the history by collecting it all. Those instincts, then and now, has led Tom to amass one of the largest, rarest, and valuable collections in the world spanning five decades.

Almost every imaginable legendary recording artist and band of the 20th century, from The Beatles, Buddy Holly, Elvis Presley, Bob Dylan, Johnny Cash, Elton John, Michael Jackson and Bruce Springsteen to entertainment legends Marilyn Monroe, James Dean, and the movies and television have been collected by Tom with many rare and previously unseen historic gems amongst his portfolio.

In the 1980s Tom started branching out into autographs, performance contracts, personally owned and stage clothing, as well as handwritten lyrics. Although he primarily concentrated in music, he also collected movie and television memorabilia as well.

During the last 55 years Tom has extolled the values of research, education, sound judgment, and common sense, including always collecting the provenance and stories accompanied the assets he acquired, including the history or circumstances surrounding the acquisition, event dates, autograph analysis, establishing their authenticity in each case.

Over the years Tom has become one of the most respected collectors in the industry, advising, authenticating and appraising for fellow collectors, dealers, and auction houses. In 2004, he published a study of The Beatles autographs, featured on worldwide websites.

www.autographworld.com/beatles/sigstudy1.asp.

Tom has also been featured on a variety of media channels over the decades, from newspapers to magazines, as well as appearing on radio and TV, including CNN, PBS and the BBC in London, to name but a few.

Tom is also a co founder of IEF (Indiana Entertainment Foundation) a non-profit organization preserving, researching, archiving, and displaying Indiana’s rich entertainment history in music, film, and broadcasting. Something he is very proud to be a part of from his home state.

His book, “Rare” represents his life’s work, including personal stories, pictures, and events that took place during the last fifty plus years, from childhood to adulthood. His second publication, “The Beatles and Their Solo Years”, has also received many glowing reviews. In 2024 Tom is scheduled to release two new books titled “The Beatles Looking Back The Final Trip” with forward by Chris O’Dell and “Sharon Tate Every Picture Tells Her Story” (A celebration of her Life, Family, and Career through his personal stories and his one of a kind collection).

He has built collections and traded for five decades, creating a ‘once in a lifetime’ company that possesses some of the rarest and most important music artifacts from the 20th and 21st century, along with many of the world’s most valuable memorabilia assets from Hollywood and beyond. All carefully managed and preserved providing history as an ever growing asset rich business.

Tom is the CEO and Owner of RARE MAE INVESTMENTS LLC and is actively looking to take the business in new and exciting directions.