I'm not sure I get what's wrong with the autograph thing. I'd never heard of those boards before and didn't know there would be an explanation at the end of the chapter, so I stopped and looked it up as soon as it was mentioned.
It sounds like a nice thing to use for anything decorative or sentimental to me. I don't like my own country personally, but if I did I'd love to have traditional art form stuff mixed in with something personal from a friend in the same item