Thursday, August 23, 2012

Top Movie Memorabilia Buys

Looking for movie memorabilia to decorate your home theater room? Movie memorabilia is rapidly becoming the hottest ticket in home theater décor. From vintage movie posters from the 1940s and 1950s to the latest movie franchises of the past few years, Hollywood memorabilia is finding a home on the walls of homes around the country. If you’re looking for the best-selling, hottest items of movie memorabilia, these are the movie posters you want to keep your eyes peeled for.
Star Wars Posters
The Star Wars franchise has launched a lot of successful movie posters, but none are quite as popular as the Star Wars The Duel poster featuring Luke Skywalker facing off against Darth Vader. Other Star Wars movie posters that make the most popular list include a 30th anniversary collage featuring photographs, movie posters and autographs of actors from several different installments of the Star Wars franchise.
Pirates of the Caribbean
With the release of Pirates of the Caribbean Man’s Dead Chest, the sales of Pirates movie posters really took off. Any memorabilia from the Pirates franchise does well at auction, but one top of the line collectible is a shadow box backed by a Pirates of the Caribbean Dead Man’s Chest movie poster and various bits of memorabilia from the set. To sweeten the deal, the shadow box includes celebrity autographs from cast members Johnny Depp, Keira Knightley and Orlando Bloom, making it even more valuable.
James Bond
The name is Bond. James Bond, and he’s easily the most famous spy to ever grace a movie screen. It’s almost impossible to choose just one James Bond poster, especially considering the fine performances by all of the actors who have played the suave 007. In fact, many movie memorabilia collectors specialize in collecting James Bond memorabilia exclusively. Why choose when you can find a selection of displays that include autographed photos of two, three, four or all six James Bonds, all framed together? It’s the ideal home theater décor for a Bond enthusiast.
Lord of the Rings
LOTR was bound to be a big hit with memorabilia lovers and collectors. Movie posters for the eagerly awaited installments of the trilogy moved into collectible status as soon as they were released. LOTR movie posters signed by Elijah Wood, Liv Tyler and other actors from the franchise are especially valuable.
Movie posters and Hollywood memorabilia are great choices to decorate the walls of your family room, home theater or themed bar. Whether you love vintage westerns or contemporary thrillers, you’ll find something to love when you shop auctions and dealer sites for the best movie memorabilia.

Thursday, August 9, 2012

How to Choose Autographed Sports Memorabilia

Collecting autographed sports memorabilia is nothing new – kids have always hung around outside baseball and football stadiums hoping to grab an autograph from one of their sports heroes. What is new is the burgeoning marketplace for sports memorabilia of all types and the industry that has grown up to churn out autographed sports jerseys, autographed game balls and other types of collectible sports memorabilia. Because the value for autographed memorabilia from all sports is so high, there are also a growing number of fakes and scams out there. How do you know that the sports memorabilia you buy is genuine? These tips on buying authentic autographed sports memorabilia can help you make sure you spend your money wisely.
Collecting for Love or for Money?
Before you start collecting, decide whether you’re collecting for love or for money. You can, of course, collect for both, but your primary reason for collecting memorabilia will help you establish a strategy for choosing and buying your items. In either case, establish a spending threshold for specific items to avoid going too far over budget.
Theme Your Buying
When you choose a theme for your collection of autographed sports memorabilia, you’re serving a few different purposes. First, you automatically make your entire collection more valuable. A focused collection of basketball memorabilia, for example, will be far easier to sell – and for more money – than a scattered collection that covers many different sports. In addition, you’re making it easier to spot fakes because you’ll be gaining specialized knowledge in the particular area of sports memorabilia you choose to collect. If you focus on Super Bowl football memorabilia, it will be much harder for someone to slip a fake autographed game ball past you because you know the kinds of authenticating details to look for. Finally, you’ll be establishing ongoing relationships with reputable dealers and collectors. That network can bring unique items to your attention or make it easier for you to sell items if and when you decide to thin your collection of autographed sports memorabilia.
Create a Wish List
Some collectors of memorabilia simply buy items when something strikes their fancy. That kind of impulse or panic buying can be dangerous to your collection. When you create a wish list of autographed sports memorabilia items, you can research each item, keep your eye out for it and know whether or not it’s a good deal at the price. And to make it even sweeter, there’s nothing quite so satisfying as finally filling out your collection with that last item.
Collecting autographed sports memorabilia can be a fun and very lucrative hobby. Just remember that the more you know about the sports and autographs you collect, the better your collection will be.