Collecting Autographed Sports Memorabilia

Does the sound of a bat slamming a ball out of the park make your heart go pitter pat? Do you thrill to the sight of a football arcing cleanly through the goalposts? Do you love everything about a sport or a particular player? Collecting autographed sports memorabilia may be just the hobby for you. If you’re just starting out in your collection of autographed sports memorabilia, these tips can help you amass a collection that’s interesting and potentially valuable.

 

Specialize

Many collectors make the mistake of being too general in their acquisitions. The most interesting and valuable collections are those that have a focus. You can choose to focus broadly and collect football memorabilia or hockey memorabilia, or you can focus your collection more finely. Instead of collecting baseball memorabilia, collect autographed baseballs, for example.

There’s another advantage to specializing in a particular sports memorabilia niche – knowledge. When you focus your attention on collecting one particular type of sport memorabilia, you’ll amass a great deal of knowledge about that particular niche. That allows you to spot items that other people might miss, and more importantly, to avoid getting taken in by fakes and frauds.

Choose High Quality Items

Better quality items will always be worth more money than the same item in poor condition. Given a choice, always choose high quality collectibles, sports memorabilia and sports autographs in good condition. An autographed sports poster in pristine condition will fetch far more than the same celebrity autographs on a creased poster.

Cultivate Reputable Dealers

There are dozens of dealers selling autographed sports memorabilia, both online and off. The single most important thing you can do for your collecting career is to cultivate a relationship with a reputable dealer of celebrity autographs and autographed sports memorabilia. Not only will you be able to trust the items you buy from that dealer, but he’ll keep you in mind. If you collect basketball memorabilia, for example, and he comes across an autographed game shirt worn by your favorite b-baller, he’ll drop you a line to give you first shot at it.

Miami Heat Champion Dwyane Wade with two 8x10" action photographs Authentically hand signed by Champions Shaquille O'Neal and LeBron James

Trust But Verify

Celebrity autographs are among the most faked types of sports memorabilia on the market. Unless you’re an expert yourself, always have any autographed sports memorabilia authenticated by a reputable third-party appraiser.

Collecting autographed sports memorabilia can be a fun hobby that leads to a valuable collection. The more you know about the sport you’re collecting, the better are your chances of acquiring authentic, valuable pieces of sports memorabilia.

Top Ten Most Forged Signatures on Autographed Sports Memorabilia

Autographed sports memorabilia has become one of the hottest segments of the memorabilia market. The popularity – and value – of signed baseball memorabilia, football memorabilia, basketball memorabilia and hockey memorabilia has also made sports autographs among the most forged signatures in the world of memorabilia. Celebrity autographs are very collectible, but items with these signatures have a high likelihood of being faked, according to a major memorabilia authenticator.



Baseball Memorabilia


 Featuring three vintage Major League official baseballs Authentically hand signed by Joe DiMaggio, Mickey Mantle, and Ted Williams. Quality Framed as shown with a classic 20x26" photograph of the three standing together, official team patches and descriptive plaques.

Babe Ruth, whose signature can be found on anything from baseball cards to baseballs and other types of baseball memorabilia, is one of the most forged celebrity autographs of all, with a fake rate of about 60 percent.

Lou Gehrig, whose signature on a single-signed baseball can bring as much as $60,000, is often forged.

Mickey Mantle had one of the most-wanted signatures in the hobby of collecting sports memorabilia. The value of Mantle celebrity autographs is lower than that of many other players in large part because he was a prolific signer who did many autograph events. Even so, authenticators suggest that there are more fakes available than genuine Mantle autographs.

Ted Williams, the long-time pride of the Boston Red Sox, is also high on the list of forged celebrity autographs despite the fact that demand for his signature has decreased slightly over the years.

Albert Pujols, LA Angels first baseman, may not have acquired the widespread name recognition with the general public enjoyed by the others on the most-forged autographed sports memorabilia list, but the scarcity of authentic celebrity autographs from Pujols has made his a popular signature for fakes.

Basketball Memorabilia

Michael Jordan signed tens of thousands of items of sports memorabilia while he was under contract with Upper Deck Authenticated, but that hasn’t stopped forgers from trying to profit off this reputation.

LeBron James is wildly popular, especially after his 2011 MVP award, but his autograph is one of the most in-person signatures to get. With the value of a single-signed LeBron basketball coming close to $500, his signature is a popular target for forgers.

Kobe Bryant has five basketball championships to his credit, and a lot of authentic celebrity autographs available on the market. The demand for Kobe Bryant signatures has made the basketball superstar a popular target for forged basketball memorabilia.

Miscellaneous Sports Memorabilia

Muhammad Ali, perhaps the best-known boxer of all time, put in a lot of time signing collectibles, sports memorabilia and other items. Even so, his signature is in high demand and there are many forgeries of his signature floating around.

Tiger Woods may have lost some of his luster recently, his autographs are still in high demand, placing Tiger Woods autographed sports memorabilia high on the list of most-forged signatures.

The best way to protect yourself from forgeries and ensure that you’re buying genuine autographed sports memorabilia is to always buy through a reputable memorabilia dealer that uses a third party authentication service to verify the signatures on the items they sell.