Archive for the ‘Autographed Memorabilia’ Category

Did You Ever Notice That Stadium Souvenirs Come In All Shapes And Sizes? In case you didn’t notice, stadium souvenirs aren’t only the trinkets you buy from the vendor stands! There are some unusual stadium souvenirs that are creeping into the marketplace. Old stadiums offer a piece of history that many fans want to save for themselves, but stealing pieces of stadiums that are closing have been landing some people in jail. In fact, there were a number of New York fans that got themselves arrested trying to steal a piece of the action. One tried to steal third base-literally, along with a hunk of turf!

Yankee Stadium and Shea Stadium fans were swiping stadium souvenirs that ranged from pieces of seats from Shea Stadium to pieces of the red-white and blue outfield bunting that decorated Yankee Stadium! Leave it to New York…..of course, the teams want to make sure Stadium fixtures stay in their control, but somebody even stole a Yankee Stadium toilet seat. Stadiums that are older and get closed allow the teams to sell the rights to stadium souvenirs for profit and charity. That means you can buy bricks, seats and other parts of the stadiums because it has become a fund-raising event for all of the major league teams that have a stadium closing in their recent history.

Chicago White Sox’s Comiskey Park closing netted more than a million dollars for charity and other teams want to do the same thing. In fact, in the case of the 86-year old Yankee Stadium and the Shea Stadium, there was a third-party company hired to salvage the stadium souvenirs and the team gets a cut of the action, along with the City of New York, who owns the stadiums.

While Yankee’s players scooped up cups of dirt on their own, anything else they wanted had to be bought, when going on the auction block. Some of the sports fans that love stadium souvenirs just want a piece of a memory, but there are many that buy them as an investment because there is an active market in stadium souvenirs, just like there is with other types of sports memorabilia. It seems that stadium closings have created a sports souvenir class that appeals to many people, just make sure you are purchasing from authorized contractors offering a COA!

What Is The Most Popular Vintage Sports Memorabilia?

If you are like I was, this might be a question you are asking, but I have a few ideas for you. Of course, you can find all kinds of vintage sports memorabilia on the Internet and there are all different kinds of sports memorabilia to think about. Some of the most popular types might include stadium souvenirs, old game programs or player yearbooks, sports magazines, team pennants and even buttons and ticket stubs are popular. Of course, autographed baseballs and footballs are always popular, but be sure you get holograph authentication certificates to avoid buying phony vintage sports memorabilia.

The best place to purchase vintage sports memorabilia is from reputable dealers or Internet sources that offer holographic-sealed COAs (Certificates of Authenticity) and offer “guaranteed” authentication because this can help protect you from getting counterfeit items. Some of the greatest sports teams and players in history offer legitimate sports memorabilia items through these reputable dealers. Most dealers offer COAs on all of the more unique and higher cost vintage sports memorabilia, but there are still some phonies in the memorabilia industry that have duped consumers, so be careful.

You might still run across some vintage sports memorabilia from private collectors that might not contain these authentications. Keep in mind that baseballs you catch at the stadium should be authenticated, if you are a collector that hopes to have a valuable “catch” someday.

There are many vintage sports jerseys, and of course, old baseball cards are a favorite form of vintage sports memorabilia for many avid sports collectors. You can find authentic autographed items that are offered by well-known sports celebrities from the past and there are some items that will have notarized statements by the sports celebrities, stating it is their signature.

If you are looking at the antique sports memorabilia that might be offered at some antique shops, there are many antique dealers that are very familiar with what is real and what is a cheap copy. When you are searching for things to add to your collection, you want a real vintage item, but there are people that just buy sports souvenirs because they like what they say or they might contain old photos, statistics and other interesting things. It is a matter of personal taste, but it helps to talk with a dealer that is reputable, when you are considering more expensive vintage sports memorabilia.

Do You Know Why You Need Holographic COA’s (Certificate of Authenticity) For Your Sports Memorabilia? If you are a new collector, there is something that you need to know about collecting sports memorabilia. The FBI changed the face of sports trading forever, when they launched an investigation of two large forgery and fraudulent autograph sports memorabilia enterprises in the 1990’s. There was more than $100 million dollars worth of phony sports memorabilia that was found in 15 states during the original FBI investigation. It has been discovered that this phony sports memorabilia traded on the black market, in shopping malls and at Internet auction websites, so you have to be careful.

So, how do you know whether you are buying the real thing or whether an autographed sports item is phony? Fake sports memorabilia still shows up all the time because it is almost impossible to keep up with who’s selling it. Certificates of Authenticity, also known as COAs, are the best way to be fairly certain your sports memorabilia is authentic. Many dealers now trade in sports memorabilia that only includes numbered, tamper-proof and holograph-sealed COAs for this reason.

If you can get notarized letters from the athletes to authenticate their signatures-that’s even better! Many of the large sports memorabilia dealers maintain a database that shows exactly what they sold, so autographed sports memorabilia from these dealers will include holographic authenticity certificates, which are the best protection.

Did you know that if you catch a ball at the game, it still needs to be authenticated, if you ever hope to sell it or make it worth anything in your collection? This is especially important if you are a collector because almost all collectors will now steer clear of anything that doesn’t come with a COA that is holograph-sealed.

There are too many chances of finding counterfeit sports memorabilia on the market, but some dealers in sports memorabilia will give you an “authenticity guaranteed” sale. What this means is the dealer will issue a full refund, if it is ever discovered that a sports memorabilia item is fraudulent and the item will come with a Certificate of Authenticity that bears the tamper-proof holographic seal. Many of the reputable sports memorabilia sources will understand your reasons for concern if you ask for this, so don’t be lax in requiring the holographic COA on all of the sports memorabilia you purchase!