Back in the early days of sports, memorabilia consisted of an occasional autograph or maybe a sweat band thrown up into the crowd. With today’s marketing and world wide popularity in the sporting arenas, we now have memorabilia for virtually everything. When you go shopping for sports memorabilia, it is a good idea to know what it is you are looking for. Here are a number of sports memorabilia ideas that can now be found for virtually every major professional sports team and player.
1. The Authentic Jersey – This is one of the most popular pieces of sports memorabilia out there, and with good reason. You can buy a genuine Kobe Bryant jersey, and even have it autographed if you are willing to pay the price. These jerseys start at the lowly replica jersey and go up as high as actual game used jerseys with autographs. These are particularly popular in the NBA and NFL sporting arenas.
2. The autographed/jersey sports card – With the explosion of technology where sports cards are concerned, their is virtually nothing that can not be cut up and placed on a trading card. Trading cards may have pieces of jersey, shoes, wrist bands, hats, helmets, sticks, pucks, racing tires, baseballs, baseball bats, and even a WWE Diva’s underwear. You name it, and it can pretty much be found in the trading card market.
3. The good old fashioned autographed and/or game used balls are still high on the sports memorabilia list. Autographed baseballs, basketballs, and footballs lead the way when it comes to older memorabilia. These pieces of history can bring tens of thousands of dollars on the auction market depending on who signed it and what it is. If you are looking to get into sports memorabilia, then this would be a great place to start.
4. Autographed photos are still very popular pieces of sports memorabilia as well. Though they are not as valuable as the game used equipment pieces, the photos tell a story as well as provide an autograph. These are often prized pieces in personal collections due to the memory attached to it.
5. Stadium pieces have grown in popularity over the last several years with the closings of popular stadiums such as Yankee stadium. Seats, dirt clods, and even bricks from the stadiums have all been brought into the sports memorabilia arena.
6. Professional sports championship rings have found their way onto the market as well. At one time, a professional championship ring would never be found, but with the advent of eBay and other auction sites, they have sprung up for sale. These rings can be bought both as a replica, and as the real deal if you have plenty of money.
As with any old merchandise, take special care to buy sports memorabilia from an authentic dealer. Fakes are all over the place, so you need to do your research. Still, if you are interested in getting into the sports memorabilia field, it is a wonderful hobby and shopping experience.