Vintage Sports Memorabilia
Sports memorabilia refers to anything that can be directly related to a sports event or a sports personality. Items from professional sports such as a baseball, football, basketball, a jersey, a boxing glove, a baseball card, and even an old bleacher seat from the famed Yankee Stadium which was recently dismantled in order to make way for the new Yankee Stadium. What makes these sports artifacts become valuable due to fans or ‘collectors’ if you will, find value in the rarity time value of these collectibles. Vintage sports memorabilia typically refers to sports items ‘representing the best of a pastime’.
Therefore, items from Babe Ruth and Mickey Mantle represent the legendary items of baseball. Boxing gloves and robes from legendary fighters such as Jack Johnson and John L.Sullivan would have value to collectors in the sport of boxing, and so forth. All sports in some way or another have accrued quite a bit of vintage sports memorabilia.
When it comes to vintage sports memorabilia, it can carry a sentimental or monetary value to the collector. There are many sports memorabilia collectors that will purchase many items used by famous sports stars or items from a famous sporting event. Usually the purchase and sale of these items will be expedited through auctions such at Sotheby’s and others. For example, the ball that Mark McGwire hit for home run number 70 in 1998 was sold for over $3 million dollars at auction in 1999. Now that is a lot of money for a baseball. You can see the demand for items such as this to cause the bidding to be that high. There is a huge market for vintage sports memorabilia and it appears to be an ever growing market. With sports like football, basketball, baseball, hockey, boxing, golf, tennis, and even soccer being ever so present in the consciousness of Americans and fans all across the world, the vintage sports memorabilia market is here to stay.
Collecting vintage sports memorabilia appears to have started in the early decades of the 20th century. Baseball stars such as Babe Ruth starting signed autographs on baseballs from fans who caught foul balls in the stands. Collectors started to become more prevalent over the years. As each respective sport gained popularity over the years, every major star in each sport began signing autographs on balls, sporting cards, and even recently, signing jerseys. When the NBA, NHL, MLB, and NFL began selling their jerseys in stores, game jerseys became popular among collectors. Dennis Rodman, the eccentric basketball player in the 80’s and 90’s, was famous for taking his shirt off on the court and throwing it in the stands after games were over. The simple fact that Rodman had worn the jersey in a game gave it value. Also, since Rodman was so famous and a basketball world champion many times over, gives the item more value and credence.
An item of sports memorabilia can be considered vintage sports memorabilia if it is an item from a golden era of a sport or an item signed from Hall of Fame player. However, sports memorabilia is not considered authentic unless it is sold or bought accompanied by a Certificate of Authenticity. You can imagine the amount of fakes out there from hustlers trying to make a buck. Sometimes, collectors are so passionate about these coveted items that they overlook the authenticity and get scammed. Just like any business deal, you have to do your homework.
Collectors who want to find authentic sports memorabilia must purchase them from reputable dealers. EBay is a popular site on the web where collectors can buy and sell their items. The quickness and ease of locating these items are invaluable to collectors. However, the drawback to purchasing items on eBay are that the items are often counterfeit. People who list items on eBay are not always reputable dealers. Law enforcement and industry experts estimate that a large percentage of vintage sports memorabilia that is bought and sold is counterfeit.
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