Strengthening Your Corporate Relations with Sporting Memorabilia as New Year 2012 Gift Items

Most of the time we feel quite confused at the perfect selection of gift items. Well, if a person is getting troubles in choosing the most compatible and fitting gift for such occasions like Christmas, you may opt for the improved and latest sports autographs and other associated memorabilia items. Since there are a number of options that can be rightly availed while festivities and public gatherings, it will be your knowledge about the concerned person and the decision which will bring new dimension to the relations in Christmas 2011.

There are many benefits associated with the memorabilia gifts, if selected that cannot be conveyed through the customized general items. For s sports fan who takes a lot of interest in some form of game, sporting memorabilia will be a perfect item to gift. The selection or your choice may range from the jerseys, photos and other items associated with any particular sports but the impact will be the same. A stunning gift which blows the mind and exceeds his expectations should always be your choice. Autographed jerseys of the favorite player can also serve your intended purpose.

Given you are ready to gift some Christmas presents to your corporate friends and employees, you might be thinking of the cost incurred. But, you should not worry about the money as several websites and online portals are available that feel pleased to offer you cost effective and gorgeous Christmas gifts. Any item from the segment of sport memorabilia can help your task accomplished. You may also search for the gift ideas 2011 for the coming festivities that come at optimum investment. The best thing about the corporate gift is that it is cherished for a long time to come. Also, it stands uniquely in the crowds of thousands of New Year gifts.

It is needless to say that your business will prosper with a good word of mouth and positive talks in the friend circle. Gift items in sports can really bring unexpected success to your business with a lot of charisma, productivity and reliable people. Your corporate goals can also be easily achieved with such a gift for Christmas occasion. Giving a memorabilia that will include the sports accessories and tools will certainly show your deep interest in the person’s choice. No doubt, you can never show the same level of appreciation with other gifts that come in the person, normal standard or traditional horizon.

What people do not like about the trend of business or corporate gifts is that as soon as they are received they are thrown to the garbage. But this cannot happen with the autographed football. Soccer has reached at such a success stage where everything is loved and considered a part of life. You can get a wide variety of signed autographs from different websites on the internet that boasts of offering you huge discounts. You will receive free shipping facility and 100% quality satisfaction. So, you can simply like to buy autographs of the favorite sports players to show your concern and love for the concerned person. Gifting some sport memorabilia like an awesome autograph can be real and most amazing thing worth your precious investment!

Huge And Wide Variety Of Memorabilia Gifts Waiting For You – Visit Memorabilia 4U To Buy NEW YEAR Presents

There are millions of people who love the affection and love on real occasions like new year 2012 in the form of autographs and signatures of their favorite icons. In fact, the internet offers you a brilliant platform for the interested consumers to buy different types of photos and memorable moments of the celebrities. Memorabilia 4U is really a special and most popular online store where people can quench their thirst as the company believes in your satisfaction. Started in 2003, the company feels pleased to offer you variety, flexibility and originality in its products and services. This is no doubt, essential because if our consumers are not contented with the quality of signed memorabilia then there will be no essence of our services as gift for Christmas.

The sole objective of this company in the name of Memorabilia 4U is to offer genuine products as Christmas gifts in the form of celebrities’ signatures and photos to their worldwide fans so that they can easily be gifted as Christmas presents. Right from the beginning in 2003, the platform is now the leading supplier and has been offering very credible products that will not compromise with the inherent quality and cost. The website further makes it sure that all the star autographs are thoroughly checked to boast of authenticity. 

The consumers are the real jewels for the company as they believe in the services, good navigation panel and easy searching user interface. All these essential and awesome features are the best for online marketing when you think of getting the superb gift ideas 2011 in less time.

Depending on the choice and mood of consumers, the website promotes and prepares to have different categories of new year gifts. It is all about the satisfaction, content, better consumer service, ultimate shopping experience and above all, the affordability of the various deals that greatly attract the valued customers. Since our company is registered and accredited with the well known autograph clubs and associations, the consumer does not have to worry about the quality and authenticity of the memorabilia gift. Nowadays, with the immense popularity of the Harry Potter series, cartoons, movies, sci-fi fictions, Star Wars and different fashion models stealing the hearts of people, the company has made sure that everything must be present in the online stock. This has further improved the credibility, variety and above all, the efforts of the company towards the sole interests of the consumers to buy autographs.

There is no denying the fact that the company in the name of Memorabilia 4U is at its best as far as the quality and shipping services is concerned. It is definitely a second to none in this world when it comes to shopping experience, originality of the autographs, competitive price tags and no doubt, the genuine services offered with ultimate celebrity autographs.
With such an awesome and compatible service of Memorabilia 4U just below your nose, you will definitely like to celebrate Christmas 2011 in style. Autographs and great photos of the celebrities will work wonders with the life of your loved ones. And, you will have an ultimate choice of gifting the autographed photo to make the occasion more vibrant and memorable one!

Authentic or Unauthentic Autographs- A Subject of Debate

            

As the money has hiked up with prices reaching at its peak so does the market and its stock crashing down and rising again. Popular personalities and celebrities do earn a lot of money in selling their products and middle class persons are the bridges to connect to high class and lower class .People have a lot of hobbies collecting autograph is one among them. Celebrities and famous people do sign their autograph and give to people as the token of their gratitude. Athletic players do sign their balls and bats with their signatures to their fans and other people who made it a hobby of collecting autographs.

 

 

Authentic or not is another subject of debate which can be sort out later as debate usually takes more of a leisure time and space of its own kind. Memorabilia gift for all people can be one such example of dream coming true of a peasant or middle or lower class families as to sell them with more price and get more money for authentic autographs and little less money for unauthentic autographs. Sport people and star people both sign their autographs on their football, shirts and jerseys. Most of the time it is a doubt that some of the autographs are authentic and some are unauthentic. Authentic signed autographs on items are rare and those which are unauthentic are very easily available just like stamp collection. Collection of particular items is rare quality found in either rich people or well considered persons.

PETER ANDRE COMES TO ABERDEEN

Last week can be considered as a memorable week. One of my all-time favourite celebrities came to Aberdeen. I headed down to the shopping centre where he was signing in the hope of meeting the gossip magazine star and in hope of getting his autograph.It was no surprise when I arrived there was an absolutely massive queue of women and children awaiting his arrival, all in anticipation of meeting Peter Andre in the flesh.

After almost an hour of queuing I could hear people begin to scream and chant his name. It was at this point the excitement started to really sink in. Pete was escorted through the crowd and greeted all his fans on his way to the perfume store where he was to sign.

After almost three hours of queuing it was my turn to go into the shop and meet Peter Andre. I have met a lot of celebrities in my time of autograph collecting but I have only met a few that I truly admire. So when I met Peter I was truly star struck! It was obvious that Peter was pushed for time as there were so many fans that wanted to meet him; however, he seemed very relaxed and signed photographs and even signed albums whilst chatting away. It was very refreshing to discover that somebody I have a lot of admiration for was a genuinely kind person.

I like to take advantages of the times when celebrities visit my home town as it is an easy and more convenient way of collecting memorabilia than travelling long distances to award ceremonies and other events. Furthermore, it is a good opportunity to broaden my collection of autographs for sale.

Not only have I been given the opportunity to meet Peter Andre but I have been able to obtain signed memorabilia to add to my ever growing collection of famous autographs.

To see more autograph collections and autographs for sale please visit our website at : Memorabilia4u.com

Tips on Collecting Sports Autographs, Signed Sports Memorabilia and Autographed Shirts

Signed sports memorabilia is my passion and I have many famous autographs in my collection other than George Best autographs I have several autographed albums with a Bobby Charlton autograph and autographed photos of virtually every Premiership team in my collection. It has taken years of collecting sports autographs and memorabilia to arrive at where I am now with over five thousand authentic autographs and items of autographed sports memorabilia. I have also traded in authentic sports memorabilia for over 7 years now and have had many sports autographs sold on my website and traded with other autograph dealers items of sport memorabilia, I can still remember my first autographed football it was back in 1971 when Aberdeen beat Celtic in the Scottish Cup Final. I managed to get several players to sign a plastic football at the start of the 1972 season after one of their training sessions.

I have joined several autograph organizations namely the UACC and AFTAL and have risen to the prestigious ranks of UACC Registered Dealer and AFTAL Approved Dealer in the last few years. Even though I deal in memorabilia I must confess that I am a collector at heart and hate putting autographs for sale when I could hold on to them but I only have so much storage room in my house !!!!!

For those of you interested in collecting signed sports memorabilia, I will try and pass on some valued information I have acquired over the years collecting authentic sports memorabilia. It is very difficult to collect all types of memorabilia and autographed photos unless you have autograph collectors working for you. If you have you have got to make sure they are indeed collecting the autographs and not simply buying sporting memorabilia from another collector, which in turn could lead to the possibility of fake memorabilia.

Collecting sports autographs is not as easy as you would assume, what with most teams training grounds being enclosed it makes it very difficult to get signed photos, signed memorabilia or an autograph football. Although it is difficult you will still get players stopping to sign the odd football autograph and autograph footballs for the fans.

Often what works well is trying to get the away teams for signed memorabilia as they will sometimes train at the home teams ground the night before and in the past I have managed to obtain several items of autographed memorabilia by this method including a Chelsea shirt signed along with a few special pieces of soccer memorabilia.

You could also try and find out where the away team is staying as they generally use the same hotel on a regular basis this is the method I prefer and in the past I have obtained football signed memorabilia but you must make sure you have the correct football merchandise with you at all times.

The last way I collect autographed football items is to attend the ground the day of the match, this has often proven to be fruitful as I not only have collected soccer autographs but rock autographs and signed music memorabilia. I recently got a Rod Stewart autograph at a Celtic game that he was attending. It is very rare to get music memorabilia or music autographs at a football match that instance was one in a million.

My most treasured football autograph was collected in my home town many years ago, it was a George Best autographed photo, which is also my favourite framed autograph to date.

If there is anybody out there who wants to buy autographs……….

Check out my website memorabilia4u.com

How to Buy Authentic Autographs and Signed Photos of Famous Celebrities

Buying autographs has now become a very risky business, what with bogus autograph dealers and forgeries rife in the market place it is very difficult for the collector of signed memorabilia and hand signed photos to garner authentic sports memorabilia, music memorabilia or movie memorabilia. With this in mind I have tried to put together a guide below for the novice to obtain authentic autographs and memorabilia and eliminate the collectors worst nightmare a FORGERY!!!     

The easiest thing in the world is for somebody to get a photograph and forge a famous signature and low and behold a piece of Frank Sinatra Memorabilia or item of music memorabilia which to the untrained eye looks like a genuine collectible autograph.

 My advice to anyone who wants to collect a genuine autograph is try and get the celebrity to sign the item for you. I would strongly advise that you do not try and get signed movie posters as these are easily damaged in a crowd looking for famous autographs (made that mistake already!).This is not always possible and the next best thing is to use a trusted autograph dealer especially if you collect vintage autographs or even more so if you collect rare autographs.    

There are several associations that promote genuine autographed memorabilia the most famous being the U.A.C.C. ( Universal Autograph Collectors Club). They have two types of membership, Registered Dealers and members.  

For example if you are looking to buy a signed Manchester united shirt or a signed Chelsea shirt it would be advisable to buy it from a British UACC registered dealer or an AFTAL approved dealer. You are probably wondering why? AFTAL and UACC are governing bodies who check regularly on there dealers and both organisations have strict policies as to the buying and selling of autographs. Also that is the country where those teams play! Over the years I have stood outside football stadia to get the occasional football autograph, signed football jersey, signed footballs or for those in the U.S. soccer memorabilia. In the UK that can be a cold and thankless task as the sport is played during the winter.

For many years I have collected celebrity autographs in all kinds of weather, waiting for movie stars at film premieres to get authentic autographs or waiting in line at sports memorabilia shows to meet the occasional sports personality and after many hours of queuing coming away with a smile on my face and genuine autographs.

I have on occasion had the time to jet off to the U.S. and do some collecting there, when in the U.S. I concentrate on collecting actors autographs, Hollywood memorabilia, actresses autographs and if I have time I trail round the stores in L.A. for horror movie collectables.

In fact the last time I was in the States I attended several conventions and memorabilia shows where I picked up loads of collectible memorabilia namely, star trek memorabilia, star wars memorabilia and several celebrity addresses of which I will be writing to in the upcoming months.

Happy collecting............

   

Awards Season 2011

Collect Famous Celebrity Autographs, Movie And Music Memorabilia During Awards Season

February is normally the month of the year when all the awards ceremonies are in full flow. You have the Oscars the Brit Awards, BAFTA’s and virtually dozens of other ceremonies taking place in the capital of the U.K London.

This is a great time to get out your autograph books, posters and your photos and get along early to these red carpet events. I unfortunately will not be making it down to the awards this year due to business commitments but I have several of my agents collecting famous autographs, movie memorabilia and hopefully collecting lots of autographed photos for my website. Sometimes there are unexpected celebrities attending and when I am normally there I get a few of my autographed albums topped up with movie autographs and sometimes rock autographs depending on the awards ceremony.

If you are a collector of movie memorabilia, whether it be signed movie posters the occasional actor autograph or Frank Sinatra memorabilia, star trek autographs this is the right place for you as there will be loads of celebrities and a great chance for you to get them to autograph photos or even signed jerseys as I forgot to mention there will be stars of the music world attending and you can even collect autographed music memorabilia and signed music autographs.

Attending award shows are a wide scope of celebrities enabling me to gain access to a range of famous celebrity autographs. So this will be a good opportunity to collect Star Trek memorabilia, such as signed Star Trek posters, autographed Star Trek merchandise and signed Star Trek collectables. Furthermore, the actors Kiran Shah and Warwick Davis, both known for their roles in Star Wars will be signing memorabilia. I am keen to collect Star Wars memorabilia, signed Star Wars merchandise and Star Wars collectables as it is particularly popular form of movie memorabilia, attracting a wide range of attention from all parts of the world.

I recently had several collectors at the BAFTA award ceremony to try and collect a much sought after vintage autograph, Christopher Lee. Unfortunately my guys and girls were unable to get anything signed by Christopher but they did manage to get an awesome piece of music memorabilia. Sir Paul McCartney signed an old Beatles album on the same night. It just goes to show that you never know what you are going to get no matter how well you plan.

I was planning to go over to the States in time for the Oscars but as with the Award ceremonies in London I am just too busy working on another website which is unrelated to the memorabilia industry. I am fortunate enough to have several good friends in Los Angeles who occasionally rub shoulders with the rich and famous and over the years have supplied some memorable pieces of signed memorabilia.

If you are in London or L.A. be sure to dig out your autograph album and get down to the award ceremonies.!!! Happy collecting............

Sporting Memorabilia- Boxing Memorabilia and Boxing Autographs for Sale

It is really strange how you sometimes get possession of an item of boxing memorabilia from the strangest of connections. I have recently got and autograph of Manny Pacquiao from a friend who was visiting his father out in the Philippines. This is an amazing item of signed sports memorabilia, it is the first item of signed memorabilia I have had in my possession from the great boxer himself. The signed boxing glove will certainly not be amongst my autographs for sale and it ranks as one of the best sports autographs I have received in many a year.



I am hoping that the next time my friend goes across to see his father he will bring me back some more sport memorabilia signed by Manny maybe even some signed pictures or signed boxing shorts.
Talking about boxing myself and two friends are trying to put on an evening of boxing in Aberdeen along with a former two weight British World champion. I am unable to mention any names as the deal has not been concluded but for boxing fans this is going to be a real treat. Not only will they see some great bouts but they will be able to collect items of celebrity memorabilia and many authentic autographs on the night from Scottish world champions and boxing legends.
I will keep you all informed of the progress of the boxing night in my next update, however I must sign off as I am going down to Glasgow to collect some music memorabilia this evening then staying overnight and trying to get a couple of autographed photos at the Rangers F.C. training ground as my best friends birthday is coming up and he is is desperate to get a certain football autograph before the gentleman retires at the end of the season. Sorry I can’t mention the name as it is strictly hush hush and of the record!

How To Collect Original Hand Signed Autographs from Famous Film Stars and Celebrities

For many years now I have collected celebrity autographs in all kinds of weather, waiting for movie stars at film premieres to get authentic autographs or waiting in line at sports memorabilia shows to meet the occasional sports personality and after many hours of queuing coming away with a smile on my face and genuine autographs.     

In October I am braving the cold Scottish wind in St Andrews at the Dunhill Links Championship to collect golf memorabilia, mostly signed photos and with luck some signed football shirts along with the occasional piece of movie memorabilia, as the Dunhill Links Championship is a golf event which attracts celebrity amateur golfers as well as the professional golfer. I have collected many items in St Andrews over the years I have even managed to get the most famous James Bond autograph, Sir Sean Connery on the steps of the Royal and Ancient Golf Club.                                            

Buying autographs has now become a very risky business, what with bogus autograph dealers and forgeries rife in the market place it is very difficult for the collector of signed memorabilia and hand signed photos to garner authentic sports memorabilia, music memorabilia or movie memorabilia. With this in mind I have tried to put together a guide below for the novice to obtain authentic autographs and memorabilia and eliminate the collectors worst nightmare a FORGERY!!!     

The easiest thing in the world is for somebody to get a photograph and forge a famous signature and low and behold a piece of Frank Sinatra Memorabilia or item of music memorabilia which to the untrained eye looks like a genuine collectible autograph.

 My advice to anyone who wants to collect a genuine autograph is try and get the celebrity to sign the item for you. I would strongly advise that you do not try and get signed movie posters as these are easily damaged in a crowd looking for famous autographs (made that mistake already!).This is not always possible and the next best thing is to use a trusted autograph dealer especially if you collect vintage autographs or even more so if you collect rare autographs.      

The question you are probably asking yourself now is who can I trust?

That is not so easy if you are a novice but these words of advice may help you get that item of authentic sports memorabilia without the worry of “Is it Real?” There are several associations that promote genuine  autographed memorabilia the most famous being the U.A.C.C. ( Universal Autograph Collectors Club). They have two types of membership, Registered Dealers and members. The first is highly recommended as the selection procedure is very strict and to add  substance to this statement there are less than 275 members worldwide who have achieved this lofty status. Memorabilia 4U, my company is RD 292. A person who is a U.A.C.C. member is just someone who has joined the club and has no accreditation other than being a member. 

So if your penchant is for  collecting or buying, football autographs, boxing memorabilia or even music autographs I hope this article will help you obtain a genuine item of memorabilia.

LAUNCH OF MEMORABLIA4U NEW WEBSITE

On the 9th of November Memorabilia4U saw the re-launch of its website. In an attempt to make the site more customer-friendly we have added a few extra features, such as a selection of premier movie autographs, sport autographs and music autographs, making your searching less laborious and easier to navigate the autograph or memorabilia that you desire. This currently features an autograph signed by the musical genius that is Michael Jackson, a promotional photograph for the hit movie Titanic, signed in person by Leonardo DiCaprio and Kate Winslett and also features a limited edition Ferrari cap signed by the formula 1 racing legend Michael Schumacher. As well as this we have formulated a product category list to assist you with more refined searches including categories such as ‘Dr Who Autographs’ and ‘Harry Potter Autographs’ making your search less time consuming and also to display our full range of autographs within these categories. So whether it is vintage autographs, historical autographs or especially rare autographs, you will find our adjustments make it easier for you to navigate around the website. Alternatively, you can contact us directly by clicking on the ‘contact’ category displayed along the top of the website.

Included in these improvements to the website is the ‘Online Framing Service’. This service allows you to preview your chosen autograph within a frame, producing a more attractive final result and also ensuring that you control the additions to the piece of memorabilia, in turn making it more suited to your taste and decoration in the home and also adding that extra wow-factor to the item, as well as adding that final special touch to a gift. By clicking on the ‘Online Framing Service’ icon on the homepage you will see instructions to follow in order to access this service.

Furthermore, we have added a ‘Scrapbook’, which can be located on the homepage, where you are able to view photographs of Celebrities that we have met and also photographs of the celebrities signing the certain pieces or memorabilia. This addition has been made as we fully believe that it is crucial that our customers can trust that the service we provide is 100% authentic. Included in the scrapbook are photographs of celebrities such as, Samuel L Jackson who can be seen signing memorabilia including Star Wars autographs, and many sports legends, including Ernie Els, Archie Gemmill and Colin Montgomery, signing autographs.

In addition to all these amendments, a link to Facebook can be used. By choosing a specific autograph, for example, Pele memorabilia, you can click on the ‘Facebook share’ iconand the autograph will appear on your Facebook, allowing you to display the desired item to friends on the site. You can also join the Memorabilia4U Facebook group and follow us through the social networking site, where new and exciting stock is regularly posted allowing our fans an exclusive first look and the advantage to purchase heavily demanded items before they are added to the website for the rest of the world.

AN EVENING WITH MIKE TYSON

I was recently invited along to an event in Aberdeen Exhibition Centre to a Gentlemen’s Dinner. The main guest being Mike Tyson former World Heavyweight champion, along with Mike was another former heavy weight champion Tim Witherspoon and an another World Title holder Lee McAllister who hails from Aberdeen. During the course of the evening I was fortunate enough to meet Mike and Tim and got a photograph of myself with Mike Tyson which is in the process of getting framed as I write this article.

 

Throughout the evening there were opportunities to purchase boxing memorabilia, boxing autographs and signed boxing gloves via raffles, auction and a game called heads and tails. Amongst the items in the auction there were Muhammad Ali signed shorts, Mike Tyson signed gloves and also a great deal of signed boxing merchandise available at reasonable prices.

This was probably one of the biggest dinners I have attended with over 500 people turning out to see Mike and his fellow World Champions. As you can imagine he was in great demand to autograph memorabilia and he did do several signed photos for charity and for those involved in the organising of the evening. However his time was in great demand and not everyone got signed boxing memorabilia.

I was fortunate in so much as my friends did a private signing session with the champ earlier in the year where I obtained a signed photo, signed boxing shorts and a few unusual items of boxing memorabilia and a personalised autograph.

 

Getting back to the items that were for sale in the auction there was some great Muhammad Ali memorabilia signed in person by the legend including signed pictures, autographed boxing gloves and even a signed boxing robe. All of the items in the auction were fantastic and well presented pieces of autographed boxing memorabilia. But my favourite item was of the greatest pound for pound fighter around at the moment Manny Pacquiao signed shorts which was in my opinion the best framed autograph that was up for auction.

The highlight of the evening was a question and answer session with Mike where he covered his career from start to finish including all of the ups and downs and even a few of the controversial moments in his life, all in all it was a very entertaining evening spent in the company of one of the all time Heavyweight greats.

AUTOGRAPH AUTHENTICATION COURSE

One of the things that I pride myself on is the continuing need to keep up to date with all the current trends in the autograph and memorabilia industry. With this in mind I am going to attend an autograph authentication course on the 29th of October 2010, this course is being run by AFTAL (autograph fair traders association limited) of which I am on their Approved Dealers list. Although virtually all of my autographed photos are hand signed in person autographs, there are items which cannot be collected in person or by my agents as these celebrity autographs are either vintage autographs where the celebrity is deceased or customers asking me to authenticate their signed photos or famous autographs. The course is going to cover famous signatures, how to spot auto pen signatures, secretarial signatures and forgeries. At the end of the course provided you pass you will be elevated to a certified autograph dealer with AFTAL. 

I truly believe that you can never be too careful when it comes to providing your customers with authentic autographs and authentic Holly wood memorabilia. Memorabilia 4U provides a lifetime money back guarantee with all of its items and signed memorabilia. As an autograph dealer making sure all my framed autographs go out in pristine condition with a certificate of authenticity is a priority.

I was just looking through some ebay autographs the other day and I was shocked to see how many badly forged items there were in the following categories; sports memorabilia, music memorabilia and movie memorabilia. In my opinion I would have said that 90% of the items for sale were not real hand signed autographs signed in person by the celebrity. With this in mind and a statistic I heard the other day saying that 80% of all signed memorabilia is fake it is very much “Buyer Beware”.

So with this in mind when you are looking to buy autographs please make sure you research the autograph dealer thoroughly before purchasing your football autograph, sport memorabilia or movie star autographs. On the up side there are organisations out there which give the buyer guarantees, if you deal with a UACC registered dealer or and Aftal approved dealer they are monitored regularly to ensure that the items they sell are of the highest standard and although they cannot guarantee that every item is an authentic autograph they do give the buyer peace of mind in the fact that if it is not you will get your money back.

As I always say the best way to get authentic autographs or authentic memorabilia is to collect the item yourself, however that is not always possible as it takes a lot of time and patience to collect signed memorabilia whether its autographed albums, autographed photos or signed posters you certainly need time to collect and if you are buying autographs please check out the dealer who has too many famous autographs for sale, especially beatles autographs and beatles memorabilia. As these are the most copied and forged autographs and running them a close second is Elvis Presley autographs and then Frank Sinatra memorabilia. So make sure you do your homework when it comes to purchasing autographed memorabilia and signed sports memorabilia.

Careful Collecting!!!

Always Buy Authontic Autographs and Celebrity Memorabilia From Certified Dealers

I have just recently started reading a book about autograph forgery in the United States, the title of the real life account of a F.B.I. investigation is called “Operation Bullpen”. Although I am not finished the book I could not help but get on my keyboard and make people who have not read the book aware of the amount of forged memorabilia that was confiscated and also sold from this illegal activity.

It was not just the forgers who profited from the sale of autographed memorabilia but several large autograph dealers who either unknowingly purchased these items or worse still knowingly purchased fake famous signatures.Amongst the most popular autographs to get forged were baseball autographs, basketball autographs and NFL autographs. The forgers did not stop there after initial success with the aforementioned items they progressed on to Hollywood memorabilia, historical autographs, sport autographs and movie star autographs. The extent of how much of the items forged that is still in circulation or hanging in someone’s home is debatable but it amounts to millions of dollars. 

            

The subject of fake memorabilia is one which I must confess makes me very angry and every time I hear of it I feel the need to write about it. I hate when I see a fake autograph at a memorabilia show or fund raising dinner. I feel that it is often a crime which goes unpunished most of the time in the U.K. Although there have been several convictions for fraud in the U.K. concerning fake signed memorabilia and autographs to date there have been only light sentences and fines imposed. Some of the these forgers of football memorabilia and football autographs have been making hundreds of thousands of pounds on a regular basis off a poor unsuspecting public. 

The forgery is not limited to autographed football memorabilia, there have been cases of music memorabilia, vintage autographs, rare autographs, golf memorabilia, formula one memorabilia that have landed in court.

Today it is not enough to have a certificate of authenticity, anyone can put one of them together and attach it to a forged signature. I t makes sense to research your autograph dealer and ask how he gets his items it is also prudent to deal with autograph dealers who are AFTAL dealers and also UACC registered dealers, at least you can complain to the aforementioned organizations and they will investigate your complaint. Most autograph dealers will send a certificate of authenticity with their items but it is only of value when it has the dealers address, e mail, telephone numbers and affiliations to autograph organizations, if the certificate does not have this then it is worthless ( how are you going to contact them to complain!!).

I have been collecting autographs for over forty years and I must inform the prospective autograph collector to be very careful of who they buy autographs and celebrity memorabilia from as there are vast amounts of fake autograph dealers and those only too quick to take your hard earned money fraudulently.

Memorabilia Show at the NEC in Birmingham

On the 20th and the 21st of November I will be going to the Memorabilia Show at the NEC in Birmingham. This is an event which I attend every year and find it an extremely valuable way of collecting autographed memorabilia, meeting fellow autograph dealers and autograph collectors. I have often acquired rare autographs andmany genuine autographs to add to my personal collection. In addition to this I get the opportunity to meet the celebrities in person and discuss business with fellow autograph dealers at the show.
Attending this show are a wide scope of celebrities enabling me to gain access to a range of celebrity autographs, such as signed photos, signed movie posters, autographed footballs, as well as other signed sports memorabilia, such as sport merchandise, including signed boxing gloves, signed shirts and signed jerseys.
This year I am intending to meet and collect signed memorabilia from the likes of the boxing legends Thomas ‘The Hitman’Hearns, Iran Barkley and Barry McGuigan. It would be ideal if I could build up my collection of boxing memorabilia with signed boxing gloves, signed photographs and other signed boxing merchandise. Other sporting legends that are set to attend the show are Superbike legend and arguably the best ever motorbike rider from Britain, Karl Fogarty, Dennis Taylor who is best known for winning the 1985 World Snooker Championship final and Ron Flowers, known for his time at Wolverhampton Wanderers and a member of England's victorious 1966 World Cup squad, this will hopefully lead to collecting autographed footballs, football autographs and other forms of soccer memorabilia. Many other famous sporting legends shall be attending, enabling me to collect an extensive range of sports autographs and signed sports memorabilia.
I am also intending to collect many actor autographs and actresses autographs. Attending this show are celebrities including David Warner, the actor known for his performance in Dr Who autographs, Titanic and Planet of the Apes, and also the actress Martha Cope who hopefully I can persuade to sign some Dr Who memorabilia as well as other movie memorabilia. Also attending is the actor David Bradley, who is best known as Argus Filch in all Harry Potter movies. The addition of this actors autograph to my collection of Harry Potter memorabilia would be readily welcomed, and hopefully will come in many forms, such as autographed posters, signed DVD cases and autographed photographs. Richard Herd is also set to attend the show. I am intending to add to my collection of Star Trek autographs, so this will be a good opportunity to collect Star Trek memorabilia, such as signed Star Trek posters, autographed Star Trek merchandise and signed Star Trek collectables. Furthermore, the actors Kiran Shah and Warwick Davis, both known for their roles in Star Wars will be signing memorabilia. I am keen to collect Star Wars memorabilia, signed Star Wars merchandise and Star Wars collectables as it is particularly popular form of movie memorabilia, attracting a wide range of attention from all parts of the world.
So if you are looking for something interesting to do that weekend you could do a lot worse than visiting the show, you never know you might even and up speaking to me !!

Autographed Sports Memorabilia - Collect Favourite Sports Star’s Autographs

After the Ryder Cup I set off for a week collecting down at St Andrews at the Dunhill links championship with the intention of collecting the odd celebrity autograph and one or two pieces of golf memorabilia. After meeting up with a few fellow collectors we headed out on to the golf course to try and obtain some signed photos and collectible memorabilia. After a couple of hours in the wind and cold it was decided to call it a day and with a few golf autographs in my autograph book and a signed poster (which unfortunately got damaged in the wind). Tuesday morning was no better weather wise however there were several opportunities to collect Ryder Cup memorabilia and the occasional golf autograph.

This proved to be difficult as the team was not due to arrive until the Wednesday, so we had to concentrate on cricket memorabilia and rugby autographs with the odd piece of movie memorabilia. Up to 5pm on Tuesday I had collected two signed movie posters, an autographed photo, and several pieces of sports memorabilia. Wednesday would hopefully bring a few Ryder Cup autographs and a team signed photograph. It is really strange how sometimes you can go out collecting and end up with something completely different, on Wednesday I tried to get a Johan Cruyff autograph and football memorabilia but ended up with several items of autographed memorabilia(a signed golf flag, signed golf balls, autographed photos and a large collection of celebrity autographs in my autograph album). But still not any Ryder Cup autographs.

Rory McIlroy

Thursday was the start of the tournament and everybody who was due to play had arrived, I succeeded in getting a Rory McIlroy autograph and a Samuel Jackson autograph to add to my autograph collection also managed to get a couple of photographs with celebrities as well as a couple of signed autographs from the Ryder Cup team. I decided to go and watch some golf as it was such a nice day and afterwards waited at the clubhouse to try and get some film memorabilia I had with me signed by Andy Garcia, but unfortunately I had missed him and would have to try again tomorrow. It was quite amazing how quick the week had passed and I had only 2 days left in which to collect my missing pieces of collectable memorabilia.

golf autographs

Friday was the worst day for weather at St Andrews so I decided to get closer to home and went down to Kingsbarns to collect sport memorabilia and some football autographs, it was to wet to use photographs so I got a couple of signed football shirts and an autographed football jersey by Ruud Gullit. It was the first time I had ever had a Ruud Gullit autograph and it is going straight to the framer on Monday.

During the week I managed to collect quite a few new famous autographs, a selection of sport autographs including an Ian Botham autograph and a Bobby Charlton autograph which I would have to say is a beautiful signature and all in all it was a good week despite the weather not being too kind to the golfers nor the autograph collectors.

Memorabilia Shows and Conventions

Over the years I have found it very useful in my hunt for celebrity autographs to visit memorabilia shows and conventions. There are many shows across the UK and it’s well worth a visit if you are selling autographs or buying autographs to take a weekend out and visit a show or autograph convention.

In November I will be going to the Memorabilia show at the N.E.C. in Birmingham. The main reason for my visit is to collect sporting memorabilia, namely golf memorabilia, tennis memorabilia and to increase my collection of historical autographs. If I have any money left over after my search for the above I will more than likely spend it on vintage autographs as there are several renowned dealers of very high standing at this show.

The November show also has several boxing world champions who will be there to autograph sports memorabilia and I will be paying them a visit to increase my stock of boxing memorabilia and boxing autographs. I will definitely be increasing my collection of signed boxing gloves and signed boxing photos, as Thomas Hearns and Iran Barkley are attending. 

At the show it is not all sports memorabilia, there are lots of stands that sell collectible memorabilia, autographed posters, movie autographs and even authentic autographed beatles autographs! I would exercise caution when buying a beatles autograph and suggest that you only buy beatles memorabilia from a reputable dealer, namely a UACC registered dealer or an AFTAL approved dealer as AFTAL and the UACC are always checking the dealers stock to make sure that there items are genuine. 

For those of you who like to get an autographed photo,celebrity memorabilia or sports autograph in person the show gives you many opportunities to do this as there is a vast choice of sports memorabilia stores, f1 memorabilia stalls, stalls dedicated to Star Wars memorabilia not to mention Star Trek memorabilia and of course Hollywood memorabilia. So it’s advisable to bring lots of money with you.

   

I am not only going to the show to get celebrity memorabilia or rare autographs, I will be calling in past my friends at the show to see how they have been keeping and to catch up on all the celebrity gossip. Many of them sell sports autographed memorabilia such as autographed footballs, signed shirts, but my favourite stall of my friends is Gary 

Harvey’s who sells autographed music memorabilia, I have bought several items of Queen memorabilia and have even purchased a Bob Marley autograph to add to my personal collection of black music stars.

The dates for the show are November 20th and 21st. If you are a collector of movie memorabilia, whether it be signed movie posters the occasional actor autograph or Frank Sinatra memorabilia, this is the place to be on this weekend as there will be loads of celebrities and a great chance for you to get them to autograph photos or even signed jerseys as I forgot to mention there will be stars of the football world attending and you can even collect autographed football memorabilia!

So be there or be square!!!!!!