MUSIC FESTIVALS

It is at this time of year that the line – ups for the music festivals that occur during the summer are announced. This introduces the prospect of being able to attend the festivals, not just for the enjoyment of the vast amount of musical talents but also for the ability to meet and collect autographs from the various musicians that attend.

 

The first event to kick off the summer festival spirit is Rockness. Situated in Inverness, not far from where Memorabilia 4 U is based, the event attracts music lovers from all over Scotland, and not forgetting some of the greatest names in music. So far the artists who have confirmed their appearance over the weekend include the likes of Kasabian, Paolo Nutini andThe Chemical Brothers as well as some fresh up and coming talents such as Two Door Cinema Club and Katy B. With my autograph collectors on guard I am hoping to catch the vast majority of celebrities who shall be attending the event and I shall hopefully be able to add to my collection of music autographs.

 

Next on my list of potential collecting grounds is the well-known Scottish festival T in the Park. The line – up for the festival this year is phenomenal. Announced to perform so far this year are; The Arctic Monkeys, Coldplay, Foo Fighters and Blink 182. This creates a fantastic opportunity for me to expand on my collection of rock autographs. Also set to perform are some of the biggest names in the chart at the moment such as TinieTempah, Jessie J and Ke$ha. To have the opportunity to have an item hand signed from artists as well-known as these would be readily welcomed.

Last, but definitely not least is Glastonbury. The biggest most highly anticipated festival of the year and this year it looks like it will be unforgettable. Currently, the only acts that have been announced are the headline acts. However, with U2, Coldplay and Beyonce as headliners who can complain? As always Glastonbury will be sure to deliver an incredible line up, as well as delivering the chance to collect as many famous autographs as possible!

I look forward to being able to offer these incredible artists autographs for sale.

BIFFY CLYRO COMES TO ABERDEEN

I was devastated to hear that the opportunity to purchase tickets to go to the Biffy Clyro concert, a Scottish rock band, had been and gone. So you can understand my excitement when a friend phoned me up saying that he had two spare tickets. Of course I jumped at the chance and no more than two hours later I was queuing to get into the venue to watch what promised to be an epic performance.

I was inevitably blown away by the act and throughout could not help thinking to myself that meeting the band would be an unforgettable experience. To my luck, my friends were having the same train of thought and were just as willing as I was to tolerate the harsh weather of Aberdeen in November and therefore decided to stand outside the stage door in anticipation of the band leaving the venue.

After approximately two hours we were preparing to give up on all hope, when finally Biffy Clyro emerged, quite obviously still exhilarated by the support they had received from the Aberdeen crowd. The band was willing to sign autographs for us and between us we came away with a large amount of autographed albums, as well as autographed photos.

As well as witnessing an exceptional performance by one of Scotland’s best rock bands I had also been able to collect memorabilia to add to my collection of rock autographs. As well as this, I managed to persuade Biffy Clyro’s front man, Simon Neil, to sign the Biffy Clyro shirt that I had bought at the concert. This will be a prized possession to add to my collection of signed shirts that I have collected at various concerts I have attended over the past few years.

Concerts are a great way to collect autographs, as I can enjoy the music that I am enthusiastic about and also meet the artists, providing myself with more autographs for sale.
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 and star wars memorabilia, 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. 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.

A TRIP TO IBROX

Over the weekend I took the train down to Glasgow to stay with my Aunt, who stays not far from Rangers Football Club’s stadium. Keen not to miss an opportunity to collect we took a trip to the grounds in the hope of meeting a few of the players to collect some football memorabilia.

On arrival to Ibrox I was overwhelmed by the atmosphere. This spurred on my desire for collecting. I was given a tour around the grounds and admired the trophy case. As I was doing this a couple of the players walked past me. Keen not to miss this opportunity I approached the players and respectfully asked for them to sign a few items for me. After coming away with a few signed football shirts I thought that my luck would be cut short for the day. However, I was not willing to give up on hope.

After the tour was over I decided to go for a bite to eat in the café. As I was enjoying a coffee I could see a small gathering forming out the window which turned out to be the team manager, Walter Smith, and the assistant manager Ally McCoist. Being a loyal fan of the team I promptly left my coffee and headed out to greet the men. It seemed that I was getting lucky in the way of football signed memorabilia as the two men seemed happy to autograph footballs and sign photographs for me. Satisfied with the amount of memorabilia I was now able to add to my collection of sports autographs I decided to head back to my Aunts house for some home-made delights. However, one more encounter was imminent.

Maurice Edu, who is undoubtedly my favourite football player, was entering the premises as I was leaving. Star struck at the encounter I managed to persuade Edu to autograph footballs. He also signed shirts, as well as photographs.

I was very pleased with my success in collecting and I was excited about arriving back at the Memorabilia4U headquarters to show off all the football memorabilia I was able to obtain.

A DINNER WITH ABERDEEN FOOTBALL CLUB

I recently attended a dinner with Aberdeen Football Club as part of a charity event. Aberdeen being my home team I was extremely excited to get up close and personal with the squad and also hoped to be given the chance to get my hands on signed football memorabilia.

The dinner went smoothly and the players seemed to be enjoying themselves as much as the guests, probably partly to do with the amount of champagne that was flowing! After the dinner the guests were given the opportunity to meet the players. Of course, I jumped on the prospect of being able to broaden my collection of football signed memorabilia.

I got talking to two players in particular, Fraser Fyvie; who is set to be Aberdeen’s next big player, and Jamie Langfield; Aberdeen’s goalkeeper. The guys seemed very genuine and were extremely helpful in terms of getting the other players to autograph footballs. They also introduced me to their manager Craig Brown, who was kind enough to sign photographs. This was set to be an interesting piece of football memorabilia to add to my collection.

It was obvious that the team was very appreciative of the support that they received from the guests and this was shown by the amount of signed football shirts and autographed photos that we were able to come away with.

Not only are dinners with footballers and other famous names a good way of raising funds for charities, they also make a useful contribution to the amount of autographs for sale within Memorabilia4U’s sports autographs’ collection. It was a very enjoyable evening and I will definitely be looking forward to more of these events in the near future.

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