How to Locate Specific Sports Memorabilia

The growth of the sports memorabilia market reflects an increased interest in professional sports throughout the United States. Athletes, coaches and sports luminaries are marketed to American consumers to harness this popularity for commercial benefits. You need to know where to locate specific and unusual sports memorabilia to keep up with fellow collectors.

Difficulty: Moderate

Instructions

1. Network with local collectors and shop owners as you start your search. Your friendships with prominent collectors in your area can produce leads on jerseys, programs and other memorabilia missing from your collection.

2. Attend signing events for your favorite athletes to locate specific memorabilia. You can get a rare signature from an older athlete, as well as meet other collectors with unique sporting goods that they may part with for the right price.

3. Expand your search for specific sports memorabilia when you locate upcoming card shows. SCDshows.com and other websites highlight events where collectors sell, buy and trade memorabilia to bypass the questionable nature of online sales (see Resources below).

4. Focus your online search for specific sports collectibles with the help of auction websites. There are dozens of legitimate sports auctioneers like Lelands that run online sessions to move high-priced memorabilia (see Resources below).

5. Read articles and classified ads in sports memorabilia publications to locate the missing piece of your collection. Long-running magazines like "Tuff Stuff Magazine" provide a clear view of the market for your favorite memorabilia (see Resources below).

6. Pick up game programs, pennants and other memorabilia from personal collections available at estate sales. You can keep track of estate sales in your area with EstateSales.net and newspaper listings (see Resources below).

7. Invest some time and money when traveling to championship reunions from teams within your collection. Most universities and professional sports franchises host anniversary events for successful teams, which are a boon for autograph seekers.

Tips & Warnings

• Research the total availability of specific sports memorabilia as you try to locate sellers. You need to contact producers of sports cards, jerseys and authentic products to find out general run totals for memorabilia you want to purchase. These totals can help you eliminate fake collectibles and cross off collectors as you make offers.

Resources

• SCDshows.com listing of card shows by state
• Sports memorabilia auctions at Lelands
• Tuff Stuff
• EstateSales.net for state-by-state listing of sales

[sadie8686]

on 4/28/2008 You can find so much memorabilia at www.number1sports.com. The amount of stuff is insane.