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Planning to Sell Your Sports Memorabilia?


It was a painful and yet happy football weekend in Louisiana! Our purple and gold lost to number one ranked Alabama-again, but our black and gold made our hearts happy beating number one ranked Los Angeles. Louisiana loves our LSU Tigers and New Orleans Saints!

Since I’m a collector of all things football, and the happy owner of both a team signed 2003 LSU football and a team signed 2010 Saints football I was wondering what I could sell them for…not! What I really thought about was what kinds of memorabilia are for sale and at what price?

Interesting to find that baseball memorabilia is the most sought after and highly paid category. Not a single football related item in the top five. I sure wish I’d kept that autographed 1991 LSU College World Series baseball from my son. I was shocked at the prices paid for baseball cards. Even some current ones like the 1968 Nolan Ryan card sold in 2016 for over $600,000!

The Five Top Selling Sports Memorabilia:

Item: Handwritten Soccer Rule Book 1.4 million

The Soccer Rule Book is the first known set of soccer rules and was written in 1858. It is believed to be the only surviving print copy of the Rules, Regulation, & Laws of the Sheffield Football Club.

Item: Honus Wagner baseball card 2.8 million

Honus Wagner was nicknamed The Flying Dutchman. He played with the Louisville Colonels and the Pittsburg Pirates for 21 years (from 1897 -1917). Honus Wagner was inducted into the Baseball Hall of Fame in 1939. Most believe him to be one of the best all-time players of the game. This 1909 baseball card was produced to be included in a pack of cigarettes by the American Tobacco Company and Wagner refused to allow this to be done so there was only 60-200 ever released. Honus did not want children to buy the cigarettes in order to get his card.

Item: Mark McGwire's 70th-home-run baseball 3 million

Comic-book creator and music producer Todd McFarlane bought the record-breaking 70th-home-run baseball for $3 million and added it to his collection of nine other Sosa and McGwire baseballs from the 1998 season. In 2003, McFarlane also purchased Barry Bonds' 73rd-home-run baseball, for which he paid $450,000. Apparently steroid scandals decrease the value of sports memorabilia.

Item: Handwritten rules of basketball 4.4 million

James Naismith is given credit for creating the game of basketball. He was the Athletic Director at Kansas University for 40 years. In 1891, he wrote the Rules of Basketball. When it went on the auction block it sold for $4,338,500. It is called the birth certificate of basketball. James Naismith is also credited with the first football helmet to protect his players.

Item: Babe Ruth Jersey (circa 1920) 4.4 million

Babe Ruth retired in 1925 and had a total of 713 home runs. No one can refute that he was one of the greatest baseball players of all-time. A jersey worn by Babe sold for $4,415,658 making it the highest selling sports memorabilia of all-time. The jersey was worn in 1920 and the earliest known jersey worn by Babe with the Yankees. The jersey had been on display at The Babe Ruth Birthplace Museum in Baltimore. No one is sure why it came up for auction.

I can’t help you buy sports memorabilia, but I can help you manage your documents. Please reach out if you would be interested in meeting with me.

Kathryn Smith, Certified Document Image Architect

Email: kathrynsmith@advancedimagingsolutions.com

225-216-1999 504-888-7415

www.advancedimagingsolutions.com


Ask me about:
Kofax Forms Processing
PADtrax RFID technology
Document scanning services
Microfilm scanning services
Canon scanners or printers

225-216-1999  |  504-888-7415
Email: kathrynsmith@advancedimagingsolutions.com

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