What's It Worth?

The types of items that people collect are as varied as the collectors. As a sports fan, I collect signed memorabilia and am partial to the teams and players which are my favorites--I even built a business around this hobby, Celebrity Outreach (http://www.celebrityoutreach.com/). My company provides signed memroabilia to schools ard charitable groups across the country for their silent and live auctions.

As a personal collector, the Yankees are at the top of my list. A few years back, I had the opportunity to purchase a baseball signed by members of the 1927 Yankees, which many experts have labeled the greatest team of all time. The ball shows signs of age, but the signatures are still in good shape, including Babe Ruth and Lou Gehrig. Among my other signed Yankee pieces are Mickey Mantle and Joe DiMaggio baseballs and even a ball signed by George

Steinbrenner, Billy Martin and Reggie Jackson. While I buy and sell many signed items, most of the pieces in my personal collection are things that I would never consider selling.

A question that many have is what's a signed item worth? There are many determining factors, including the condition of the piece and the signatures, type of authenticity and the stature of the person who signed it. For example, a few years back, a collector paid a huge amount of money for a Barry Bonds home run ball. A couple of years later, after Bonds was indicted for perjury and widely suspected of using performance enhancing drugs, the value of the ball had dropped

precipitously. After the Beijing Summer Olympics, Michael Phelps' autograph was perhaps the most widely-sought in the world. Now that a few months have passed, his popularity has diminished slightly.

If you are collecting memorabilia for personal interests and do not plan to try to resell pieces, a signed item has a subjective value specific to you. For those who invest in memorabilia with an eye to resale value or appreciation potential, my advice is to target the legends of sports--Wayne Gretzky, Michael Jordan, Joe Montana, Tiger Woods, etc. These icons have--and will continue to--withstand the tests of time, just like the 1927 Yankees.