One of the keys to sports autographed memorabilia is to know whether or not your sports memorabilia is actually authentic. A lot of people find themselves wondering how they can be able to tell whether or not their sports autographed memorabilia is authentic. The bad news is that it is hard to simply know. Unless you managed to see the actual athlete autograph the item with your very own eyes, then you really cannot ever be 100% certain. However, it is important to know with sports autographed memorabilia that there are certain steps that can be taken to try and make sure that you are purchasing only authentic pieces of sports autographed memorabilia.

First and foremost, determine who actually authenticated the piece in question. Who was the original authenticator? If there is no type of written guarantee associated with the authenticity of the piece of sports autographed memorabilia, then do not buy it under any circumstances.

First and foremost, you are going to want to find sports autographed memorabilia that has been authenticated by a company that is reputable. If the certificate of authenticity comes from a reputable firm such as Tri Star, Upper Deck, Steiner Sports or even Mounted Memories, then you are almost certainly dealing with an autographed piece of memorabilia that is actually authentic. These are companies that have contracts with athletes, and they bring the athletes in to have the items autographed personally.

There is another company to look out for, which is Online COA. This is a third party company handling authentications. They personally witness every single autograph that they give an authentication to. They are there for authenticating more than for buying and selling pieces of sports autographed memorabilia, so you can rely on their authentications since they are not in it for the money but simply want to make sure that your sports autographed memorabilia is legitimate.

Something else to look out for is whether or not there is a money back guarantee for the sports autographed memorabilia that you buy. The company or the dealer that is selling the piece of sports autographed memorabilia to you should be willing to provide you with a money back guarantee should you find that the piece is not actually real.

Next, you should be willing to pay a little more for an authentic autograph when it comes to sports autographed memorabilia. If you find something for really cheap on eBay, then the autograph is probably fraudulent. You are going to find cheap sports autographed memorabilia out there, but there’s no telling if its real or not. Real, authentic autographs are actually worth something and the dealers selling them know it. You need to be aware of this too in order to make sure that you only buy authentic, legitimate sports autographed memorabilia.

Photo credits: The U.S. Army

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Perhaps you have found the perfect piece of sports memorabilia, signed by your favorite sports star, and you are just about to make the purchase. Perhaps the price is perfect, and you are ready to make the exchange. Hold on! Any collectible sports memorabilia needs to be coming equipped with a certificate of authenticity from an appraiser that is reputable. When you buy and sell memorabilia, you will quickly come to realize just how vitally important that memorabilia appraisal can be.

Having an appraiser check the item out in person before you make the purchase is a good option, especially if there is a high price tag associated with the item. You should generally be purchasing the item from a reputable antique dealer or sports dealer rather than some random person at a garage sale if you cannot get your hands on a solid, trustworthy and reputable sports memorabilia appraisal in time for the sale.

How are items appraised?

There are basically five different categories that can be used in order to determine what value to place on an item when you have a professional appraise it. Here are the five categories:

1 – Artistry is the first category. There is not always going to be artistry when it comes to sports memorabilia appraisal, but the item should still hold value in terms of how it was made. The stitching on a baseball should be completely uniform, the wooden golf clubs should all be straight and should not have large gouges in them, items that are autographed should be clean and neat with clear and concise writing, and so on and so forth.

2 – The workmanship of the item is the second category. Is the item a good representation in comparison to items that have similar values? The workmanship in items that are hand carved, hand tooled or otherwise hand made should be completely well made as well as created in order to last through numerous generations. Sometimes the artisan that is responsible for hand making the item will add additional value to that specific item just based on who they are.

3 – The age of an item also matters. The item’s age can definitely play a role in determining its value as well as whether or not it is real or fake. Make sure that an item shows the proper age based on what it is if you want your memorabilia appraisal to be accurate.

4 – Fourth is the condition of an item, another thing that plays a large role in your memorabilia appraisal since used items will determine their value in comparison to new ones. Banged up pieces are not going to be worth as much as newer pieces unless they were banged up by a sports great.

5 – The subject matter is the fifth and final category of criteria for your memorabilia appraisal.

Photo Credits: OPEN Sports

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