NFL Nostalgia Lucrative Business

Any collector of sports memorabilia knows that anything that has to do with old-time baseball wins hands down to any other sport. Of course, it's been around the longest with the bubble gum cards, the bats, the balls and anything and everything that can be autographed. Let's face it, I haven't seen any pricey tennis, golf or horse racing trading cards anywhere. Have you?

Now, as far as NFL merchandise that's vintage and carries a steep price tag? I would have to say the autographed and authentically worn football jersey from any Hall of Fame player or superstar would be top of the list. The current card that holds the ranks is a mint or near mint condition of a 1948 Sammy Baugh card, racking in about $500,000 if you happen to own one that is of pristine condition. A 1935 National Chicle #34 Bronko Nagurski card was sold at an auction in 2008 in almost mint condition for $66,354.

When you get into the jerseys department, most of the items range from $300 up to $2,000 depending on the player of course, how long he played, if he's in the Hall of Fame and if it's just a signed jersey instead of one that was actually worn during games, which usually ends up being the case. Helmets are pretty much in the same price category and again, rarely do you find one that's all scuffed and worn from banging heads in the trenches, so the item itself is just something someone autographed and not actually used at any time. Super Bowl coins and photomints can be expensive as well since the coins are usually gold or silver and actually are worth something the longer you hang onto them and are somewhat rare and only so many were made just like trading cards. Footballs work just like jerseys and helmets. Most are just never used game balls and signed but every now and then you can find an actual game ball that was used in college or a pro game garnering a superstar's name. The price shifts a few hundred to a few thousand easily when it's an actual ball used in the game itself rather than a ball that was just pulled out of a bag sitting over on the sideline.

There's a lot to look for when buying NFL memorabilia, or any memorabilia. The rarer it is, the older it is, the less quantity of the item there is makes a huge difference when buying or selling. Being in the computer age, one has to be very careful of "fakes" and replicas as well since the technology is advanced enough to pull off counterfeits. Don't be fooled.