Replica shirts.
Believe it or not there was a time when you would not see a replica shirt at a football match, this craze only seemed to take off in the early 80’s and has of course now grown into another massive market.
So football shirts are now yet another collectable that you could specialise in, the majority of people will probably already have at least a couple of replica shirts and this is an avenue that could prove a really enjoyable hobby as you try and track down previous years kits.
Again, your first port of call should be Ebay, be warned though original shirts can go for silly prices as they were not as common years ago as they are nowadays so if an original football shirt comes up for your team be prepared to fight for it.
There is another option though and that is visiting Toffs Ltd who have cleverly capitalised on this colourful area of football memorabilia and have built a reputation as being an excellent supplier of your teams kits.
Of course they are not originals but then again who cares if your getting them a bit cheaper than bidding against other collectors.
Some official club shops have also recognised this demand and have produced a range of reproduced kits from their teams history so make sure you check out that option as well.
Match worn shirts
This is definitely a more specialised and decidedly more expensive area of memorabilia, after all there is only a certain amount of shirts that can be worn in one game so this isn’t something that can be mass produced so don’t be surprised to pay heavily for this type of memorabilia.
There are several companies that specialise in this area and I really would recommend using a respectable and reputable dealer if your wanting to spend your hard earned.
These companies will in most cases be able to provide you with proof that the shirt is original and if they cant Id be tempted to give it a miss. Usually this proof is by way of photos of the actual signing session backed up by a certificate of authenticity.
Again, you can always use Ebay for these items but given the sort of prices these can go for you really need to exercise extreme caution if buying off there unless of course you fully check out the purchaser.
Autographed shirts
Any of the above items can of course be autographed, this though will increase the value and as such leaves you open to be being ripped off if you don’t take care and fully research your purchase … and more importantly, the seller !!