1966 and all that
Collecting autographs and football-related memorabilia has been a pastime of mine for a number of years. It started innocently enough in 1996 with a Stanley Matthews-signed first day cover (FDC) 5000 limited edition issue but has since escalated in more recent years with attendance at various conventions, where the famous and not-so-famous sign items for a fee.
By chance this has evolved into an attractive investment proposition, with many items registering significant price increases over short periods of time. For example, an Alf Ramsey-signed Euro ’96 coin FDC from 1997 costing £14.95 now trades at around £175 to £250. Actuarial mortality plays a big part in pricing as values for famous people often rocket when they are sadly no longer around, even if they have signed many items in the past.
About 90% of my collection are signed FDCs, with the rest being an assortment of signed football programmes, pictures and other items. Whereas football is the dominant theme, there are many signatures from WWII personnel, Apollo astronauts, politicians, world leaders, film, television, and many other sports. Pride of place would have to go to my England 1966 World Cup-winning team collection, where I have amassed a total of about 230 separate items signed by at least nine of the team that played in the final against West Germany.
A close second would have to be the large collection of signatures from the men who flew the Apollo space missions, such as Buzz Aldrin and the Russian Alexei Leonov, who was the first man to walk in space. So, if you are ever on eBay bidding against ‘rickhorgen’, then you know who the competition is. Richard Shaw
