Autographs as an Investment?

In today’s world of maximizing dollars via side hustle opportunities and never-ending investment options, there is still a small, often neglected area where you can have some dramatic returns on your dollars. 

I’m not talking about Bitcoin.  I’m talking about investing in autographs. 

Sounds a bit sketchy right?  Hear me out.  I’m going to show you a way that you can have a nice little side asset pool with minimal effort on your part.

The Backstory

I’ve collected sports, celebrity, and political autographs ever since I was a kid.  Back in the 90’s, I used to send hand-written letters with cards or items to these notable figures and became excited whenever the mail returned an autograph to me. 

I was probably the only kid in US history that looked forward to the daily mail truck.  I’m sure our neighbors thought I was just a fantastically trained and obedient child.

Believe it or not, I have been able to collect thousands of autographs by mail over the years.  This may not seem possible but keep in mind, as an older millennial, I’ve had this hobby for over 10,000 days in my life.  That consistent effort of a few letters every now and again has resulted in a rather large personal collection.

The real upside to a hobby like autograph collecting is the excitement that came every time I opened the mailbox and saw that a new autograph had arrived.  Beyond the pure fun aspect of autograph collecting, it’s also a relatively cheap hobby (you are only out the cost of stamps and your time).  The downside  is that sometimes you don’t know 100% with certainty if the signature is authentic. 

While collecting autographs by mail is a fun and interesting hobby, it’s likely not going to produce significant returns as an investment. It fits more of the hobby side of the life ledger vs. the financial investment side.  It can certainly live in both worlds but this isn’t the type of autograph investment I’m talking about. Instead, if you want to make money over time collecting autographs, it will require a more strategic and targeted approach.

The Illusion of Authenticity

I want to advocate for you to have a targeted autograph collection specifically for investment purposes.  When we mention autograph collecting, most people these days are all about the most popular basketball, baseball, football, hockey players, or that chart topping musician , or the politician du jour. 

They breathlessly buy their autographs off of eBay or an online autograph dealer for ridiculous and staggering prices. 

Don’t believe me?  Go to eBay right now and type the name of anyone who is currently a big deal in pop culture and add the word autograph after it. 

Half of the time you have no idea if the autograph shown is real and in many cases it is actually fake, probably signed by some kid using the money to stockpile Air Jordan’s. 

Fake autographs, obviously, are a poor investment unless you can find a sucker to swindle and sell it to them.  Keep in mind that karma always finds a way to come full circle though. 

Maybe you don’t care if it is authentic and the autograph makes you or your kids happy. 

If so, I say roll with it, however, if you are looking at that autograph from a long-term investment angle, odds are it is a money loser or worthless piece. 

So what is Real?

So what exactly is real? Now when I talk about “real” autographs, I’m talking about autographs verified by a reputable company with a certificate of authenticity (COA).  That certainly means different things to different people as some of these are literally handwritten or even printed out on sheets of paper officially signed by whoever wants to sell the item (or someone who has no autograph expertise whatsoever). 

Visualize an achievement award you received in elementary school signed by a teacher.  That is actually how some of this paperwork accompanying “real” autographs appears when it arrives on your doorstep.  Not the most reassuring of documents, especially when we are considering autographs as investments.

Alternatively, there are real professional organizations that do verify autographs for a fee and they provide much more official looking, industry-recognizable paperwork that will be included with the sale.    And yes, it is true that you are in better shape long term with an authentication from them (JSA, PSA/DNA) than you are from someone who gave you a 3rd grade looking computer certificate.

But… even these reputable companies can get it wrong.  So how can an investor get an autograph that he/she knows is real?

Trading Card Company Autographs

Years ago, popular trading card companies started offering autographed cards with  a built in authenticity, usually located on the back of the card.  To collectors or autograph skeptics, these became a bit like the Holy Grail.  With a card like this, you don’t need any additional documentation and you know your autograph is real because the company handled the whole operation.  Here is an example:.

You can see that the company itself has the individual sign the card in the presence of their team and that guarantee is mounted onto the back of your card.  That is about as simple as it gets.  You can get these cards from most major card manufacturers, Donruss, Leaf, Topps, Bowman, Panini, etc. 

Full disclaimer:  While authenticity with anything can never really be 100% (even card companies mess up too), this is about as close as you can get to securing valuable, re-saleable documentation for when you decide to unload it in the future for lots of cash.

So when I collect autographs for investing purposes, I stick to searching for these types of cards where you can find all kinds of famous peoples’ autographs to purchase or look at.  I happen to love sports, so I chose to focus on Hall of Fame players or high achievers in a few of the different professional leagues.  Here are just a few areas I’ve attacked:

·      500 homerun club members MLB (currently 27 members)

·      300 win club members MLB (currently 24 members)

·      NBA top 50 players (1997 list)

As an example all six cards (shown below) I purchased for under $70 total and all were members of the NBA Top 50 players.

When collecting autographs, it’s amazing to me that everyone always forgets about the old dudes and dudettes.  I’m talking about people who are already proven champions, accomplished individuals, or successful artists.  You can really make some phenomenal financial waves by investing in these types of stars. 

The biggest mistake autograph collectors make is going after the most popular artist/player/individual in today’s pop culture.  You will literally lose money 90% of the time if this is the approach you use. 

It is true that occasionally you may hit the jackpot but this approach is no different than playing penny stocks or gambling at a casino. Occasionally you might win but the house is going to clean you out most of the time.  It is likely that that individual who is currently a big deal in pop culture will not stay that big of a deal for long.  In which case your money may be out the window. 

Retired artists and players’ accomplishments are already known and you just need to evaluate how you think history will treat them.  If you think history will be kind to their achievements, then they may be a great person to collect an autograph of.

Knowing their achievement history can also help you predict whether their autograph might appreciate or depreciate.  Here’s a modern example:  Would you rather have retired major leaguer Ken Griffey Jr’s autographed card or one of Nolan Arenado, a 27 yr old emerging star with the Colorado Rockies?

Ken Griffey Jr.’s statistics are formidable and rare in the sport and they are also not going to change since he is retired.  Yet most people today might pick Nolan Arenado because he is still a current player with high potential and he is also very popular. 

Griffey Jr.’s autograph will most certainly appreciate in value.  Arenado?  Who knows, you may be right in the long term with investing in Nolan but right now it is impossible to know how his career will ultimately end up.  I wish him the best but we both know that professional sports are notorious for promising careers that don’t often end up that way. 

These two are a good comparison because you can get a company-verified autographed card for both for around the same price right now ($100 or under range).

Go Bargain Shopping

My history with autographs has given me a good baseline of what things are worth but I still needed to do research each time when collecting these verified company cards if i wanted to have a successful long-term investment. I needed a good strategy.

In my hunt for the 500-homerun club for Major League Baseball, I began by checking eBay for one player at a time.  I would type in “John Doe autographed cards” and then sort the results by “ending soonest” and watch for a few days/weeks to see what most of those verified company cards were selling for.  That gave me a good idea of what the item would go for price range wise.  Then I simply waited until I saw a good deal, meaning a price at the lower end of the range I had established, and then I bid on last minute ending items. 

I would lose frequently, and I was ok with that, but I simply kept trying.  Keep the emotion out of it, there is always another similar item being sold.  If you focus on not really caring about the item itself (outside of it being a company verified one of who you are interested in) and more on the actual price you pay, you can land some amazing buys. 

With patience and consistent effort, I started winning some of these emotionless auctions, even getting some incredible deals along the way.  I’m talking deals where I could re-sell the exact item the minute I bought it and make more money. 

Now why is that you ask?  Who would sell an item below what it should sell for? 

Well many times on eBay, sellers may not have great photos or descriptions of the item being sold.  That scares buyers away or causes items to sell for less than they are worth.  They may also be an inexperienced seller, which  also intimidates buyers. 

You can potentially spot an inexperienced seller by looking at how many total transactions they have made on eBay.  All of these equal buying opportunities for you.    

I know that if I’ve got a good deal on an autograph today, there’s an excellent chance that I’m well positioned for a solid return, maybe 5-10 years later, which is really my investment horizon.   

Your Future Jackpot

If you are still skeptical of the viability of autographs as an investment over time I invite you to Google search the Babe Ruth, Lou Gehrig, Joe DiMaggio, or John F. Kennedy autograph value. If your grandparents or great-grandparents met Babe Ruth and got his signature back in the day, you’d be sitting on a $5,000-$10,000 asset that is still appreciating daily.  There is major money in autographs! 

Autographs are finite, not to get morbid, but we all pass away in this life and we all stop signing our names.  There is only a limited supply of every person’s autograph available.  Your job is to seek out individuals who you think their autographs will appreciate over time and invest in authenticated items. 

If you can do that well (which I assure you that you can), you will have a nice little nest egg for a rainy day or a cool and valuable collection to pass on to your kid(s). 

Am I telling you to throw everything you have into this type of investment?  Certainly not! I’m only recommending you dip your foot in and add a bit of unique diversity to your investments.  Like anything else, don’t commit money to this that you actually need for life (the most common investing mistake for all types of investments FYI).

For many people, autographs are just interesting items to have if you meet someone notable in person and to them, these signatures have less monetary value than they do sentimental value.  I’m personally a fan of both. 

If you only like the sentimental aspect or even if you don’t like autographs at all, we can still be friends, I promise.  All I’m saying is that autograph collecting is one of the few hobbies you’ll find that enables you to add to your financial portfolio in a unique way.

Is investing in autographs foolproof?  Nothing is my friend.  Similar to buying stocks, houses, cars, lottery tickets, or cryptocurrency…..some of these are always going to end up duds and money losers.    However, with just a bit of research and patience, you too can make smart bargain buys on autographs that can financially set you up later in life.