Sporting memorabilia has never been more popular and the interest in football souvenirs is still growing very quickly and supporters who started collecting as a hobby soon realise it becomes rather an obsession! Sheffield is definitely a city of two football clubs and during the last season ardent fans will have collected everything from match programmes and tickets to shirts and photographs of their teams. These items over the years have become more and more valuable with pre-war ephemera now reaching thousands of pounds on the collector’s market. Here are a few tips of what to collect and look out for. The earlier the programme the better preferably pre-war, the big name clubs playing at smaller clubs is a good example of what to look out for as if the capacity of the ground was small a limited number of programmes would have been sold so hence they are rarer today. Single sheet or four-page issues are usually more collectable as they were often discarded or lost. Another example is if it was a rainy day, programmes were often damaged or folded up into a fans pocket with the staples becoming rusty so to find those programmes in good condition is rare and of course are then more valuable. 

A lot of collectors tend to have most issues of their clubs’ programmes so they then turn to collecting reserves or youths programmes. English clubs playing aboard in European competitions are another area of collecting and can be very sought after at auction especially games played behind the iron curtain where not many programmes were produced. 

Previously we had the pleasure of selling a rare early bound volume of Sheffield United football programmes dating from 1897-98 which sold for over an amazing £5,000. 

Match tickets are always sought after especially unused issues, enamelled football badges and photos of teams again the earlier the better are always keenly sought after. Another area of collecting is shirts and caps. Always try and buy match examples as these are the most desirable. We recently sold a home shirt signed by Len Badger the 1960’s Sheffield United player which sold for £850.

Medals and trophies are also keenly sought after. Our specialist Valuer Robert Lea is an ardent Terrier (Huddersfield Town supporter!) and he was delighted when we were asked to sell three Huddersfield Town gold medals from three consecutive years 1923-4, 1924-5 and 1925-6 which were awarded to George Brown and sold for a fantastic price of £18,330.

Of course football is not the only sport whose memorabilia is collected. Many of you will remember the excitement of the London Olympics in 2012 and might have been lucky enough to have attended some of the events. Recently a 2012 bearers torch was sold at auction for £1400. This was one of 8000 torches produced for the London Olympics but an example from the 1952 Helsinki Olympics a much rarer example as only 22  were made realised an amazing £420,000. There is something for every pocket with memorabilia such as flags, badges and tickets which are easily brought for around £20-50 and medals from around £50 upwards.

As Sheffield is the home for the snooker world championships many of you might have signed programmes or tickets from a visit to the Crucible these are again always sought after amongst collectors. 

So whatever your favourite sport is whether it be golf, boxing, rugby or football there are always something to collect. Our specialist Valuer and auctioneer, Robert Lea would be pleased to talk to you about how to start your own collection or if you are thinking of selling items in one our quarterly specialist sporting sales, he is holding a valuation day on 5^th November, pop and have a chat!