Expert: Fabio Anderle - 5/8/2010

Question
Hi!  I hope this is an appropriate question for you.  My mom was a huge fan of the Celtics during the 1970s, and she got autographs from ten of the team members when they were in Cleveland for the Eastern Conference Finals against the Cavaliers.  A quick perusal of e-bay doesn't really let me know if this sort of thing would be of interest to anyone.  I'd like these to go to someone who would appreciate them more than I do.  In your experience, is this sort of thing of interest to anyone?  How does one go about getting something like this into the hands of someone who would appreciate it?  Well, I hope it's been okay for me to ask you this type of question here!

Answer
Sandy,

when you deal with artifacts that could bear a huge affective value it is always difficult to find out the best way to find "someone who would appreciate it more than you do".

I assume you would want to sell it, so is it important for you to make the most out of its selling? Or are you just willing to sell it to the fan who could appreciate it the most? Or perhaps to the Basketball Hall of Fame in Springfield, Massachusetts?

If I had to sell the autographed ball for profit, I would use e-bay and make a starting bid od 250 bucks, because that is the lowest you can find on the net. Of course you can find a basketball signed by Larry Bird, Kevin McHale and Robert Parish in the Eighties for about $ 1,000, but that is top value and you can find those items in the best memorabilia sites like

http://www.sportsmemorabilia.com/team/

If you are not selling for profit, you could advertise it in one of the Celtics fans blogs (like Celticsblog) or newsletter like Celticsstuff:

http://sports.groups.yahoo.com/group/Celticsstuffgroup/newsletters

and then ask them if there's someone willing to acquire it.

I hope this helps


Fabio