Memorabilia is older than the word that describes it.
And more easily instinctively understood than defined.
But, here we are dealing with memorabilia.
So let’s have a go at defining it.
Memorabilia defined
My nice old, memorable, copy of the OED tells me that the word memorabilia dates back to the 18th century. That it’s a plural, derived from the Latin word memorabilis, meaning memorable.
“Objects kept or collected because of their association with memorable people or events,” it says.
And it’s easy to see that linguistic link with memory, memorable, memorial and the like.
And Wikipedia tells me that, though similar, memorabilia is not the same as a souvenir.
Though the difference isn’t very great.
It seems to lie in the notability of the subject or object.
This original poster is memorabilia.
A photograph taken by me in Weston Super Mare would be a souvenir.
But a rather nice, original 1960 British Railway poster promising to take you to the “Smile in Smiling Somerset” is memorabilia.
And make that picture a snap of a Beatle on the seafront - they famously played six nights there in 1963 and larked about for a landmark set of photographs and film by Dezo Hoffman - and you definitely have memorabilia.
Very blurry home movie footage capturing the young Beatles on Weston-Super-Mare beach, creating memorabilia. Image via YouTube.
But souvenirs can be memorabilia. And memorabilia can be a souvenir.
It’s all about connection.
Memorabilia is connection
As dealers we know that memorabilia can be anything.
Connected to the right person.
And we’ve been collecting and trading it for as long as we know about human history.
It’s probably safe to assume that people have been keeping physical mementoes of people that matter to them for as long as we’ve been around.
No saint, but today a lock of Marilyn Monroe's hair has huge value to those who worship her. Click the image to discover the item.
Perhaps some of those old rocks or bone weapons were attached to some sort of “celebrity” status: the best hunter, the best forager, the greatest warrior.
The earliest organised civilisations were based around the effective use of writing, and we know that pretty soon there was a special significance attached to particular pieces of writing, and the particular writer who had written them.
In Ancient Greece original manuscripts were very prized.
Of course, in those days long before mass, mechanical reproduction of print there’s an extent to which an early (or the first) copy means securing accurate content.
But, we only know of the great thinkers of that age because they became named, known figures. They became stars.
When Ptolemy I was building on the foundational collections of the library at Alexandria created by Alexander the Great he was sure to get original copies of documents from their writers.
Ptolemy secured the loan of important documents from Athens for his library. But he tricked the city and kept the originals, sending back copies forfeiting the substantial deposit in precious silver he had given Athens' elders.
And, as soon as religion enters the picture we know that a connection to particular people becomes even more important.
Queen Elizabeth I signed this document. Once it had an official function, but now it's tradeable memorabilia. Click the image to discover the item.
Should we consider religious relics as memorabilia?
They undoubtedly possess many of the defining characteristics.
One of the most important relics of early Christianity were fragments of the “true cross” on which Jesus suffered and died.
Four churches have owned - and venerated - claimed fragments.
They even came with what a modern collector would call provenance: a recorded history that explains their origin, authenticity, and establishes their link to the figure on which their value is based.
For the claimed True Cross that takes in Helen, the mother of the Roman Empire’s first Christian ruler, Constantine, who is said to have found the cross in the fourth century.
Conveniently, a miracle confirmed Helen’s discovery, on a day that is still celebrated as the Feast of the Exaltation of the Cross by several denominations of Christians today, including some Anglicans.
Saints relics were a major part of the machinery of the growth of Christianity. In Shrines they worked like tourist attractions, bringing pilgrims (and their cash) to churches.
This crosses religious divides too.
Originality and proximity are highly celebrated.
Some of the most spectacular Buddhist temples are dedicated to preserving bone and tooth fragments from the Buddha.
It’s the same drive taking a pilgrim to the Temple of the Tooth in Kandy, Sri Lanka that takes others to Marx’s grave in Highgate Cemetery, Lenin’s Tomb in Red Square, or to George Washington’s Mount Vernon estate in Virginia, to see the original Declaration of Independence in Washington or the Crown Jewels in the Tower of London.
Modern memorabilia
The Renaissance took a religious practice and made it secular.
Petrarch, the 14th-century Italian scholar who’s generally accepted as the foundational figure of the Renaissance movement, collected papers of ancient (unChristian) authors like others collected saints relics.
Michelangelo may have been the first artist to sign his work.
Petrarch, Italian poet, scholar, perhaps the first ever tourist and first modern document collector.
And by the start of the 16th century we know that nobles with time to indulge hobbies were collecting books of autographs.
Although these were usually mementoes of personal friendships, some of them contain signatures - and sketches - that capture legendary figures like Rembrandt and are priceless.
Who’ in King Charles I’s autograph book? That is somewhere in the royal collections if it survives.
By the end of the 18th century autograph collecting was established enough for John Thane to publish a book showing facsimiles of notable signatures.
Many of the great European public institutions were founded around this period, and donated collections of autographs and original papers helped set up many of these national libraries and museums.
They were still being traded too.
London bookseller Thomas Thorp was sending out catalogues of autographs in the 1830s and 1840s.
And, the 19th century saw a growth in popular celebrity.
A very ordinary typewriter, rendered a collectible, valuable item by the literal Midas Touch of John Lennon. Click the image to discover the item.
Restoration theatre had allowed the first celebrity actors to thrive: Nell Gwynne, Elizabeth Barry, Thomas Betterton, for example. And mechanical reproduction and transport allowed later starts to become national figures.
Sometimes celebrity was gruesome and memorabilia bloody.
Particularly notorious criminals were often celebrated.
The phrase “money for old rope” may originate with the practice of selling fragments of the rope used in public hangings, a bonus for poorly paid executioners.
Public hangings in England were ended in part because of Charles Dickens’ horrified reaction to witnessing one.
A Dickens letter. His pioneering 19th-century celebrity has translated into long-lasting value for memorabilia relating to his life, work and creations.
In 1849, he was well on his way to becoming one of the first modern celebrities: an author, but also a public figure who followed his mass-produced stories around the world on hugely lucrative speaking and reading tours.
Everything about the Victorian era was done in larger numbers than before, as the machinery of the industrial revolution churned out product like never before.
Literacy exploded. The postal revolution following the introduction of the adhesive postage stamp in 1840 helped with that.
Even autograph hunting was democratised.
And so, we come to a period where some signatures can become relatively commonplace.
And even automated, following the invention of the first autopen device in 1803.
The first autograph store in America was opened in 1887 on Broadway, boasting that you could get a more authentic Gladstone (a celebrity politician) signature from them than from the man himself, who would only send you a printed copy.
Mass-produced memorabilia
And as the lathes, presses, mills, and production lines of the industrial age whirred, they produced a load of memorabilia.
The first coronation memorabilia were the handmade plates produced to celebrate King Charles II bringing royalty back in 1660 - and now worth £60,000 a shot.
If a member of the royal family gives you something, it's a good idea to hang on to it, no matter how delicious. Click the image to discover this Charles and Camilla royal wedding cake.
By the time of George III’s 1760 crowning new technology in Britain’s potteries meant that thousands of coronation mugs were churned out with printed designs.
And when Victoria came to the throne in 1838 there was a whole industry in coronation memorabilia. You can find a Victoria mug for under £500 online today.
These were items designed to be bought and collected because of their connection to a person or event.
An entirely invented connection.
But very successful nonetheless.
And this is the age we live in today.
What is memorabilia today
As in all collecting markets, memorabilia is valuable for a number of reasons.
Rarity. Even mass-produced memorabilia can be rare. Errors, withdrawn products and the like.
We see that very clearly in items like the legendary Star Wars Boba Fett rocket launcher figure, surviving only in abandoned prototypes and making £1.04 million at auction last year.
Connection is everything in memorabilia. It can be mass produced, but if it’s been owned or signed by the object of our worship then, wow.
This can be seen very clearly in modern electric guitars.
The likes of the Fender Stratocaster are lovely instruments, but they’re absolutely triumphs of production line, mass-production.
Kurt Cobain's hair in a lovely heart-shaped box, a valuable fragment from one of today's most collectible stars. Click the image to discover the item.
But a strat owned and played by Kurt Cobain can make over $100,000 as a base price now, even though Cobain preferred the cheaper Japanese-made models for their sound (and because he smashed them up, presumably).
The same guitar with no Nirvana link is probably worth a few hundred pounds if it’s in great nick.
Add to connection and rarity the collector’s trinity of authenticity, provenance (provable authenticity basically), and condition and you have the recipe for good memorabilia collecting.
If you ever find yourself complaining about modern celebrity and its exploitation, you can comfort yourself that it's probably happened before. And it was probably worse.
Elvis Presley's jockstrap. There have never been many limits to celebrity memorabilia. Click the image to discover the item.
Rare, historic memorabilia
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Browse our collections covering notable people and events from film, music, politics and more here.
And, yes, you can still buy physical relics of your heroes.
