Sports memorabilia looks very much like a good investment right now.
Look at some of the records that have been set in recent years.
Last year the Called Shot jersey, a Babe Ruth, NY Yankees shirt from 1932 sold for $24.1 million.
Babe Ruth is the biggest name in sports collecting. Tap the picture to own it.
That put the value of sports collectibles up a notch.
And the second most valuable piece - a Mickey Mantle baseball card - sold for $12.6 million just two years earlier.
Michael Jordan’s 1998 NBA finals jersey? Its $10.1 million sale was also in 2022.
As was the record-setting soccer sale of the Hand of God shirt worn by Diego Maradona as he scored one of the greatest and one of the most notorious goals in world history.
But what sport should investors look to if they want to match these returns?
Let’s take a look at the contenders.
Golf
Golf has an extremely long - and fascinating - history. It’s got pretty good claims to be a genuinely global sport. And, it’s enjoyed by lots of people with lots of money - President Trump is among the most famous amateur golfers in the world today.
This Jack Nicklaus cap is a great item, capturing a master and his sport. Tap the image to see how to own it.
It’s also a game of individuals.
It’s’ age and individualism that tends to attract money in golf.
Some very old golf clubs have made big money, though authenticating and dating them can be a challenge.
A Simon Cossar putter sold for $165,000, probably from the turn of the 18th-19th century. A square toe light iron from the 17th century made $151,000 in a Sotheby’s sale.
Trophies can also be valuable. Gary Player’s Masters trophy from 1974 was worth $523,483 in 2021. An Arnold Palmer award from the same tournament made $444,012 in 2016.
Perhaps the most valuable golf artefact of all are clubs owned by Tiger Woods that sold for over $5 million, and a set of President Kennedy’s clubs that made over $1 million.
But despite its ability to generate rather attractive artefacts and make lots of money, perhaps golf just doesn’t have the mass appeal to be the most valuable collector’s sport of all.
F1
Cars. Derring do. Wonderful locations.
The F1 circuit is a global circus of excess and consumption.
At the heart of it is cutting edge precision engineering and genuine athletic excellence and bravery.
Around it is a carnival.
So there’s plenty of money in collecting the fastest men on earth.
In a sport of personalities, Lewis Hamilton is a stand-out star. Tap the image to see how much this picture is worth.
The names are well known: Schumacher, Senna, Hunt, Hamilton, Fangio.
Heroes who all add value to anything they touch or drive or sign.
A Lewis Hamilton collector’s card has made $900,000 at auction.
A Senna helmet went for over $100,000.
The real money though is to be found in cars.
And these are jaw-droppingly valuable.
Three Mercs lead the way: a 2013 Mercedes W04 that made £15.1 million in 2023 (driven by Hamilton); Juan Manuel Fangio’s 1954 W196R realised £19.6 million in 2013; and earlier this year another 1954 W196R Streamliner brought in £42.7 million.
Boxing
Boxers have always been amongst the biggest characters in the sporting world. You have to have a certain amount of confidence to slug it out under the lights, risking everything.
One man who did risk it all and paid a terrible price, is arguably the most famous sports star of all time.
Muhammad Ali transcends boxing.
Ali's whole life is fascinating to collectors and valuable. Tap the image to own the letter.
And it’s absolutely no surprise that his 1974 belt from the Rumble in the Jungle fight is the most valuable boxing item ever, selling for $6.2 million in 2022.
He towers over the sport and its collecting scene.
Several pairs of his gloves have gone for around $1 million.
His autograph alone is valuable. The letter he sent to seek religious exemption from the draft for the Vietnam War in 1966 realised $385,848 in 2015.
Other boxers are also collectible, but Ali stands alone.
Association Football
Soccer to Americans. Just football to most of the world.
And it is truly the world’s sport, increasingly for all ages and for men and women.
Bobby Moore on the way to World Cup glory for England, the perfect gift for any England fan, which you can own by tapping the picture.
And hugely valuable.
Undoubtedly, the go-to for most collectors are signed shirts.
Nothing really embodies the game more than these items.
To be really valuable they need to be match-worn in a significant match by a significant player.
Hence that Maradona “Hand of God” shirt for £7,142,500 .
And it has to be authentically - and provably so - what it’s claimed to be.
An interesting thing has happened in sports collecting in recent years, in football, but in other sports too.
Big players are much more business-minded (or are surrounded by people who are). Shirts, boots, and other artefacts are much more likely to be kept in-house these days than gifted to opposing players or lucky fans.
So, last year when a set of Lionel Messi shirts were sold, it was by… Lionel Messi. The beautifully presented Argentina tops made $7.8 million and were a fitting celebration of his World Cup win, but this makes it that little bit harder for collectors to find value.
More accessible perhaps are historic items.
You’re unlikely to find the likes of the rule book that sold for £900,000 in 2011, but if you’re hoping for charity shop or house clearance finds then the older the better.
Baseball
Baseball is America’s pastime, but it does have something of a global footprint with big fan bases in Japan and Cuba for example and a league that also has Canadian participation.
The two best attended sports leagues in the world in raw numbers are the US Major League Baseball (over 70 million) and Japan’s Nippon Professional Baseball league with over 25 million fans a season.
Lots of people at the bottom of the pyramid, and lots of money at the top.
This humble looking piece of paper is one of the most iconic of all baseball collector's cards.
Babe Ruth’s Called Shot shirt is far and away the most valuable sporting artefact of all time at over $24 million.
He’s a towering star, but MLB throws them up all the time.
Last October, a ball hit into the crowd for Shohei Ohtani’s record setting 50th home run (alongside 50 stolen bases) sold for $4.392 million, beating a record set in 1999.
Baseball is a very stats-friendly game. That, and the fact that the supreme act of the game involves depositing the ball into the crowd open up a once-in-a-lifetime chance for fans who catch the right home-run ball. This has led to some unseemly scraps and legal battles over ownership.
Uniforms, bats, balls… they’re all collectible.
And baseball cards trump other sports in their value for the moment, because of their age and popularity.
The top cards are legends: Honus Wagner ($3.75 million), 1952 Topps Mickey Mantle ($2.88 million and $12.6 million).
Because they were mass produced and basically disposable, they’re also potentially accessible to almost anyone - there could be one out there for you to find.
Basketball
Basketball is probably the most valuable sport for collectors today.
And the big money is in shirts and shoes (or jerseys and sneakers if you prefer).
The top 5 jerseys sold at just a single auction house, Sotheby’s (who seem to be specialising in the sport), are all worth over $1.7 million.
That low fee is for a Kobe Bryant top. The top price is over $10 million for Michael Jordan’s Last Dance Bulls shirt.
Someone really wants this jersey, offering $5.7 million for it out of the gate. Image courtesy of Sotheby's.
Just this week, a Kobe Bryant debut season shirt was put up for sale and attracted a first bid of $5.7 million.
LeBron James’s shirt from his high school brought in $1.3 million last year.
Players have been able to bring in huge sums with endorsement deals on shoes. And their own pairs are almost as valuable.
A pair of Michael Jordan’s shoes from the famous “Flu Game” made over $100,000 at auctions.
And basketball cards are starting to creep up on baseball cards.
Steph Curry for $5.9 million. LeBron James at: $5.2 million. Luka Doncic for $4.6 million.
And these prices are only set to go higher.
Collecting valuable sports memorabilia today
The best advice for any collector is to collect what they love.
You’ll get more from your collection. And I think you’re more likely to make good decisions and to know the market.
But for investors? You’d probably tip basketball to buy.
