From autographed footballs to Super Bowl coins to mini helmets, many football fans love to collect professional football memorabilia.
Football Collectibles - A Fast Growing Market
Professional football is growing in popularity each year and so is interest in football collectibles. Collecting football memorabilia is one of the fastest growing areas of sports collectibles in the marketplace. Collectors often limit their football collections to a favorite team or a favorite player. However, there are also collectors that look for any general football related items from the NFL or AFL such as the pocket pro mini NFL helmets.
Collecting Professional Football Memorabilia
Football fans love their teams and many of them are avid collectors of team related memorabilia. The game of football requires a lot of equipment and it is all highly desired by collectors. Often this type of memorabilia is autographed by the players or sometimes by the entire team. These types of items include:
- Footballs
- Helmets
- Shoulder pads
- Jerseys
- Shoes
There is a collector for almost any item that was ever used in a professional football game, from exhibition games to the Super Bowl.
Throwback Jerseys and Jackets
Another hot football collectible is throwback jerseys and jackets. Everyone loves to wear jerseys and jackets of their favorite team, but wearing a throwback is often more special. Throwback jerseys and jackets are exact replicas of the style worn by teams in the past. Sometimes they are referred to as old school jerseys and jackets. NFL throwback jerseys give you the chance to wear the same kind of team jersey worn by your favorite players of the past, such as Walter Payton or Boomer Esiason.
Photographs, Photomints and Posters
Collectors also love autographed photographs of their favorite professional football players. Generally, the photographs are of football action on the playing field but there are other great shots available also, such as Payton Manning walking through the tunnel.
Photomints are usually unsigned limited edition photographs that are matted and framed and may include specially minted coins. A beautiful example is the Tom Brady photomint that features Brady celebrating his Superbowl win.
Posters of professional football players, games and logos are also popular with collectors. For Super Bowl fans, there is even a unique poster that features all of the original Super Bowl tickets.
Football Ephemera
Many types of football memorabilia fall under the collectible term ephemera, which refers to printed material. This type of football memorabilia includes:
- Tickets
- Game day programs
- Magazines
- Team programs
- Postcards
- Pennants
- Giveaways
- Newspaper articles
- Advertisements
More Football Memorabilia
Other types of football memorabilia include autographed signed mini helmets and signed full size official and replica helmets. There are many collectors of football trading cards, although some people do not consider them actual memorabilia. Football trading cards, like all football memorabilia, is growing in popularity. Available in singles, packs and wax boxes, the manufacturer of football cards include:
- Topps
- Fleer
- Upper Deck
- Donruss
- Playoff
- Leaf
- Sage
- Bowman
Where to Find Football Memorabilia Online
The Internet has many excellent sites that offer football memorabilia. Some of them specialize in a particular type item while others offer many different types of football memorabilia.Three excellent websites offering a variety of autographed football memorabilia are Authentic Sports Collectibles and Sports Memorabilia. Other websites include:
Final Thoughts
The popularity of collecting professional football memorabilia will continue to grow as more fans embrace the game and want to surround themselves with special mementos of their favorite team and players.
