Sports Autograph Reprints
Sports autograph reprints are a great way to enjoy your love of sport without breaking your budget. From football to baseball, these reprints feature the star athletes you love along with their signatures. In some cases these may be the only way for collectors to enjoy the signature of their favorite athletes. While less valuable than original autographed sports items, many people enjoy them in their own right.
Why Sports Autograph Reprints?
The primary reason drive behind the growth of sports autograph reprints is that there is a demand for them. This demand grows from a number of factors:
- Availability: Many of the greatest players in sports like baseball are long deceased. With the original source gone, autograph reprints are the only way to create new merchandise to meet the demand for vintage sports memorabilia.
- Pricing: While rarity drives autograph prices ever higher, autograph reprints offer a democratizing factor by enabling more people access.
- Security: Even if you have genuine autographs, you may want to store them securely. Reprints let you display your collection while keeping the valuable originals in safety.
How do You Recognize a Reprint?
Just in case you are not sure, there are several ways that you can recognize a reprint as opposed to an original collectible autograph, many of which focus on the fact that the signature is an integral part of the reprint and not something added on later:
- Glossy Coating: When dealing with glossy photographs, the signature on a reprint will be below the glossy layer, not above it. This is often visible if you angle the photograph correctly under bright light.
- Touch: When you slide your finger along the surface of the photograph you can often feel the difference between the signature on top of the photo and the photo itself. This is not the case with reprints.
- Uniqueness: Every signature is unique, so if you can find multiple exact duplicates on the Internet, you are dealing with a reprint.
Collecting Sports Autograph Reprints
There is absolutely nothing wrong with collecting or selling sports autograph reprints. They are a great way to theme a room and show off your interests. The only concern comes when reprints are misrepresented, as they do not command the same value as originals.