Four Potentially Good Investments

How do you spot a good investment?

I suppose the honest answer is that if we really knew that, then everyone one would be a millionaire and not have to worry about the money they actually spent on things they really wanted.

Take for instance that Beatles fan who heard their debut single way back in 1962, and decided a short while later to go out and be one of the first to buy their debut album, Please Please Me. I doubt anyone then could have predicted the impact the Fab Four were to have on culture, music and, indeed, the decade and general life at that point. They didn’t have that mythical crystal ball, but few could have expected when they paid just a few shillings or whatever it was, would one day for those very earliest copies, command sums for nice examples for well in excess of a £1000 - incredible.

It’s the same for someone’s ancestor who was fortunate enough to attend an early Cup Final and be able to afford a programme of some description inside the game. We have seen a copy of the Barnsley v West Brom Final programme for the English Cup Final replay of 1912 at Bramall Lane in Sheffield fetch over £12,000. A colossal amount more than the few pence it would have been on the day, yet many would have been sold yet so few programmes survive. They were folded in half and shoved in pockets, chucked on the side and stuffed at the bottom of a random box, stuck in the attic, forgotten about and then simply skipped at some point long after.

In my years around memorabilia, I have been fortunate to meet many former players and their families from a bygone era, and one such old boy had played for pride with his local Club at the time when a footballer didn’t drive a Merc, wear a Rolex and have breaks in Dubai. I would always pop and see him for a brew and a chat when time allowed, and on one such occasion was fortunate to be shown some of the many treasures he had kept safe from his time in the game. There was a Cup Final shirt, caps, contracts, many of the minor League medals from the local tournaments all of them had to play in back then, raising funds for local hospitals and the likes, programmes, tickets - in fact everything you could ever have wished for, except his FA Cup medal. It wasn’t there.

Now, ask a player these days what they want to win, and some may say the League, others the Champions League etc, but despite the years passing, in the eyes of a player, the FA Cup is still a showpiece that means something. When I asked him where it was, he told me he had sold it. Not that year, not the year before, but within weeks of the Final game way back before the war.

When I asked him why, his answer and rational was hard to argue with.

“I had four kids to feed and earned a fiver a week in the season and £3 per week in the summer when football wasn’t being played, son- in fact I used to help on a milk round back then to help pay the bills. You couldn’t feed kids with a medal - you work it out”

It still resonates with me today, and he is sadly long gone. That medal now could easily command up to £10,000, and the shirt probably about the same. The medals long gone, but thankfully his family still have all else, but, as I said, who then would have imagined that medal one day being worth that much? Don’t forget, its not that long ago in the scheme of things that Sir Stanley Matthews’ 1953 FA Cup Winners medal made £20,0000, only to be sold on at a later date for over £200,000 - now that’s some speculation, isn’t it?

So, agreeing that its hard to accurately predict what will be an investment in our field that will make you money in a few years for your outlay, what do I think are a few items to look at?

1) International Caps - always do really well, and they are something I love. Back in the day, to pick the full England side they had trial games at an appointed venue. The possible players played the probable players in a trial match watched by the FA Committee to pick the players for the next full international game. For appearing in this- you were awarded a trial Cap to prove you had taken part. I have seen such things awarded to some great players fetch relatively little in sale- £2-£300 being a rough guideline, but they look wonderful, hold so much history and have got to eventually worth more than they have been in the past. Also a great way of getting into the Cap market at a fraction of the £1000 plus figures a full one, depending on condition and provenance will generally realise.

2) Woman’s Football - the growth in the Woman’s game over the past few years has been off the scale. Crowds increase on a season to season if not game to game basis, the money being channeled into the game increases, more and more teams are becoming professional full-time outfits. The fans are getting a steady supply of heroes and success, as the last few competitions have shown along with major stadium Final game sell outs, media profile and coverage - the list goes on. Medals, Caps, shirts and so on haven’t yet caught up to the men’s game prices as yet but are definitely heading only one way.

3) Player Issued Vintage Tracksuit Tops - what’s not to love about an Admiral mid 70’s club or country example, or any of the famous brands for that matter. A short time ago, a couple of hundred max would have got you a really nice example at sale. But recently we have seen a huge spike in prices at Graham Budd on such beauties, and a Tony Currie England 1974 in blue with all the usual trimmings recently made over £3,500. Have a look on our results via the Graham Budd website and then keep your eyes open. Definitely worth a bid for the right one.

4) Vinyl Records- Look for original pressings of the albums released in the CD buying generation that took root in the 1980’s and 1990’s onwards. Bands like The Smiths are seeing prices going up all of the time, dependant of course on condition - in fact Indie bands are always sought after. 60’s always does well, but bizarrely those who lived through the 80’s and 90’s are approaching retirement, have seen kids grow up and leave home, have a little more disposable income and, if its their thing, are seeking out either the stuff they couldn’t afford at the time or rebuilding from the ones that they have lost, given away or sold to use the money on other things. Definitely Maybe, the Oasis seminal debut of 1994 (yes, its 30 years old this year) fetch incredible money, often £400 plus. We sold a signed copy last year for just shy of £2,000, but just try and find just a normal one. That’s said, hang on to your CD’s as I reckon they will come good in the future, just like vinyl has once again.

The best advice I can give is get out there and get looking. Saleroom is a great way of seeing what is going on out there in the auction world and can give you a useful understanding of the market and where its at - also, go hunting. The bargains out there are indeed less and less as more people raid the boot sales and charity shops, but they still turn up and, when you do drop on something special, its still a hell of a feeling.

Invest time and that investment may well increase, as they say!

Good hunting!