We take a walk-though sports memorabilia collecting with specific focus on Arsenal, a team which has been around since 1886. It’s far from being the earliest though! Did you know that the first recorded football club was formed over 200 years ago? The Foot-Ball Club of Edinburgh has records going back to 1824, but we know from history that football as a sport goes way further back than that. King Henry VIII had custom made football boots dating back to 1536!
As a result, football has become a hotbed of collecting. Just watch Antiques Roadshow for evidence. Old football shirts, caps, medals, and trophies often pop up; some going back to the formative years of the sport, and while you are unlikely to uncover any other 16th Century boots sitting in your grandad’s attic, you may well come across old programmes and other ephemera from the sport’s long history. If they are in good condition, they are likely to have a value! Better still, if you managed to unearth a rare trophy, medal, cap, or shirt, you might well be on the way to early retirement. The original FA Cup which was itself retired in 1910 went for a staggering £760,000, so start digging!
When it comes to Arsenal memorabilia, it’s the rare shirts signed by the top players that go for the most money. Reaching back through the history of the club, this would include signed football shirts from the likes of Thierry Henri, Ian Wright, Charlie George, George Armstrong, and Tony Adams. Real, top of the tree stars go for the most money as you would expect, and if they are international superstars, like Pele or Maradona, then the sums can be astronomical. While Tony Adams holds the record for an Arsenal shirt at £28,000, a 1970 Pele World Cup shirt sold for £157,750 at auction, and topping them all, the Maradona ‘Hand of God’ shirt went for a jaw dropping £7.1m! So frankly, the sky is the limit. You just need a good eye, a lot of money and some common sense.
L to R: Fully signed Arsenal shirt, signed Beth Mead shirt, Nuno Tavares football boot, signed Thierry Henri Shirt, signed Kieran Tierney ball. Firma Stella©
So where do you start? It’s mostly down to cold, hard cash. If you can afford it, then buy the best. Some of the shirts from the modern era can go for quite high sums, for example, a Declan Rice shirt, signed during the 2024 season will set you back around £1000 and a fully signed shirt, by the whole team can go for almost £2,500. Collecting does not need to be that expensive. For those with slightly shallower pockets, autographed photos can be picked up for as little as £17 or £18, depending on the player. In fact you could build up quite a sizeable collection of signed pics before moving on to some of the more expensive items. Items from the Arsenal W.F.C. are also starting to gain traction – for example, an Arsenal shirt signed by Beth Mead goes for around £350. Prices for items like these are only going to increase in value as the women’s game becomes more established.
A word of warning though; caveat emptor, or ‘buyer beware’. Take the same approach as you would buying a car or an antique. Check out the signatures and ask for provenance. If the items are from an online auction, then that may be difficult, and trust us, the market in fakes is enormous, as it is for anything of value. The online retailers often buy first-hand from players, have photographic or video proof and almost always offer a Certificate of Origin (holographic & numbered are best) and a lifetime guarantee. Our company of choice is Firma Stella. They are based in Worcester, but we won’t hold that against them!