Collecting sports memorabilia is a source of joy for many game enthusiasts, and sports jerseys are among the most popular memorabilia collected by enthusiasts around the world.
Why is sport jersey collecting so popular? One reason is that the jersey is intimately connected to the player who wore it. We can see and feel the association and get closer to the player and the game.
A sport jersey uniquely identifies a player’s team. It usually has the team nickname or city on the front and the player’s number or name on the back. The market for old sport jerseys is huge; however it is also plagued by a lot of fakes being sold as originals.
While buying a new jersey closely inspect for use and alterations. Use and wear are different. Use occurs when a player uses it. Wear occurs when a jersey is laundered or handled often. If an original jersey has been used by someone else you could negotiate a lower price. Look for signs of use on the inside such as sweat stains as well as the outside of the jersey. It is sometimes helpful to turn a jersey inside out to see if wear or restorations have been done.
Sometimes fraudsters put team numbers later on...