Signed Manchester City Memorabilia – How To Go About Safely Grabbing a Piece of The Action | OneFootball

Like it or loathe it, there has been an explosion in signed memorabilia collecting over the past few years. In particular for stuff from top clubs like Manchester City. How do you go about ensuring that the piece you buy is authentic? How do you avoid getting ripped off? We investigate with some help from someone who makes it their business to be in the business!

Prices for some of the rarer pieces of signed memorabilia have rocketed, and the scene itself has been hotting up. It’s not just signed Man City shirts that go for high sums either. There has been a boom in legacy pieces stretching back to the early days of the club’s illustrious career. Memorabilia from the club’s history can go for high sums, especially when you consider that it all kicked off in 1880! That’s 144 years!

READ MORE: 8 Interesting facts about Manchester City.

City started as St. Mark’s (West Gorton), before changing the name to Ardwick Association Football Club in 1887. They only settled on the name Manchester City in 1894. So you can imagine that if you could find a piece of memorabilia; a shirt, a medal, or a trophy from those early years, maybe in your granddads (or great grandad’s!) loft, you’d be onto a winner.

They turn up occasionally on Antiques Roadshow, but let’s take a look at the highest priced items that have been sold at auction. At £8,500 is defender Mike Doyle’s FA cup winner’s medal from 1970, which sold in 2016. Moving up the ranks, Francis Lee’s match worn shirt from the 1969 FA cup final sold for £10,000. Legend Bert Trautmann’s 1955 FA cup final shirt went for £11,000, and Francis Lee’s 1972 UEFA a cup winners medal sold for £15,000 in 2013. We can only imagine what these items are valued at now! The top two are Colin Bell’s 1969 FA cup Winner’s Medal which sold for a whopping £18,500, and in the number one spot is a pair of football boots worn by Sergio Aguero in the famous clash between City and QPR which secured us the first premier league win in 44 years in 2013. They sold for £22,400!

Left to right: Signed Tony Book 1969 Shirt, Kevin De Bruyne, Phil Foden, Jack Grealish, and Vincent Kompany

Advice on how to ensure your item is authentic can be found below.

When it comes to collecting, as you can see from above, it’s the stand-out players that attract the highest sums. We asked Peter Johnson, who heads up, signed memorabilia site Firma Stella for some advice. “Buy what you love. If you have a favourite player, then collect items that are attached to them. While signed Manchester city shirts are every fan’s dream, they may be out of reach, so start by picking up an autograph or a signed photo, then move onto the more expensive stuff when funds allow. As far as safety is concerned, there are a lot of fakes around, particularly on some of the online auction sites, so make sure that what you buy in 100% authentic. If you buy that signed Haaland shirt that you’ve always coveted, then make sure it’s genuine. A numbered certificate of origin is your guarantee that what you are buying is the real deal – don’t be caught out!”

With just a few points separating the top three, this could be another landmark year for City, so take a look at what’s on offer from some of this season’s star players. There are signed shirts, boots & photos and other signed Manchester City Memorabilia available from the current crop of greats at Firma Stella. That includes De Bruyne, Foden, Grealish, Haaland, and of course Kompany.

The main thing is that you enjoy what you buy. Many items come pre-framed, but if they aren’t then get them on the wall so you and your friend can admire them!