Manchester United are probably the biggest football club on Earth with a over one hundred million supporters worldwide. Man UTD have had so many brilliant players that if I named them all I'd be here all day, however George Best, Denis Law, Bobby Charlton, Steve Coppell, Joe Jordon, Ray Wilkins, Bryan Robson, Norman Whiteside, Eric Cantona, Roy Keane, Andy Cole, Ryan Giggs, David Beckham, Paul Scholes and Cristiano Ronaldo are a few of them. Two great managers have also reached legendary status at Old Trafford, Sir Matt Busby and the current boss, Sir Alex Ferguson who has won the triple and two doubles as well as countless other silverware. Every season Man UTD are in contention for the big competition prizes in football and the team consistently re-invents itself under the stewardship of Sir Alex.
Founded in 1878, the team were originally know as Newton Heath L&YR FC before changing to Manchester United in 1902. Originally the team played in a green and yellow strip before changing to famous red, black and white. The club is known as the Red Devils and play at Old Trafford in Manchester.
As one of the most widely supported teams there is an extensive range of merchandise on sale featuring the famous Manchester United crest. Lately the club has launched a range of pens and key rings to sit alongside the more traditional shirts, scarfs and hats. There are also a range of baby products for parents who are keen for their kids to follow the team, everything from baby rompers to hoodies with the clubs ensignia on are available. Games, puzzles, quizzes and jigsaws are also popular as are figurines of the players and fan toys.
Saturday, 15 September 2012
Thursday, 17 May 2012
How to Spot Fake Man U Signed Shirts and Man U Signed Memorabilia
Faking football memorabilia, thanks to the otherwise empowering Internet, is big, big business. Fans and investors are always looking for signed merchandise linked to English football's Big Four - and, like anything else, they're always happy to get it for less than proper price. With the 2009-2010 Premiership season closing on a classic four way race (Chelsea, Arsenal, Liverpool and Manchester United are all still in with a mathematical chance of winning British football's top silver), Man U signed shirts and Man United signed memorabilia generally are peaking in interest value: which makes now a bumper time of year for the charlatans.
So how does a prospective buyer, be they fan or speculator, spot fake signed Manchester United shirts ? The first clue is in the price. The Internet has made open trade available to everyone - which is great - by letting anyone with something to sell have an effectively free market in which to do it. As a result, the prices of a lot of things (including Man U memorabilia) can appear to be extremely competitive, with vendors vying for buyers' attentions by slashing their retail on products everybody wants. So far, so good, until one stops to consider that signed Man United shirts, and indeed all Man U signed memorabilia, are rare items.
Rare items command their own prices because people who want them, want them, almost irrespective of the price tag placed on them by sellers. This is particularly true of Man U signed shirts and signed Manchester United memorabilia (and, by extension, of all signed sports memorabilia). It's not easy to get one professional sports person to sign a shirt or photograph - sports people are busy, willfully secluded from the "real" world (i.e. the general public); and are often being asked to sign gear in the aftermath of an extremely gruelling event. As a result, the signatures of sports persons are rare and concomitantly expensive. Signed Man United shirts, which contain the autographs of not one, but (at a minimum) eleven sports men, will, obviously and logically, be significantly harder to create in quantity than, say, a signed photo of Ryan Giggs. Which means that Manchester United signed shirts carry their own value - a price that reflects the difficulty of getting them signed, and hence the rarity of the item.
The second thing to consider, when trying to spot faked signed Manchester United memorabilia, is the verifiability of its Certificate of Authenticity. There's a particular type of authentication that buyers should look for. It's called "in person" authentication, and it means, basically, that the company selling the signed Manchester United shirts, or Man United signed memorabilia in general, has some kind of record of when and where the item was signed, and who was present. A site selling Manchester United signed shirts that claims "in person" authentication on its certificates is much more likely to be genuine.
Manchester United signed shirts, and Manchester United memorabilia of all stripes, are growing in popularity with every passing season. Faking them is naturally keeping pace. Buyers looking to get their hands on Manchester United shirts should exercise basic caution when parting with their cash: who, after all, wants to end up with a worthless fake when they could have the real McCoy?
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Rare items command their own prices because people who want them, want them, almost irrespective of the price tag placed on them by sellers. This is particularly true of Man U signed shirts and signed Manchester United memorabilia (and, by extension, of all signed sports memorabilia). It's not easy to get one professional sports person to sign a shirt or photograph - sports people are busy, willfully secluded from the "real" world (i.e. the general public); and are often being asked to sign gear in the aftermath of an extremely gruelling event. As a result, the signatures of sports persons are rare and concomitantly expensive. Signed Man United shirts, which contain the autographs of not one, but (at a minimum) eleven sports men, will, obviously and logically, be significantly harder to create in quantity than, say, a signed photo of Ryan Giggs. Which means that Manchester United signed shirts carry their own value - a price that reflects the difficulty of getting them signed, and hence the rarity of the item.
The second thing to consider, when trying to spot faked signed Manchester United memorabilia, is the verifiability of its Certificate of Authenticity. There's a particular type of authentication that buyers should look for. It's called "in person" authentication, and it means, basically, that the company selling the signed Manchester United shirts, or Man United signed memorabilia in general, has some kind of record of when and where the item was signed, and who was present. A site selling Manchester United signed shirts that claims "in person" authentication on its certificates is much more likely to be genuine.
Manchester United signed shirts, and Manchester United memorabilia of all stripes, are growing in popularity with every passing season. Faking them is naturally keeping pace. Buyers looking to get their hands on Manchester United shirts should exercise basic caution when parting with their cash: who, after all, wants to end up with a worthless fake when they could have the real McCoy?
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