There are tons of collectors in the world, and we often collect for different reasons. So this is just food for thought for newer collectors. This is primarily related to Sports Memorabilia. First of all, ask yourself, why do you really want this Autograph? If you just want a players autograph because you like the player and don't really want to spend tons of money in the process, stick with the more generic items. Things like standard baseballs or footballs never used in a game. These items won't command a premium price and understand you won't sell it for a premium price in the future either, unless a player just explodes into Stardom. Also look for "Off" brand Trading cards that are signed by players. They won't command a premium price either, even if they are certified. Thats because they aren't the MOST collected cards, so they are usually a great buy. There is a lot of memorabilia out there, and even if you see an item autographed by a big name player at a low price it is probably because it's an "Off" brand item. If you want something thats a little more of an actual "collectible" but still not overly expensive, you want to look at 3x5 index cards, Perez-Steele cards. These items have a fairly large and loyal following of collectors, but they are usually at a great price. You can expect these items also to increase in value over time, as a general rule. There is usually a large base of collectors so that these items are not very difficult to resell either. If they are Certified Authenticated, (especially by PSA), you can expect to pay a higher price for them, but also recieve a higher price for them when selling. If you want to get into a higher more expensive level of collecting, the next step would be Trading Cards. A lot of Trading Cards are manufactured Pre-signed and Certified Authentic. This also tends to get a little complicated since there are so many cards out there. As a rule, the rarer the card is, the more it is limited in production, the more it will be worth, but of course it is also relative to the popularity any given player. Baseball cards are the most collected of any Sport and therefore command higher prices, think about that one, especially if your buying for long term investment purposes. If your just starting out and you want to purchase items for the long term investment, make sure you buy top Graded cards! Buy that I mean, buy cards that have been graged by Companies such as PSA and have a grade of 9 or higher! If you have the money, try to buy nothing less than 9.5's or better, these are worth tons more than a card graded at an 8 or 7 or less. A card Graded at a 10 can draw astronomical prices, where the others won't. Right now, the best buy for the money would be to buy cards from the 70's in very high grades and wait a few years, the prices are set to increase dramatically. Trading cards numbered 1 of 1 or similarly numbered (i.e., 1 of 5), etc., are extremely rare. I've been watching this ever since they started making these types of cards. I can tell you, it really hasn't set in yet just how valuable these cards really are. People, even some of the big collectors are going to be shocked in a few years at the prices these types of cards are going to command, even just for mediocre players. Finally, there are game used items. Never confuse these with similar items that have never been used in a game. For example, a bat used by Roger Maris to break the home run record is worth tons more than a bat he signed but never used. The same is true for any item, if it was used in a game, by a given player and signed by that player, it will be worth more than any other similar non-used item. You see a lot of baseball bats signed by players that were never actually used by them, they are just promotional items and command far lower prices. If you purchase a game used item, get as much of the history of the item as you can when you purchase it, that also can effect the price. Remember, a game used item is a piece of History!