Making sure it is what it says it is.

Whenever I get a phone call asking about the price of their particular piece of sporting memorabilia that they want valued my first question to them is always does it have a certificate of authenticity.

The certificate of authenticity is an extremely important document and is the key to the value of the item. And it isn’t just if there is a certificate of authenticity or not, it also depends on who has issued the document. A certificate of authenticity coming from a reputable name who has been in business for a long time is a lot more trusted than one that comes from someone who’s just popped up on eBay in the last few months. There are a lot of dealers now also offer a photo showing the sportsperson or celebrity signing your piece of memorabilia but how can you be certain that they are signing yours and that the photo wasn’t taken off someone else’s signing session.

A lot of sports people and celebrities have more than one signature. They normally have one signature which they use when signing autographs for fans and one that they use to sign licensed sports memorabilia. More times than not licensed sports memorabilia are made in limited editions which helps to hold the value of the item from dropping. And also most licensed sports memorabilia have certificate of authenticities from their governing sporting body so you know that it has been signed by the person who they say it is.

One other big factor that I always ask about when valuing memorabilia is what is the significance of the item, what game is from/honouring and what were the circumstances surrounding the game/event. These can have a large impact on the value of the item especially in future as times change and items increase in value. The best example of this is the 2009 Melbourne Storm NRL Premiership memorabilia.

Early in the 2010 NRL season the Melbourne Storm were heavily penalised for salary cap breaches over the previous several seasons and part of this was stripping them of the 2009 premiership. By this stage all the premiership memorabilia had been released and sold but now the premiership never existed as it has been removed from the NRL records. The value of this memorabilia should go up quite considerably in the future because it is a lot like a freshly minted coin with a defect. It will be extremely rare for this to ever happen again especially after a premiership has been won.

For more information please visit http://www.sportslease.com.au

Now this brings me to the report that I read today about a 30-year-old Brazilian woman who lives in Houston, United States whilst recovering from her latest of 30 odd plastic surgeries has contracted a Staph infection which has spread to both of her breasts and you have to have both of her breasts removed.

Soirce http://www.news.com.au/entertainment…-1225891444136

A MODEL with the world’s largest breasts is fighting for her life after suffering complications following her latest surgery.

Brazilian Sheyla Hershey, who lives in Houston, Texas, contracted a severe staph infection following her most recent breast augmentation procedure in June, myFOXhouston.com reported today.
The infection reached both of Ms Hershey’s breasts.
Doctors took the 30-year-old into surgery Tuesday morning (local time) to remove the implants, and possibly her own breasts.
The model has had more than 30 surgeries to date.
Ms Hershey said her surgeon is concerned that the infection could leak into her bloodstream, which could threaten her life.
“I had large fever and painful. I just couldn’t breathe properly; it was terrible! I was in bed all day, couldn’t get up,” she said.

In 2009, Ms Hershey was a size 38KKK and was awarded with the Brazilian equivalent of the Guinness Book of World Records award.
Her website notes that she is fluent in Portuguese, Spanish, Italian, Chinese and English.

Read more: http://www.news.com.au/entertainment…#ixzz0tcx3v600

Now unfortunately for this woman she picked up an infection and it could happen to anyone but it still leaves the question is it really worth all the trauma, pain, sacrifice, money and risking your life just to look better?

It reminds me of a few years ago when St Kilda played the Brisbane Lions when St Kilda superstar Nick Riewoldt hurt his shoulder during the game and was roughed up by two Brisbane players. at that time I thought that because Riewoldt waved away the trainer as if to say I am fine then he was fair game and the same applies to Friday nights game.

Now Steven Johnson, the person that Baker had the altercation with had apparently broken his hand early in the first quarter. Why was he still playing and not at the hospital seeking treatment. This is no different to what I mentioned above. If anyone needs to be punished or dragged over hot coals then perhaps it should be Steven Johnson, the Geelong medical staff and the Geelong football club coaching staff for allowing him to stay on the field with potentially a broken hand.

Thanks to http://www.axess.com.au/showthread.php/77-Baker-s-dozen

No frills budget

I have not made my mind up as to whether to watch tonight’s Federal Budget. Wayne Swan already one the most boring people to listen to has come out and proclaimed that this budget will be boring so why waste a couple hours of my life that I’ll never get back again?
There is going to be a lot of “here here” from Labour members and a lot of jeering from everyone else and I will put my wheelchair on the fact that there is to be more political election spin than a Shane Warne leg break on a day five MCG pitch.

We already know that $1 billion as to be set aside to fix the home insulation bungle, will there need to be more if workers and families of the deceased decide to take legal action over the fact that there is a Government cover-up as Mr Rudd and Mr Garrett were told three months before the first casualty that the chances of the fatality were extreme.

We also know that there are several billion dollars to be cut from the States GST entitlements and redirected into a new revamped health system weekly wont really start feeling any benefits from until 2012 at the earliest and it wont be in full swing until 2014 which is when the Government will be going on another spending spree sending a large team of people to Copenhagen to waste time and taxpayers money on a problem that the world cannot agree on just how bad global warming is.

We also know about the mining super profit tax. This is very good timing from Mr Swan with his Robin Hood plan of robbing from the rich and giving to the poor. I do however think and caught a glimpse of Maid Marian in the corner of his eye whilst lining up the target, missfired and shot himself in the foot. All the states are up in arms and crying foul over this plan is billions of dollars worth of business from mining companies is now on hold and tens of thousands of jobs may be lost putting a greater burden on our welfare system.

You think that Mr Swan would have taken note of Labour Queensland Premier Anna Bligh and her plan to sell off state assets with the backlash from both industry and voters that she has received.

That sure is a lot on Wayne Swans plate. Maybe he can get some of his new neighbours who are staying at the Palms Motel to help him out of a bind in exchange for covering the minibar bill.

None for 2007/09

My educated guess would be yes. Why you might ask? We don’t know for sure if such a thing has ever happened before we are a team has won the premiership and then seven months later had been stripped from them as well as one for two years before however that adds to the uniqueness and collectability of the items.
Just in case you don’t know I do deal in sports memorabilia and have so for the past two years and I learnt from someone who has over 20 years experience.

Now getting back to the Melbourne Storm. Each year’s grand finalists in most sports have a premiership winning T-shirt first batch printed up so that fans of the winning side can get their hands on them quickly and the losing side’s T-shirts are normally destroyed however a few normally make their way onto eBay and other such sites and usually go for well over the recommended retail price if they had won the premiership. So imagine what a fully signed, authenticated, framed and certified by the NRL premiership jersey would be worth.

NRL Melbourne Storm 2009 Premiers Signed Jersey

AUTOGRAPHED BY ENTIRE TEAM

On Sunday October 4th 2009, the all conquering Melbourne Storm claimed the 2009 NRL premiership, their second Premiership and fourth Grand Final in a row with a great win over the Parramatta Eels. Here is your chance to join in this special sporting celebration with the Official Melbourne Storm Premiership jersey personally signed by the entire Grand Final squad and coach.

This strictly limited release is the perfect way for a true Storm fan to re-live the glory forever, and to show the world who you support.

Here are 5 reasons you should buy now!

1 Limited edition of 100
2 Personally signed by the Grand Final Squad & Coach.
3 Officially Licensed by the NRL and the Melbourne Storm
4 Authenticated & Certified by the NRL and A-Tag
5 Stylishly framed,

Available NOW!

We will courier this amazing piece out to you for the low fee of $55

This includes full insurance and delivered to your door avoiding damage or loss

Secure Your Own Part Of History Today
And Buy Now!

Price: $1995.00

Click here to buy

Going up!

Kevin Rudd has another big hole in his pocket and once again it looks like a tax hike is on the agenda to pay for it and this time his sights are set on smokers.  But there could be more, much much more.

The Rudd government’s plan of taking over the hospital systems of our states as well as some of their income from GST still needs a further $3 billion to cover costs since Mr Rudd has been using sweeteners (bribes is probably the term most of us are more familiar with) in order to convince the Australian State premiers to sign over in 10 days time.

While most of our state hospitals are in shambles maybe we should be basing the new reform structure on that of Victoria which we know works rather than take our chances by inventing something new courtesy of the people who brought us the

roofing insulation catastrophe and this educational building cost blowout. Money could have probably been saved in research and development, five-star restaurant lunches, five-star hotel accommodation, extra staff and other kickbacks for politicians to come up with this new plan.

Now the new tax hike being proposed but denied by Canberra will bring Australian tobacco taxes in line with the rest of the world it will only account for two thirds of the $3 billion gap, where is the rest of the money going to come from win an election due at the end of the year?

I hope there’s not another alcopop tax rise.

Apple iPad

The new Apple iPad was launched just a couple of days ago and has sold big numbers (300,000 units on the first day) but is it really worth the $500 US pricetag?

The iPod was a great invention. Cassette tapes were a thing of the past and audio quality is come so far since the 1980s when the Sony Walkman was must have device, compact discs offer great quality but now enter the MP3.

The MP3 file format has been around for a while, I can remember downloading MP3s back in high school some 12 years ago, the popular programme WinAmp teamed up with Irish supergroup U2 to launch MP3 file format to the mainstream and to make sure that WinAmp was the program of choice. People could now also convert their CDs into the digital MP3 format and not have to touch their CDs again and CDs were also easily scratched which was great for retailers.

The iPod gave people a personal audio device that reproduces music in great quality that is also lightweight and can hold potentially hours or even days of audio. And the iPhone combines an iPod with a smart phone as well as lots of useful applications which can be downloaded to help make life easier or just to pass Time.

I will be the first to admit that I have never used the iPad, seen one in person nor do I like laptops/notebook computers because my arms are too short to reach the key is comfortably so I base my opinion on what I have read.

The iPad has no USB ports, no WebCam, no inbuilt GPS, no expansion slots and no ports or disk drives to insert media too load or save any files on so what is the big catch of the iPad? Hewlett-Packard are already showing off a device with all the things that the iPad should have but lacks.
If you want a touchscreen device there are already notebooks on the market with touchscreen technology which also come with USB ports, expansion slots, DVD burner and so on so what I’m asking is why spend the money on a device that has a lot of limitations when there are plenty more options for the bells and whistles you need. Is it because the Apple name?

Sit down, strap yourself in and enjoy the ride.