Your sports souvenirs could earn big bucks
As a ‘Busby Babe’ soccer shirt gets set for auction here, we look at the value of old memorabilia
WHEN Irish soccer player Séamus Dunne swapped shirts with his English opposite number Roger Byrne on May 19, 1957, it must have been a happy occasion. The match at Dalymount Park had ended in a draw, honours even, in front of 47,000 fans.
It was a good result for Ireland against a team with some legendary players, who were not disgraced themselves away from home against an Irish side who boasted a few of their own.
Yet within months that No.3 shirt would be forever tinged with tragedy.
Byrne was captain of the Busby Babes, the legendary Manchester United team, named for their youth and their manager.
On February 6, 1958, the plane they were on attempted to take off for the third time in heavy snow at Munich Airport. It crashed killing eight of those talented young players, including Byrne.
Since then that shirt disappeared from public view, passed down ‘by descent’ in the Dunne family.
Next May it will resurface at a Whyte’s auction when it may become one of the most valuable soccer shirts to change hands here.
Whyte’s estimates that the shirt is worth €3,000-€4,000, which could eclipse the €3k fetched by the same auctioneers in 2014 by a David Beckham shirt worn at a Manchester United testimonial for Irish legend Denis Irwin.
English shirts have fetched higher prices in the past when sold across the Irish Sea but not very many and not by that much.
‘But I wouldn’t be surprised if that is a record for a football shirt sold in Ireland,’ said Dublin collector Barry Rojack.
‘Most Irish collectors wouldn’t spend that much… although, if that shirt gets press coverage in England, it wouldn’t surprise me if it went for 10k-plus.’
Kilkenny’s Fonsie Mealy Auctioneers, well-known purveyors of sports memorabilia, put Irish soccer legend Shay Brennan’s Irish international debut shirt on the market several years ago for €1,000-€1,200.
I asked auctioneer George Fonsie Mealy if he felt some kind of record might be set here by the Roger Byrne shirt. ‘It probably will, you know,’ he said.
A jersey worn by Busby Babe Tommy Taylor, who played alongside Roger Byrne that day in Dalymount Park – and died alongside him in Munich – achieved £3,800 (€4,400) at auction in 2016.
That was far beyond the value of most soccer jerseys on the burgeoning sports memorabilia market, where interest, if not prices, are being inflamed by lockdown fever.
Most Irish shirts carry a price tag of a few hundred euros at best – even those of icon Paul McGrath.
A replica Celtic jersey signed by Roy Keane mounted in a conservation frame was sold by Fonsie Mealy for €130 last year, up to €50 more than the estimate price.
So what’s the difference between a truly valuable shirt and one that looks nice on your wall but isn’t worth that much – even though it may have been signed by a soccer superstar?
‘A worn shirt is worth a lot more than a replica. Players might sign hundreds of replicas as part of their contract. You can just go to a shop and buy them,’ says Mr Rojack.
Also important is provenance – some kind of proof or indication that the item is what it is claimed to be.
‘There’s a lot of fakery around, especially in autographs. Provenance is important – who owns it? Where did it come from? A photo of the seller with the player would help provide comfort to a buyer, for example,’ said Ian Whyte.
If you can trace ownership back to original owner it’s a massive comfort. That Roger Byrne shirt is being sold by descendants of Séamus Dunne, which is excellent provenance.
But still people get stung. ‘A lady came to us before with a collection of sports memorabilia.
We had to tell her that all of it was fake,’ said Mr Whyte.
Our sister newspaper wrote about a UK collector who bought a pair of ‘Muhammed Ali’ boxing gloves from a reputable auction house. They were fake – and the firm told him they would not refund his money because too much time had passed.
Mr Whyte doesn’t think he should have settled for the brush-off. ‘I am not sure that would stand up in court under consumer law if he pursued it.
‘But if you buy memorabilia in an auction, be very careful how the auctioneer describes it.
‘If he says it’s a shirt signed by McCarthy he must stand over that. But if he said it’s “believed to be McCarthy” then it’s less reliable.’ Letters of authenticity that accompany shirts sold online may not be authentic themselves.
‘You’re not really getting a guarantee with these letters, you really need some kind of provenance,’ said Mr Whyte. Mr Rojack advises that the really valuable shirts worn in significant games may have marks and
tears that can help prove authenticity.
Soccer is far more popular worldwide than rugby.
But the most valuable rugby jersey – worn by an Irishman, albeit one who captained the All Blacks – eclipses the most valuable soccer jerseys in this part of the world.
The record price is £180,000 (€210,000) paid in 2015 for the top worn by Irish-born New Zealander Dave Gallaher.
He was the original All Black captain of the team that was the first to tour Britain and Ireland, between 1905 and 1906. They won 34 out of 35 matches.
The All Blacks weren’t so invincible – for once – when they played Ireland in Chicago in November 2016, a night whose memory puts a warm glow in the hearts of most rugby fans. Well they can snap up a memento at the upcoming Whyte’s auction – a shirt signed by that entire team of heroes. Also going under the hammer in May – and proving that there’s no end to what can be considered valuable memorabilia – are some x-rays. Of a horse.
Mind you the horse is Arkle, one of the greatest racehorses of all time.
The 20 x-ray plates document Arkle’s career-ending injury to his pedal bone.
If you want a set, it’ll set you back €1,000-€1,200.
So maybe it’s time to rummage through that ‘old junk’ you have clogging up your attic. You never know what it’s really worth!