Buying sports memorabilia? It's a trade fraught with fakes

MIAMI (Daniel Vasquez) - Hey, it's just dandy that the Miami Heat is in the NBA finals for the first time. I've got my celebratory beer bottles ready -- stored next to my new hurricane gas cans.

But when something huge and historical hits your hometown, you gotta know there will be lots of people out there trying to make a fast buck. And of course they'll include those hawking sports memorabilia.

So before you race to a store or eBay to buy something -- anything -- autographed by Dwyane Wade and friends, keep in mind that the sports memorabilia game is a $1 billion-plus industry fraught with fakes.

When you consider the dizzying array of autographed items out there -- jerseys, caps, photos, helmets, baseball bats, etc. -- it's easy to see how you can end up with something very cool and very counterfeit. And don't give me that sorry line about "My Babe Ruth autographed card has to be real because it came with a certificate of authenticity." Gimme 10 minutes at Kinkos, I'll give you a cocktail napkin signed in lipstick by Mother Teresa and a certificate to boot. It can be that easy to make something phony look real. (Has South Florida's cosmetic-surgery industry taught us nothing?)

Heck, the FBI estimates the majority of sports memorabilia for sale are forgeries. But if you're bent on acquiring a piece of history -- whether you're a sports fan or you love someone who is -- it pays to protect yourself by following some simple rules.

To help me, I spent an afternoon with a local expert, Victor Shaffer. He's the executive vice president of Dreams Inc., the owner and operator of some of the most lucrative sports memorabilia companies in the country, including Mounted Memories in Sunrise.

The business may be South Florida's biggest emporium of sports memorabilia and customized displays, boasting a 40,000-square-foot warehouse and rakes in about $20 million a year in sales. They have neat weird stuff, too, like autographed 3-foot Dan Marino bobbleheads and a pumpkin-orange racecar nose cone used and signed by NASCAR champion Tony Stewart. That alone trumps my 20-year-old Hot Wheels collection.

Legitimate memorabilia companies like Shaffer's have become the sheriffs of the sports-memorabilia landscape. They take pains to offer authenticated autographed items -- like baseballs signed by Roger Clemmons and Hank Aaron -- that come with hologram stickers imbedded with information that can be verified by his company as well as Major League Baseball, including the origin, date and other details of the items they sell. Shaffer also surfs online auction sites that sell fakes so he can turn them in to authorities.

"Fans need to be careful about qualifying the source they are buying from," says Shaffer. "That's why I tell people they should only buy from dealers who are fully licensed by a league or entity that can verify the autograph."

Shaffer is also big on fans doing their homework before buying something expensive.

For instance, his company has the first autograph contract with all 35 surviving Super Bowl MVPs -- think: Joe Montana, Kurt Warner, Emmit Smith -- who have signed several items like a helmet worth $12,000-plus. If you know insider information like that, you won't waste $1,200 on a helmet said to have 40 MVP autographs. It doesn't exist.

Between Shaffer, the FBI and other experts, I've learned a few more things to keep in mind when shopping for sports memorabilia:

If what you are buying seems too cheap to be real, it probably isn't -- real, that is.

A photo of an athlete signing an item is not proof something is real.

Illegitimate dealers use the same venues as legitimate ones, including charity events, TV shopping shows and trade publications.

Contact athletes directly via their leagues, teams or representatives to find authentic dealers (i.e. www.mlb.com or www.nfl.com).

None of this really matters if you don't plan on selling your memorabilia. If you think you have a Joe Namath autographed football, than you'll enjoy it no matter what.

Oh, and your collection will be worth more if you choose the right athletes to honor. That's why Shaffer's Mounted Memories also does brisk business framing Little League and junior soccer league jerseys.

After all, who's a bigger star than your own kid?