e-Help Report - Michael Jackson Memorabilia
How do you put a price on a treasured piece of memorabilia? And if you decide to sell it, who can you trust to help you?
The recent death of Michael Jackson prompted one woman to take a second look at one of her prized possessions.
So how can you determine the value of a special shirt autographed by Michael Jackson?
We asked memorabilia expert, Peter Siegel. He's the owner of "Gotta Have It!" on 153 East 57th Street in Manhattan. They buy and sell various celebrity items.
According to Peter, "It depends what type of item you have his signature on.
In the case of Michael Jackson,"If you have Michael Jackson's signature on a generic piece of paper, it's worth maybe $100 to a $150."
"If it's on the actual cover of an album, like "Thriller", it's probably worth from $1,000 to $1,200.
"If it's a T-shirt from one of his concerts, that was sold on the open market for $20 to $30 and Jackson signed it, the value could be anywhere between a thousand and $2,000, depending on the quality of the T-shirt."
"It's still better than having a signed photograph or piece of paper. If it's something he actually wore in concert? signed by him? Pictures of him wearing it? The ultimate value could be upwards of $20,000".
"There is a good value to Michael Jackson items," Peter says. "But again it's all timing. If you're looking to buy something now you're going to be paying more than if you waited six months to a year from now, when things will quiet down a bit."
"This is the time to sell, actually two weeks ago was the time to sell," Peter says. "A lot more items have come on the market, but there's still a tremendous following for him."
"I think the most value Michael will have as time goes on, are the costumes worn when he was younger, as part of "The Jackson Five. They were very colorful, there's pictures of him wearing them. We do have a big market for it. Michael Jackson was very special. He was not only important to our generation, which was the baby boomer generation, but our kids and other people's kids, who really followed him, he had a really, really big attraction."
