The Authenticity of Sporting Collectibles & Memorabilia

Sporting collectibles can command a high price on the open market. Collectors pride their trophy cabinets on these sought-after memorabilia. But as these items become older, it can take more work to prove their authenticity.

Attributing an NFT with a physical collectible enables a digital representation of that real-world asset. Similarly, when a sports collectible is launched as an NFT, it provides the same level of verification and proof of authenticity. The NFT attached to the item could command a premium compared to those without, given the additional reliability around confirmation.

The complete transaction history of that NFT can be traced back to when the NFT was minted. If there is a question over its integrity, an investigation can be commissioned and traced back to counterparties for that transaction. This is already being trialled in the collectible art world, whereby NFTs are being used to verify the physical art piece. Suppose there is an indication that an NFT has been stolen or lost. In that case, this can be flagged by the owner of the physical collectible so that a new equivalent is issued and the underlying value of the compromised NFT is nullified. An approved authority could be used to give a revised proof of authenticity in compromised NFTs.

We see this in the PFP market, whereby high-value NFTs are stolen and sold. These are flagged by the victim (original owner) as stolen assets so that secondary marketplaces prevent/freeze these assets from being sold again. This adversely impacts the NFT value as the number of available secondary market platforms is reduced. For instance, frozen assets on Opensea are typically sold at a 20% discount on Looksrare. This is a familiar “buyers beware” concept in traditional asset markets. While this system isn’t necessarily fit for purpose for the NFT PFP sector, it could work sufficiently well with NFTs that are purely used for real-world asset verification purposes.