Sunday, February 1, 2009

Superbowl Reflections

Having served as CEO of Beckett Media for the four years before founding Priceless Legacy, I can't help but view sporting events through a business lens. Beckett, for the unfamiliar, is the nation's premier publisher of price guides and other content in electronic and print form for sports collectors.

Among sports collectors, it is not uncommon to pay prices in the thousands and tens of thousands of dollars for game worn jerseys or prized trading cards. For example, a 2004 Topps Ben Roethlisberger rookie card graded by Beckett as a perfect 10 our of 10 sells for almost $3000. Imagine that. Of course most collectors don't personally know the sports heroes they collect. By definition, there is a market for these items simply because others value them too. But also there are publicly recorded stories of on field glory that drive the appreciation of the physical items.

Now, think how much meaningful memorabilia there is your own family. Old photographs, legal papers, military records, report cards, deeds from the first home purchase or college degrees and diplomas. How do you put a price on those? More importantly, who will record the stories that go with those items?

LifeStory capture is vital and urgent. There is no ESPN or NBC to record the stories that define you and your family. That is up to you.

1 comment:

Unknown said...

Peter,

You make an excellent point in this post! People often don't view their own family history as being as valuable as sports memorabilia, but of course it is - and more!

BTW, another life story capture focus could be documenting the "glory days" of high school or college sports participation by an individual.

Tom Gilbert
Legacy Consultant
www.your-life-your-story.com