Patent Application
20170150833
The present disclosure relates to the field of sports memorabilia, and in particular miniaturized sports memorabilia that provide space-saving benefits in displaying these items.
Sports fans often collect sports memorabilia of their favorite sports teams and players for display in their homes. The sports memorabilia marketplace today is a $5 billion dollar global market, with $1 billion of which attributable to the United States. From baseball cards to autographs to signed jerseys, millions of collectors are spending substantial money on these keepsakes. One commonly collected item is the sports jerseys of favorite football, baseball, basketball, and hockey players at the high school, collegiate, and professional levels. However, displaying these sports jerseys can sometimes present a problem.
Sports fans commonly collect sports memorabilia or collectibles of favorite athletes playing for their favorite sports teams. As understood in the industry, items that have been signed by an athlete are considered memorabilia when the signature has been certified by a reputable distributor. Replica and authentic sports products that are unsigned, or are signed but not authenticated, are considered collectibles. Sports jerseys are popular collected items and are often displayed in frames or shadow boxes and hung on the wall. However, for an enthusiastic sports fanatic, his/her collection may quickly overwhelm the space available on the walls of the den, game room, or man/woman cave.
The miniature sports jersey 14 may be attached to a backboard 20 that forms a backdrop for the item. The backboard may be constructed of a cardboard or wooden board covered in a fabric or other material that is of a color compatible or complementary with the sports jersey. Alternatively, the sports jersey may be sandwiched between two clear panes of glass that are held by the frame 18, so that the jersey can be hung or displayed with both the front and back sides of the jersey visible, as shown in
The frame or shadow box may be square, rectangular, or of any suitable shape, and be constructed of any suitable material, including wood, metal, plastic, a composite material, etc. The plaque 16 may be constructed of paper, cardboard, wood, metal, stone, plastic, a composite material, or any suitable material. The logo can be printed, engraved, or deposited indelibly on the plaque 16 in any suitable conventional manner. Although an autograph signature is preferably authentic and applied by the athlete using a permanent marker, it may also be printed, engraved, or deposited indelibly on the plaque 16 in a suitable conventional manner.
Although not shown explicitly, the same idea described herein may be applied to other types of memorabilia and collectibles. For example, duplicate miniature versions of the entire athletic uniform, helmets, shoes, sports equipment, etc. can also be displayed in the same space-saving manner. In this manner, the collector may store the full-size item in safe storage so that it does not fade, get damaged, or is in danger of theft. More importantly, the collector can still proudly display the miniaturized version of the memorabilia and collectible, but in a space-saving and aesthetically-pleasing manner.
The features of the present invention which are believed to be novel are set forth below with particularity in the appended claims. However, modifications, variations, and changes to the exemplary embodiments described above will be apparent to those skilled in the art, and the miniaturized sports memorabilia and collectibles described herein thus encompasses such modifications, variations, and changes and are not limited to the specific embodiments described herein.
