Our Experience & Commitment to Authenticity

For more than 30 years, we have been responsible for the sale of over 600,000 signed items, every one of them hand-signed by sporting and entertainment stars.

Every item we sell is accompanied by an A1 Certificate of Authenticity, personally signed by one of our directors, Terry or Freda Baker.

There are now many different forms of Certificates of Authenticity (COAs) in the marketplace. Ultimately, however, a certificate is only as trustworthy as the person or business behind it. Unfortunately, there are also people operating fraudulent systems, and an elaborate-looking certificate does not, in itself, guarantee that a signature is genuine.

Why We Believe Our Provenance Matters

Our experience has taught us that the most important thing when buying a signed item is knowing who you are buying it from and where the signature came from.

Even established organisations have made mistakes. For example, there was once a British organisation known as AFTAL, which was promoted as a system for trusted dealers. We ourselves once purchased a collection of Beatles and Rolling Stones signatures, together with signatures from several famous film stars, from a person associated with the organisation.

Sadly, every one of those items turned out to be fake. Even we were fooled by an organisation that was supposed to provide reassurance.

That experience reinforced something we have always believed: the provenance and integrity of the seller matter enormously.

Paying the Signer

As far as we are aware, we were among the first people to pay professional footballers directly for signing autographs.

Back in the 1960s and 1970s, footballers did not receive the enormous salaries associated with the modern game. We felt it was only fair that players should share in the value created by the sale of their signatures.

We have continued this principle throughout our business wherever possible. We source signed items directly from the signer, through signing sessions, or through trusted and established sources.

This gives us confidence in the authenticity of the signatures we sell — and gives our customers confidence in what they are buying.

Our History

We were originally known as A1 Sporting Memorabilia.

In 2015, we sold the stock and the name A1 Sporting Memorabilia to another company, which continues to trade under that name.

Around the same time, we began operating on a smaller, but still significant, scale under our original trading name of A1 Sporting Speakers.

Over the years, we have built long-standing relationships and agreements with some of the biggest names in sport.

Long-Term Relationships & Signing Agreements

We have been solely responsible for, or directly involved in, supplying genuine signed memorabilia from many major sporting stars, including:

PELÉ • STEVEN GERRARD • WAYNE ROONEY • SIR GEOFF HURST • SIR BOBBY CHARLTON • JIMMY GREAVES • THE ENGLAND 1966 WORLD CUP WINNING TEAM

…and many others.

We have also conducted non-exclusive signing arrangements and sessions with hundreds of other sporting personalities, including:

DIEGO MARADONA • FRANK BRUNO • SIR HENRY COOPER • OLE GUNNAR SOLSKJÆR • TEDDY SHERINGHAM • LUIS SUÁREZ • ALAN SHEARER • CRISTIANO RONALDO • RONALDINHO • ERIC CANTONA • PAUL GASCOIGNE • OSSIE ARDILES & RICKY VILLA • RICKY HATTON • JOE CALZAGHE • PAULO DI CANIO • THE WEST HAM 1980 SQUAD • SIR TREVOR BROOKING • LORD IAN BOTHAM • KEVIN KEEGAN

We were also Paul Gascoigne’s agents for almost eight years and conducted more than 100 signing sessions with him.

Our range occasionally extends beyond sport to include exceptional music and entertainment memorabilia.

Why Buy From Us?

When you buy from A1 Sporting Speakers, our aim is to offer genuine hand-signed memorabilia at a fair market price.

Our prices reflect the genuine costs involved in sourcing and supplying authentic memorabilia, including: payments to the signers; VAT and taxation; business overheads; eBay commissions and advertising costs; professional packaging; secure delivery; framing and associated materials where applicable.

We operate as an established business rather than an unregistered seller who may disappear tomorrow.

Delivery

For smaller items, we generally use Royal Mail Tracked 48.

Framed items are normally sent by courier.

Our postage charges are based on the actual costs of packaging, handling and delivery, and in many cases we subsidise these costs ourselves.

For example, on an average £5 delivery charge, our actual combined costs can be around £7.15.

For larger framed items, a £14.50 delivery charge can involve approximately £24 in delivery costs plus around £3.75 for packaging materials.

Questions & Customer Service

Questions about our items are always welcome.

You can contact us by message or, if your enquiry is urgent, by telephone on: 07973 287294

We endeavour to answer all genuine enquiries as quickly as possible.

Please bear in mind that we also have a busy touring schedule involving theatre shows and appearances with personalities including Harry Redknapp, Sir Geoff Hurst and others. When we are on the road, our response may occasionally be a little slower than that of some companies.

We do not normally respond to messages containing unrealistic or very low offers.

We pay for the memorabilia, pay the players and personalities for their signing sessions, pay VAT and other taxes, pay marketplace commissions and advertising costs, and operate on relatively small margins. Consequently, there is rarely significant room for further discount.

Our Promise

When you buy from A1 Sporting Speakers, you can be confident that our signed memorabilia is genuinely hand-signed and sourced either directly from the person who signed it, or through a trusted and established source with whom we have a long-standing relationship.

We have spent decades building our reputation and our network within the sporting and entertainment memorabilia industry.

We believe that provenance, experience and integrity matter far more than how elaborate a Certificate of Authenticity looks.

Thank you for taking the time to read about us.

We look forward to supplying you with genuine signed memorabilia — now or in the future.

Terry & Freda Baker
FTT EVENTS LTD t/a A1 Sporting Speakers

Originally published: 12/11/2020
Updated: 19/02/2025
Updated: 15/09/2026