The Powers Sports Memorabilia Show is an educational podcast for sports memorabilia collectors and autograph enthusiasts.
Hosted by Matt Powers of Powers Sports Memorabilia, the show covers autograph collecting, sports cards, autograph signings, authentication, game-used memorabilia, collecting tips, memorabilia values, and the latest trends in the hobby.
Learn how to choose the best pens for autographs, understand PSA, JSA, Beckett and other authentication services, prepare items for autograph signings, evaluate signed memorabilia, collect sports cards, protect your collection, and avoid common mistakes.
Whether you're a new collector or have been collecting autographs and sports memorabilia for years, each episode is designed to help you become a more knowledgeable collector and make better decisions when building your collection.
New episodes cover football, baseball, basketball, hockey, sports cards, autographed jerseys, helmets, balls, photos, game-used memorabilia and more.
Visit our website below for upcoming autograph signings, authenticated sports memorabilia and more collecting resources.
In this episode of The Powers Sports Memorabilia Show, Matt breaks down exactly which pens we use for autographed jerseys during professional signings.
The biggest factor is knowing whether your jersey has a sewn-on number or a screen-printed number.
We explain when to use a black Sharpie, when a silver Sharpie actually works great, and when a silver paint pen is the better choice.
Matt also explains why you should never use a white paint pen on a fabric jersey number, plus what can happen when cheap jersey material causes an autograph to bleed.
If you're sending a jersey to an autograph signing, this episode will help you choose the right pen without overcomplicating it.
Keep it simple, match the pen to the material, and always test your pen before the athlete signs.
SPEAKER_00
Alright, welcome back to another episode of the Power Sports and Rebellion Show. I am your host, Matt Powers. Thank you again for joining me. Don't forget to visit the website powersports and rebellio.com. Also give us a follow over there on Instagram at PowersAutographs. Alright, continue with our series on the best pens for specific items, and today we are going to be talking about jerseys, which is a very simple topic, but I think people overcomplicate it because they think this is a complicated item to get signed. I'm not quite sure why, but hopefully today's topic will kind of clear it up for you. But there is one pen that you should never use on a jersey, a pen and a color, actually. And we will talk about that here in just a little bit. So, first off, let's talk about the jerseys themselves. There are essentially basically two different types of jerseys, okay? You've got your sewn on number and then you've got your screen printed number, okay? And the screen printed versions would be like the Nike game ones. Uh believe it or not, Mitchell and S has a screen printed number for their authentic jerseys now. I kid you not. It's a super nice jersey, very heavy, very well put together, but it's screen printed on. I it's the craziest thing ever. We've had so many troubles with those guys. It's just it's just a weird jersey to sign. We've just gone back to Sharpies with them, and it's the only way to get those things signed. Uh so if you do buy that $300-plus dollar authentic Mitchell Ness jersey, just know that the numbers are screen printed, so uh, which is really bizarre. But it's like, hey, how can we make a jersey cheaper but charge more for it? So anyway, you guys have basically got those two different types of jerseys. You got your son on number, okay, and then you've got your screen printed number. The sonon number is a twill number, okay? Basically, it's almost like you know, getting a thin shirt signed, okay? Whereas the screen printed is like getting a plastic number signed, okay? So starting with these screen printed ones, like the Nike game, only use a sharpie on those. Paint pens have a very hard time drying on them, so only use a sharpen. You can believe it or not, you can use a silver sharpie on these jerseys. So if you've got a dark Nike game jersey or one of those Fanatics branded jerseys, if it's a dark number, you can use the silver sharpen in there. That'll be fine. It actually is a very sharp pen. It looks really good on those. 100%. If it's a lighter color number, then you can definitely use a black sharpie. And those are pretty much your only two options on those. I wouldn't do anything different than those two on the screen printed, okay? So if you don't know how to figure out a screen printed jersey before you buy it, you can look on the description there and it'll tell you what type of number it is on that website, okay? But that's the only two pens that I would use on a screen printed number. Going over to a son on number. Okay. This is where I think people kind of get a little too deep into the weeds here, okay? We use a type of pen on these. It's a pilot pen. You can call it a zebra because it's got the zebra stripes on there. It's the green one with the noseiling, okay? Don't get too deep into the weeds on these, okay? If you can find this pen, use it. If you don't want to use it, you can't find it. It's a Japanese pen. It's not a big deal, people. Like, my god, if you get it signed in a sharpie, it's not gonna be the end of the world, okay? Yeah, it may not be as bold as this other pen. It may not be as thick as this other pen because the Sharpie can tend to be a little bit thinner. It'll be okay. I promise you, you'll be fine. So, but we use this pen on all of our Sonon numbers. Uh, they don't sell it really here in America. Again, that's like a Japanese pen. I think we buy ours. Uh Jan from Vietnam actually gets them for us. So, um, but again, don't worry about it. If you have a son on number, you can use a paint pen if you want to, a black one, that's fine. But if you are in Struggle Bust City here, a black Sharpie is gonna be just fine for you. Now, if you are gonna use it on a jersey, just make sure that you beat it up just a little bit, okay? What I mean by that is run the pen for a little while. Don't take a fresh one and just use it immediately. You gotta beat the tip up just a little bit because otherwise it comes up a little too thin. So I would probably run it for about 30 seconds to a minute, really kind of get it flowing and get the tip beaten up a little bit so you get a little bit thicker of an autograph on your jersey, okay? Uh and if you want something a little bit thicker, then you can use a super sharpie, which is just a little bit thicker of a pen, but completely up to you. If you have a dark number, then silver is the best way to go. Silver fine deco, okay? That's the best size and tip. Uh, if you want to do gold, I've seen people do this on 49er jerseys. It's fine, it works, okay. Uh, just don't know what it's gonna look like in 10, 15, 20 years. But gold and silver are pretty much your only options on dark numbers, okay? Uh a lot of people get real confused here and like, oh, all right, let's let's do white. White's gonna be great, you know. I think it's gonna be a perfect little one for this number. No, we've done numerous videos on this topic. I've shown you guys on Instagram a bunch of different times. You cannot use white on fabric, you can't use it on uh if you're getting a card sign on the fabric, also, you know, they got those patch cards, you can't use white on that either, okay? So you can't use it on a jersey number. It basically fades into the the material and it turns gray, and you'll never see the autograph, okay? So you cannot use white under any circumstance. Don't ask us to use white, we're just gonna change it to silver. Uh so don't ever use white. I repeat, don't use white, don't use white, don't use white. There, we've said it three or four times. It's now the truth, okay? So if it's a dark number, you can only use silver and gold. One color that you probably haven't heard me talk about is blue on those uh on those white numbers. Uh, you can use blue if you want to. Uh, a lot of people say blue bleeds or whatever the story is. I mean, it's it's up to you, okay? Um I just prefer black. I think it's just a better looking color for a jersey. Now, if you got one of them overseas jerseys, you know which ones I'm talking about. Uh those things, um, if you don't use the, we use the uh the the pilot zebra there. If you don't use those, the sharpies, they just bleed everywhere. I remember one time somebody sent us an overseas jersey, and they wanted Lawrence Taylor to sign it, and he wanted it in black sharpie. They're like, okay, man, well, we'll we'll do this jersey for you. And as soon as he signed it, it immediately started bleeding. And Lawrence goes, Ah, we got a runner! We got a runner! I was like, Yep, that's what he wanted. We tried, but so those overseas jerseys are just junk. That's why we always recommend doing official license stuff. That way you get the best quality autograph. So again, hopefully this clarifies you on the jerseys. Just keep it real simple, okay? If you want black, do a sharpie, okay? If you want silver, do a silver paint pen on the sonar numbers and do a silver sharpie on the screen printed ones, okay? That's it. Those are the pretty much the only three pens you need, okay? Keep it very, very simple for you. So hopefully that doesn't overcomplicate it for you and simplifies it. And if it didn't, well then we didn't do our job. But hopefully that helps you guys there. Again, we will always pick the best pen for you. You don't need to to to worry about that. You know, if you say you want black on this jersey, we know what pen to use it on. So don't get too deep into the weeds in here. Breathe easy. I promise you you can't screw it up. Again, don't forget to visit the website powersportsmobility.com. Also give us a follow there on Instagram at powersautographs, and I will see you on the next episode.
