Very early Tiger Woods autograph

Question
I won a plastic ball out of a claw machine in the mid to late 90's(95-98) in a local arcade. When I opened it, it told
me to go to the front desk to claim my prize. When I did they gave me a plaque with a autographed photo with a certificate of authenticity in it with a young tiger woods in his back swing! At the time I didn't know much about tiger woods cause he hadn't accomplished a lot yet. So I sit it down mad that I didn't get a toy instead! Lucky for me my grandma was a antique and sports card collector and pick it up and told me to keep it cause it might be worth something some day! Little did she know that tiger woods would become one of the greatest golfers ever! So she put it up for me and I thought nothing of it till I was in high school and Tiger Woods was winning match after match and major after major then I knew I could possible have the autograph of the best golfer ever. So I very curious of how much this could be worth but i couldn't get an estimate from no one on exactly how much it was worth even with my grandmas many old friends who had been in the sports collectible business for years. So I just put it back up to keep it and hopefully it would gain more value  but now I want to know how much it's really worth cause I wanna sell it. So I would deeply appreciate an experts opinion on it to see if grandma was right! If u can help me find out how much it's worth it would mean a lot to me! Thank you!

Answer
HI Chris;

Well I will cut to the chase.  While I am a PGA Professional and an expert in my field of endeavor.  I am not an expert on the valuation of memorabilia.  So unfortunately, I can't really give you a good answer here.  I am not really a professional collector for other than myself.  Ugh, I do have a few things to get rid of though.  However, if I were you, I would keep it!  Matter of fact I would probably wrap it up and store it to keep it in as pristine a shape as you can.

Do your internet research, my quick look says anywhere from $1.00 to $6,000.00 depending on the year and condition.  But you can do this yourself.  There is no rhyme or reason to valuations on this stuff.

The reason I would keep it is.  Tiger's record is impeccable, you can see it here.  http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_career_achievements_by_Tiger_Woods  Tiger still has time to beat Jack Nicklaus in his PGA Tour Record and is very close to beating Sam Snead's record.  Those are two of his lifetime goals.  And I venture to say with the caliber of professional golfers out there today, Tiger's record is going to be difficult to beat.

While he has won the Grand Slam of golf, it was not all in the same year.  Could he do that yet?  Who knows?  What would happen if you sold it and he did that, oh man you would kick yourself big time. You have a piece of history in your hands.  KEEP IT.  Forget about the valuation of it, for now.  

You see, selling this piece of memorabilia (if that's your position on this) to early could turn out to be very costly.  I am fairly certain that he will accomplish his goal of beating Jack's record.  While it may be a tough road for him versus earlier in his career before injuries.  And it may be difficult for you to see it now.  I really believe, that you will see him make history with this, THAT is when the price of your item(s) will be worth something really big.  He still has some time left to do so.  And he will get better with age now.

All I can really say is, to look at this as a great investment for you and your family in years to come.  How much do you really have invested?  A dollar? Two dollars?  No matter what you sold it for today, you have already made money on it!  But you didn't mention selling it did you?  You only said valuate it.

I tell you what though, if you want to sell it, I will give you $10 for it, depending upon it's condition of course. Then I will do what I mentioned above myself.  Please don't take this as an insult, it's not, it's advice.  Advice that any collector would follow for themselves.

Somewhere or another in some of my belongings in a safe deposit box, I have an Ernie Banks and a Gale Sayers Rookie card ... Both Signed.  I also have a book signed by Ben Hogan too, a first edition run at that.  Think I am selling those, heck no.

Matter of fact, some of those things that you cherished as a child, have already increased in value.  Ever watch that show called Pawn Stars?  If not, then do so.  If you have, then how many times have you seen something that you may have had, go for a few hundred dollars.  Think about that pair of first edition run Nike Air Jordan's that someone bought new and kept them new.  I could give countless examples but the fact still remains, old is good and signed is better.  

Ask your parents and grandparents, they will I am sure agree, that they are kicking themselves, for getting rid of something they owned that is now worth 50 times what they paid for it.

But you yourself mentioned that your grandmother is/was a collector, so why ask me?  She would have much better resourcing to find out what you need than I.  All in all there are too many things to take into consideration on what you have.  Sight unseen, I could not give you an estimate.

I hope this helps and that you choose to put this back into safe storage for later in life.  Who knows, it may even prompt one of your children (if any) to go after his record.  You just never know what life will bring you.

Good luck and be well.  Happy golfing and have a great day.

Robb Nunn
PGA Professional