Quote Originally Posted by slab0meat View Post
On the other hand, if a buyer is someone who *doesn't* want smelly jerseys hanging around, the value doesn't decrease at all. As with many things, it's worth what someone will pay for it.
It all depends on who is interested. In my experiences from the selling side of the fence is that some collectors will buy regardless of whether the jersey was washed as it just does not matter to them. On the other hand, many others wouldn't buy it for any amount of money once it has been cleaned. Being able to obtain unwashed jerseys is a recent development, so while it is appealing to a lot of collectors and perhaps even a requirement for some (I certainly understand the appeal), it is simply not that big of a factor one way or the other for some collectors.

It is all about personal tastes and preferences, and there are many various tastes in this hobby. On a similar note to the "washed" vs "unwashed" debate, one of the biggest surprises I learned when I became more involved as a dealer is that some collectors prefer unused team-issued jerseys or gamers with minimal use. I also discovered that some customers who usually insist on jerseys that show game wear will purchase a mint jersey if it is a particular player, team, style, etc. that they collect, as they would rather have a mint jersey than nothing at all if there are no other options available. There is abolutely nothing wrong with this - I was just surprised to see the interest level as I assumed (wrongly) that jerseys that did not show use would be nearly impossible to sell. When I have made team purchases over the years, I never had enough mint condition jerseys as they always sold well.

Mark Hayne
Gridiron Exchange
gixc@verizon.net