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Law enforcement agents confiscated over 600 fake championship rings across four major U.S. professional sports leagues and the NCAA from a South Carolina memorabilia store as part of a seizure of counterfeit merchandise, the South Carolina Secretary of State announced. The counterfeit goods could have fetched as much as $15 million at retail. The hefty price tag, the highest-value seizure in the office's history, was driven by fake NFL, NBA, MLB, NHL and NCAA championship rings, according to spokesperson Shannon Wiley. The hoard includes 157 Super Bowl rings, 83 NBA Finals rings, 99 World Series rings, 29 Stanley Cup rings...

Police in Rio de Janeiro have recovered a vast trove of Nazi uniforms, memorabilia and weapons worth almost $3.5 million at the home of an alleged pedophile, according to reports. Aylson Proenca Doyle Linhares, 58, was arrested Tuesday after a couple in his neighborhood accused him of abusing their 12-year-old son, according to Police Commissioner Luis Armond, Agence France-Presse reported. Police said they found more than 1,000 Nazi-related items at the suspect’s home, including images and busts of Adolf Hitler, uniforms, publications, paintings, insignia, flags, and medals of the Third Reich, according to Reuters.

A forthcoming sale of Nazi-related items by a Queensland, Australia auction house is being denounced by Jewish groups. While Jewish leaders are describing the auction as “sickening,” the Gold Coast-based auction house is defending its decision to hold the auction, claiming that it is important to remember the past, the Brisbane Times reported. Twenty-two pieces of Nazi memorabilia will be listed by Danielle Elizabeth Auctions, including an Ordnungspolizei (“order police”) uniform containing the SS symbol that is expected to sell for up to $1,500, sleeves embroidered with eagles and swastikas and swastika and skull pins from Waffen-SS hats. Also for...

Seinfeld ran for 180 episodes across nine seasons in the ‘90s and it was one of the most popular shows on the air, getting better ratings than even Friends. It was showered with Emmy Awards, boasts TV Guide’s favorite episode of television ever made (“The Contest”), got crowned “the number one reason the ‘90s ruled” by E!, and was named the second best-written TV series of all time by the Writers Guild of America. Naturally, in the years since it went off the air, related merchandise has been popping up all over the place. So, here are 10 Things That...

Artifacts connected to some of the nation's most notorious gangsters are being auctioned this weekend. A handwritten musical composition by Al Capone, a letter written by John Gotti, and jewelry that belonged to Bonnie and Clyde are among the items up for bid Saturday in the "Gangsters, Outlaws and Lawmen" auction in Cambridge, Massachusetts, by Boston-based RR Auction. The musical piece entitled "Humoresque" shows Capone's softer side. Written when Capone was in Alcatraz in the 1930s, it contains the lines: "You thrill and fill this heart of mine, with gladness like a soothing symphony, over the air, you gently float,...

Joe Corre — the son of Sex Pistols manager Malcolm McLaren and designer Vivienne Westwood — put $6.5 million worth of his dad’s punk memorabilia in a boat and lit it on fire, all to make a point. Corre told the crowd at the River Thames that “punk was never, never meant to be nostalgic — and you can’t learn how to be one at a Museum of London workshop.”

Sale of late ‘Beverly Hillbillies’ star’s belongings draws crowd to Denham Springs auction house Advocate staff photo by TRAVIS SPRADLING -- Geismar's Lisa Stevens, a childhood fan of the television show 'The Beverly Hillbillies,' looks over a rack of coats and dresses that belonged to the late Donna Douglas, who played Elly May Clampett on the series, before estate items that belonged to Douglas were auctioned off Saturday at Southern Heirs Auction Company in Denham Springs. The dark coat, foreground, was the only item at the auction known to be used in the series; it was given to Elly May...

Flattering it might have been. But the lady herself would probably have had something to say about all this rampant inflation. How could a little silver bowl, with a guide price of £400, reach £47,500 in a couple of minutes? How could a signed photo — and she must have signed hundreds, if not thousands — rocket from £600 to ten times that sum in a blink? Moments later, it was snaffled by a mystery buyer in Singapore for a tidy £13,000. Such was the premium attached to anything with the imprimatur of Margaret Thatcher yesterday evening as many of...

An employee at a Confederate memorabilia store in Summerville, South Carolina became very angry when CNN’s cameras tried to film the store in a segment on the Confederate flag broadcast on Tuesday’s “Erin Burnett OutFront.”

This past weekend my husband asked me to find out the value of some sports memorabilia that he would like to sell. So I went online and looked on Ebay, and while they have some things listed there, they are not exactly what we have. Today I took them to a local museum and showed the items to the curator, and he said two of the things in particular are valuable, but he could not give me a price. So I need to know if someone can suggest a sports memorabilia appraiser? Thanks!

Slowly but steadily, a decade-old business around the dead and universally despised dictator Adolf Hitler is emerging as a small-scale industry in India. Books and memorabilia on the German leader's life have found a steady market in some sections of Indian society where he is idolised and admired, mostly by the young. The numbers are small but seem to be growing. Latest reports say Bollywood is now planning to cash in. A film - Dear Friend Hitler - is due to be released by the end of the year, focusing on the dictator's relationship with his mistress Eva Braun. It's...

One can measure the failures of the film American Beauty in so many ways, but perhaps the best is to realize that the screenwriter was so unsure of his audience’s ability to spot a creep that he had to make Kevin Spacey’s next-door neighbor not just a sadist and a closet case but also a collector of Nazi memorabilia. I bring this up because a fetish for the baubles of fascism is generally thought to be a good way of alienating civilized company. The auction house Christie’s refuses to sell the stuff. And whatever the interpretative fallacies of the late...

I'm so tired of all the Obama trinkets and ephemerae that seem to populate the shelves of so many stores, especially the "Quickie Marts" where the average shopper has the I.Q. of a louse.Now Obama has gone too far and endorsed some libations for his Peeps in the 'Hood

NASHVILLE, Tenn. - This year many Christmas gifts have taken a political tone. Obama gifts have overtaken Tickle-Me Elmo and Nintendo Wii as the most popular gifts of the year. Some believe the Barack Obama presidency may have given the economy a boost even before he takes office. Many small stores have struggled in the tough economy. Some retailers say the sale of Obama merchandise has helped their slumping sales. The merchandise has become a hot item that comes in every shape and size. Tucked away in a little corner on Jefferson Street, a small specialty bookstore has suddenly transformed...

A VICTORIA Cross medal from the Vietnam War has sold for $488,000 at auction in Sydney as part of a collection of 12 medals and memorabilia. The medal was awarded to Adelaide-born Major Peter Badcoe for a series of heroic actions during the Vietnam War in 1967. The Victoria Cross, the Commonwealth's highest decoration for gallantry, was sold to an anonymous buyer, but will remain in Sydney, the auctioneer said. Three bidders were in the race to buy the medals, with spirited bidding starting at $300,000 in Bonhams & Goodman's auction house in Double Bay tonight. Bonhams & Goodman chairman...

Article Launched:09/14/2007 06:33:21 AM PDT LAS VEGAS—O.J. Simpson was questioned about a casino hotel room break-in involving sports memorabilia, police said Friday. The break-in was reported at the Palace Station casino late Thursday night, police spokesman Jose Montoya said. He said the break-in involved sports collectibles, but he declined to elaborate. Simpson was released, but is considered a suspect in the case, Montoya said. He is believed to be in Las Vegas. "We don't believe he's going anywhere," he said. The Heisman Trophy winner, ex-NFL star and actor had been scheduled to give a deposition Friday in Miami in a...

The Seminole Tribe of Florida is buying the Hard Rock business, including its massive collection of rock 'n' roll memorabilia, in a $965 million deal with British casino and hotel company Rank Group PLC, the tribe announced Thursday. The Hard Rock business includes 124 Hard Rock Cafes, four Hard Rock Hotels, two Hard Rock Casino Hotels, two Hard Rock Live! concert venues, and stakes in three unbranded hotels. With it, the tribe acquires what is said to be the world's largest collection of rock memorabilia, some 70,000 pieces including Jimi Hendrix's Flying V guitar, one of Madonna's bustiers, a pair...

Hundreds of pieces of Elvis Presley memorabilia were auctioned off over the weekend by a longtime collector trying to win back his girlfriend after she warned: "You leave the Elvis clothes or I'll leave you."

LAS VEGAS - A retired Elvis impersonator helped Las Vegas police nab a man suspected of stealing more than $300,000 worth of memorabilia from the Elvis-A-Rama museum, authorities said Wednesday. Duke Adams, a 62-year-old "older-era Elvis," said he was approached while in line at a pharmacy by a man offering to sell him items once owned by Elvis Presley, including jewelry, clothing and the king's revolver. Remembering the March 2004 burglary, Adams said he asked the man to stop by his business the next day. Adams went home and called police. Authorities arrested Eliab Aguilar on Nov. 3. after the...

LOS ANGELES (AP) - Ten years after he was acquitted of killing his ex-wife and her friend, O.J. Simpson was back in Los Angeles - autographing sports memorabilia for people attending a horror movie convention. Simpson acknowledged it felt "strange" to be signing autographs in such venue, but said it didn't occur to him that the date nearly coincided with the 10th anniversary of his Oct. 3, 1995, acquittal on charges of murdering his ex-wife Nicole Brown Simpson and her friend Ronald Goldman. "I don't keep these dates in my head," Simpson told The Associated Press on Friday as he...