One of the most enduring and fulfilling hobbies is the collecting of sports and celebrity memorabilia, especially autographed memorabilia, which signifies the fact that the star actually touched the item in your collection, linking the greatness of their career to you if only for a few seconds.

Selected carefully and protected properly, you're building a link that will connect your own experiences and feelings to those of the next and future generations.

I fondly and vividly remember spending time at the ballpark with my father, many years ago. I was a Cleveland Indians fan, and his favorite player was Ted Williams of the Boston Red Sox, so we would make an annual trip to see the Indians and Red Sox play. We debated long hours about the best players of the day, and looking back I now appreciate that he was probably smarter than I was. But as a typical somewhat-rebellious boy, I always wanted to find someone to compare favorably against his favorite, so I picked Stan Musial, who at the time was putting up comparable numbers to Williams, and Rocky Colavito, who was my idol.

I did have a baseball card collection when I was young, but I regret that the collecting of autographed memorabilia wasn't popular then. If only I had an authentic Ted Williams autographed photo or ball to pass to my son, from his playing era rather than after he retired, I could pass it on to my son and link the three generations together.

Unfortunately, my father passed away before my son was born, so they never met. And not having collected anything jointly with my father, I have nothing to pass on from him.

If you have children or grandchildren, or plan to, now is a good time to put together your own legacy. A collection can be for forever. But there can be a problem ...........

In 1989, my wife and I opened a collectibles store. Over the years, thousands of pieces of sports and celebrity autographed items have passed through my hands. I trust most were authentic, and we gave our store's certificate of authenticity, which means that in our own best judgment, the signature was real, but I always told my customers that you never know if something is authentic unless you see it signed in person.

Unfortunately, not everyone gets the chance to meet Michael Jordan, Tiger Woods, Lebron James, or the other superstars of today. So then what? Do you take your chances on something important, and log onto eBay and search for the lowest prices? Do you do without? What's a person to do?

Fortunately there are reputable companies that are able to take you as close as possible to the actual signing event. The first and probably foremost company that comes to mind is the Upper Deck Company.

Upper Deck Authenticated became the first company to find an answer to the forgery problem, by creating a system that ensures that buyers of their merchandise are getting genuine autographs. Part of the process involves having an UDA employee physically witness each autograph the athlete provides. It also involves placing a serial numbered counterfeit-proof hologram on the item, and a matching numbered hologram on the certificate of authenticity. As long as the two holograms travel together, you can be assured that the item is authentic.

If you're looking for guaranteed memorabilia of the highest-profile athletes of today, whether for yourself or to start passing down to the next generation, or for a gift that will be cherished forever, click on any of the banners below.