Replies to This Discussion

Permalink Reply by Robin Banks on June 9, 2016 at 10:47am

Stay away from the rubber basketballs.  Stick with the Leather Spaldings.  Also, use a Black Sharpie instead of the Silver ones.  The Silver Sharpies look great but for some reason they do not hold well as the Black ones IMO.

• ▶ Reply

Permalink Reply by Jason Toney on June 9, 2016 at 11:56am

I have a Sterling Signature basketball ball. It has 3 white panels for signatures and the rest is regular bball color. IV seen all white ones also but its worked great for me with black sharpie

• ▶ Reply

Permalink Reply by Steve on June 9, 2016 at 12:40pm

I have always found the official indoor/outdoor NBA basketballs to be the best. They look just like the NBA leather ball, but because they are synthetic, they only cost about $25. I have about 8 of these signed, all about 15-20 years old, and the signatures are still perfect. All signed in black sharpie and one signed in silver.

• ▶ Reply

Permalink Reply by Mike White on June 10, 2016 at 5:14am

In terms of simply preserving it, I've heard no real complaints about the Official Indoor/Outdoor balls that Steve mentioned.

If it's a paid signing and you want the most for your money, though, I'd go with the genuine leather Spalding. Anything else won't hold the value near as well.

• ▶ Reply

Permalink Reply by James on June 10, 2016 at 8:31pm

I have a Wilt Chamberlain signed basketball that is about 20 years old. It's an Official NBA Game Ball. Wilt signed it with a silver paint pen. It still looks like it was signed yesterday.

In my experience, I would avoid the black sharpies or markers, because, unless you keep it in total darkness, it will fade. If you look at Michael Jordan balls that were signed for Upper Deck 20 years ago, many of them that were signed in black have faded quite a bit. I think paint pen does not fade very much even if you display it a lot.

• ▶ Reply