Then let’s hope you got thee to GottaHaveIt . Online bids were being accepted through August 6 for a Britney Spears T-shirt with the coveted (by some) signature of Justin Timberlake. Wait, wait, the troubled Ms. Spears is not to your liking? What about the jeans Marilyn Monroe wore in the 1954 “River of No Return”? Or a draft—handwritten, mind you—of Bruce Springsteen’s “Born to Run.” Then this is a celebrity auction for you.

From the Never-Give-Up-Hope Department

It was 1976. The home of a wealthy Connecticut woman was invaded, and the robbers made off with some important paintings—Gustav Courbet’s “The Shore of Lake Geneva,” William Hamilton’s “Lady as Shepherdess” and Childe Hassam’s “In the Sun.”

Fast forward to 2003. An antiques dealer needed cash for Christmas inventory. He gets his brother, a well-connected Rhode Island lawyer, to pay $20,000 for three paintings he had bought at auction. After several years of hanging on his living-room wall, the lawyer takes the pieces to be appraised. And much to everyone’s surprise, they are listed on the FBI’ register of stolen art.

After some legal wrangling, heirs of the wealthy Connecticut woman were declared the rightful owners and got the artworks—after 32 years.

Get in on the ground floor

Let’s talk. Don’t you sometimes fantasize that “oh, oui, that scrawny guy at the next table in Paris. Zut. Why didn’t I buy his stuff?” Well, if the scrawny guy was Picasso, you should have bought his “stuff.” If you’re looking for new important artists, you should read The New York Times article on the female artists of China.

Honus Wagner, the greatest all-around player EVER

And holy cow, his cards are out of the park. A Wagner 1909 card recently went for $1.62 million, and that didn’t even come close to the near-mint condition card that brought in $2.8 million. Why Honus Wagner cards are so rare is a subject of controversy. They were a tobacco-company issue. Did Wagner object because he didn’t want to encourage young’uns to smoke, or did the tobacco companies refuse to pay him what he felt what he was due? For those of us who seek baseball-card collectibles, it doesn’t matter. Honus Wagner is at the baseball-card-collectibles pinnacle.

The word band is simply not enough to describe the phenomenon known as Kiss. Their pounding rhythms, soaring guitars, over the top persona and spectacular stage show have built the group a legion of dedicated fans. However, the world has seen and heard a number of successful bands, what sets Kiss apart to a collector is the extensive catalog of memorabilia they have produced over the years. Formed in 1973 New York City, Gene Simmons, Paul Stanley, Ace Frehley, and Peter Criss adopted comic book like personas to separate their band from the rest of the landscape. Their initial albums sold slowly, but the band crafted a following with their outrageous make-up and larger than life, elaborate stage shows. The band was able to capture the excitement of their live shows on the live recording album Alive! The success came pouring in, and 35 years later Kiss have sold over 80 million albums and garnered 34 gold albums. I myself have never been a fan of the group, my experience with the group is like most, I know their biggest hit “Rock and Roll All Nite” and few of their other songs. Yet I have always marveled at the magnitude of their merchandise, there is practically a Kiss anything. From simple action figures to slippers, board games, coffee, there is even a Kiss casket! To gain further insight I recently spoke with two members of the Kiss Army to find out more about these dedicated collectors and what they love about Kiss. I talked to 47 year old Robert, who grew up with the band. He said the band “sang to him” as a teenager. Their rebellious nature was a mirror image of his own teenage angst, he wanted to emulate his idols so much that he created his own platform boots like Gene wore. Robert told me he had a number of prized personal collectibles such as ticket stubs dating back to the early 80s, his full collection of all original Kiss albums, and never published photographs from a New Orleans press conference in the mid 80s. He also showed me his drumhead from the 1996 Psycho Circus tour and a limited edition signature series Paul Stanley guitar. It was released for only one weekend at a Target, he waited in line for hours, purchased it for two hundred dollars, and that guitar can now be found going for 4 times the price. I also spoke with 36 year old Tammie, whose older brothers infected her with the Kiss bug at the age of six, and the next year she was dressed as Ace Frehley for Halloween. She loved Kiss because they were “different than everyone else” in the music industry. She loved the spectacle of the theatrical stage show. Tammie has attended a few Kiss conventions and recommends those for collectible purchases as opposed to the internet. Her personal favorite collectible is her Kiss watch with the Dynasty album cover on it, originally released in 1979. Kiss’ bravado and imagery have infatuated millions of fans worldwide, 35 years later and the band is still selling out stadiums and stamping their likeness on myriad new merchandise. Kiss collectors have a nearly unlimited arsenal of materials with which to build and enhance their collections.