Memorabilia is a catchall term describing ephemera, products, posters, and trinkets associated with a particular cultural icon. The memorabilia associated with a major motion picture, for instance, may include movie posters, brochures, stickers, toys, signed scripts, wardrobes, pieces of sets, and much more. As memorabilia collecting has grown ever more popular, the purview of what is considered to constitute memorabilia has similarly expanded.

Big productions, such as TV show debuts, record releases, and movie rollouts, often budget to hand out memorabilia in order to strengthen exposure and attract viewers. During the height of the ''Dot Com Boom'' of the late 1990s and early 2000's, start-up internet companies held huge parties in San Francisco and other IT hubs, at which CEOs released squalls of kitschy memorabilia to potential fans.

While most of these start-up Dot-coms crashed and burned after using up their VC funding, memorabilia from these businesses still percolate through the culture. Buttons, toys, and kitschy items from the halcyon days of successful internet firms may one day fetch hundreds of dollars at auction. Even trivial items from failed start-ups may one day bring in bids from collectors.

The key to cultivating your collection is to preserve your memorabilia. Invest in good cases, displays, and holders. Make sure that valued items don't get scratched, chemically altered, or in any way torn or faded. This is not to say that you should treat every collectable as potentially precious memorabilia. But when it comes to honing your collection, never compromise high standards.