Britain’s ugliest dog and Deadpool star Peggy boosts Bourne-based The Sports Cave Memorabilia
The pawprints of a unique movie star dog are helping to grow an autograph hunter’s international memorabilia business.
Tom Dawson, from Bourne, turned his passion for tracking down the autographs of famous footballers into a business - The Sport Cave Memorabilia.
It specialises in sports memorabilia, but Tom has now branched out into the world of film, with Tom attending movie premieres to snare a star autograph.
Last week he snapped up Channing Tatum’s signature at the Blink Twice premiere and got most of the cast at the Wonka premiere before Christmas. Next stop is Beetlejuice 2.
Yet his latest big screen face was something a little different.
After watching Deadpool, the film based on the comic book figure, Tom decided to track down its canine star, Dogpool.
Mixed breed pooch Peggy, labelled Britain’s ugliest dog, played the role opposite lead actor Ryan Reynolds.
“The dog has a Funko toy which makes it marketable so I thought ‘I wonder if it’s possible to pawprint these toys?’,” Tom said.
“I found the owner was from Hull and looked to contact them.”
Having negotiated a fee of £100 per paw print from Peggy’s manager, Tom collected 21 paw-printed toys and 20 ‘signed’ cards for framing and began selling them last weekend.
Within a few hours, the first five to be displayed on his website had been sold for a cool £300 a pop - all to fans in the United States.
“I’m quite well known in the memorabilia business, so when I put them on the website, people were waiting to buy them,” he added.
“I don’t think anyone’s done anything like this with a dog.”
Sport Cave is a sideline to his oven cleaning business OvenGleam, which he set up seven years ago and was inspired by a mission to meet global football superstar Cristiano Ronaldo.
“When he came back to Man United I really wanted to try and meet him and it went on from there really,” he recalled.
“Since I was a teenager I’ve had bits and bobs, but I started going to United a lot when Ronaldo came back. Then I was just getting autographs to cover my costs of match tickets, hotels and fuel to go to Manchester.
“Then it spiralled. People were buying them and then coming back for more.
“You’re suddenly trying to keep up with the demand for certain players at other clubs. I go to Wimbledon as well for the tennis. It’s pretty cool.”
As well as picking up signings at matches and red carpet events, Tom negotiates private signings with sports personalities.
The list includes Paul Gascoigne and former England captain Bryan Robson, as well as former world darts champion Martin ‘Wolfie’ Adams.
Tom has captured a selfie with David Beckham, but the former England skipper’s signature remains elusive and top of his most-wanted list of lucrative signatures.
However, not every modern footballer is so keen to help.
“Some players will refuse to sign for you,” he said.
“Some players hate people that are in the industry and they won’t do it for you, so that can be tricky. But when you do a private signing, for example I paid the owners of the dog, and paid Paul Gascoigne, it’s different then.”
The venture has proved so popular that the Bourne entrepreneur had a to take a few months away from the kitchen to meet the demand for memorabilia.
“I would like to have a shop in the long run, but it’s hard now because everything’s online,” he said.
“But I will need to get a unit at some point - I’ve got a two-bed house and one bedroom you can hardly get in it. My girlfriend hates it!”
