most of my go memorabilia comes from getting stuff signed at the go congresses i've attended
i'm curious if anybody has anything they find noteworthy or interesting

Not really. But my two inch thick table board I got for free for winning an Ishi Press contest about 25 years ago. I got more people to take out subscriptions to Go World than anyone else and that was the prize. That was kind of memorable to me.

_________________
Still officially AGA 5d but I play so irregularly these days that I am probably only 3d or 4d over the board (but hopefully still 5d in terms of knowledge, theory and the ability to contribute).

I haven't been to a go congress or too many other go events. As a result, I don't really have anything unique that is go related.

My favorite piece of memorabilia is my Direction of Play book that I won when I tied for first place in the Two Cities United Tournament last year. It was my first go book since I bought Go! More than a Game in middle school and a great reminder of how much fun I had at the tournament. It is currently on loan to a friend. I should be getting it back over this summer (I want to read it again.)

_________________
"You have to walk before you can run. Black 1 was a walking move.
I blushed inwardly to recall the ignorant thoughts that had gone through
my mind before, when I had not realized the true worth of Black 1."
-Kageyama Toshiro on proper moves

I have a collection of fans I received from the players themselves: Kobayashi Koichi, Kato Masao (signed), Takemiya Masaki, Hashimoto Utaro, Nakayama Noriyuki.

I have a signed volume of Kobayashi Koichi's games from the Gendai Igo Taikei (Outline of Modern GO).

I have a collection of name cards of pros I met in person: Shao Zhenzhong, Kato Masao, Hashimoto Utaro, Muraoka Shigeyuki, Nakamura Kuniko, Inoue Hatsue, Zhujiu Jiang, Kano Yoshinori, Ota Siedo, Rin Kaiho, Takemiya Masaki, Michael Redmond, Ishii Kunio, He Xiaoren, Izumitani Masanori, Nakaoka Jiro, Wang Runan, Magari Reiki, Konagai Masaru, Nagasaki Yuji, Ohira Shuzo, Oeda Yusuke

I have an aluminum cup which I have used as a boy-scout when I was very young. Its tarnished and dented now, but it still holds the memories of many a camp. Very nice memento. I will try to post a picture if I find time and motivation.

_________________
- Bantari
______________________________________________
WARNING: This post might contain Opinions!!

I have a floor goban signed by Honinbo Satsugen and also a document called the "Prospectus for the Establishment of the Nihon Kiin" in an envelope signed by Honinbo Shusai.

I also have original traditional bound sets of Gokyo Shumyo (1812 edition) and Gokyo Seimyo (1835 edition) amongst quite a few other go books

_________________
http://tchan001.wordpress.com
A blog on Asian go books, go sightings, and interesting tidbits
Go is such a beautiful game.

You win

_________________
Patience, grasshopper.

Although it seems that tchan killed the thread I'd like to revive it because it is an interesting question and I'm curious to read more about everyone's memorabilia.

I, too, have a few items signed by pros which I treasure a lot: A copy of Kim Sung-rae's "After Joseki", signed by the author (a book that I really, really like a lot), a fan signed by Nie Weiping, a little notebook which I took to the European Go Congress in 2012 (the only one I could go to until today) and which has the signatures of a few pros, among them Mitani Tetsuya and one of my favourite pros: Hayashi Kozo, who even cared to write a few lines, too. He also gave me a little purse he brought from Japan which I sometimes use during tournaments.

However, my most treasured item is a fan signed by Iyama Yuta himself. <3 Looking at it I always think of that evening in Madrid when I was able to meet him in person after many years in which I replayed and collected his games and cheered for him. That was a really incredible evening and looking at the fan always makes me smile. Maybe this fan's objective value is low - it still means a lot to me. Even more than historical objects like signed gobans and other things from Honinbos of the past... sorry, tchan.

_________________

Go memorabilia that is directly from a go pro to yourself is always something which is very special. It's like a customized go memorabilia and something which forms a memory with you. You should always treasure such moments. Although I own historical go memorabilia, I can't really say that I have fond memories of receiving it from the Honinbos themselves. But I do have fond memories of chancing upon such items and having the luck to be able to successfully bid for some of them within my limited resources. This thread is not about who has the best memorabilia, it's a thread to record things which we each possess which we find meaningfully connected to the game of go. I love hearing stories everyone shares about how they acquired it. It's not just about the item, it's also about the process.

_________________
http://tchan001.wordpress.com
A blog on Asian go books, go sightings, and interesting tidbits
Go is such a beautiful game.

@ tchan: Totally agree with you! There is no "best" memorabilia, it is different for everyone and nothing that could be decided on objectively (I just said that last sentence to encourage others to share, too). It is always something individual, it's always about the player and his/her go playing history and since this is a really intersting topic let's hope more people will share their memorabilia.

_________________

In light of tchan's inspiring plea for the story connected to the memorabilia: I have two fans with calligraphy written by professional go players on them: one signed by Cho U at the 35th Kisei Title Match, which was a gift from the Nihon Kiin overseas division, and one with calligraphy of the words cosmic style signed by Takemiya sensei and presented to me by the man himself.

I also have a floor go board which is a lot older than I am (but then again, I'm still a whelp), which originally came from a Japanese inn that was located in Takamatsu on Shikoku. It's not too far from Innoshima (where Honinbo Shusaku first lived), and as the inn existed while Honinbo Shusaku was alive, I tell myself it's not impossible he played on it. The reason I value the goban so much however, is because a Japanese family I stayed with, who have become dear friends of mine, discovered I liked go, and said: "Oh, please come to our shed, we have something to show you." I went to the back of their house, and sure enough: up some dark stairs there was the goban they would later give to me as a present, and I would end up shipping back home. They saw I liked go and that was reason enough for them to trust me with what to me is an absolute treasure. That day will probably forever rank up there as one of the best days of my life.

i got yumi hotta to sign the re-released last volume of hikaru no go at the go congress she attended awhile back, she was pretty suprised to see someone running around with that

that said, i have no idea what to do with it, it's sitting in a bookshelf with a lot of other manga i don't read, haha

It is not very special compared to the memorabilia mentioned by others, but perhaps it is okay for you all if I mention my go gadget here. I recently bought a go watch. It has a go problem and some unreadible (for me) Japanese characters on the plate. Tought it was funny.