Question on Chamberlain Jersey

[blades3]

Guys,

I have a Wilt jersey that arrives with a letter on Sixers letterhead from Harvey Pollack (director of statistical information), but I'm not completely comfortable with its authenticity based on the letter alone and I'm asking for your input. The letter reads, "This letter is to confirm that the 76ers jersey provided me by XXX is one that Wilt Chamberlain wore when he joined the 76ers in January of 1965. The team changed uniforms in the ensuing season to coincide with the team winning the NBA title in 1967. I was the team's director of public relations during Wilt's stay with the team."

Here are some images, whatever information is helpful. Thanks.

http://www.flickr.com/photos/collect_auctions/4749357536/
http://www.flickr.com/photos/collect_auctions/4749357552/
http://www.flickr.com/photos/collect_auctions/4749357578/
http://www.flickr.com/photos/collect_auctions/4749357616/
http://www.flickr.com/photos/collect_auctions/4748716419/

[blades3]

34148

34149

34150

34151

34152

[cohibasmoker]

Guys,

I have a Wilt jersey that arrives with a letter on Sixers letterhead from Harvey Pollack (director of statistical information), but I'm not completely comfortable with its authenticity based on the letter alone and I'm asking for your input. The letter reads, "This letter is to confirm that the 76ers jersey provided me by XXX is one that Wilt Chamberlain wore when he joined the 76ers in January of 1965. The team changed uniforms in the ensuing season to coincide with the team winning the NBA title in 1967. I was the team's director of public relations during Wilt's stay with the team."

Here are some images, whatever information is helpful. Thanks.

http://www.flickr.com/photos/collect_auctions/4749357536/
http://www.flickr.com/photos/collect_auctions/4749357552/
http://www.flickr.com/photos/collect_auctions/4749357578/
http://www.flickr.com/photos/collect_auctions/4749357616/
http://www.flickr.com/photos/collect_auctions/4748716419/

Heck - if that was my jersey, I'd be REAL comfortable with it - it's awesome. Pearson was the Official Distributor for the Eagles and 76ers back in the day. And as a kid growing up in Philly, Harvey Pollack was always showing up at Little League games with free 76ers tickets for the kids and parents.

Jim

flaa1a@comcast.net

[sox83cubs84]

Heck - if that was my jersey, I'd be REAL comfortable with it - it's awesome. Pearson was the Official Distributor for the Eagles and 76ers back in the day. And as a kid growing up in Philly, Harvey Pollack was always showing up at Little League games with free 76ers tickets for the kids and parents.

Jim

Gotta agree with Jim...it looks absolutely awesome!

Dave Miedema

flaa1a@comcast.net


*

[both-teams-played-hard]

The lettering seems a bit fishy. I am NOT an expert, and I do not know if every jersey had lettering that was "hand-cut" by the manufacturer. Are the shoulder straps longer than they appear in your photos? The Wilson tags are from the Mid to late 50s (they very well could have used carry-overs). There was a guy who passed off several 70s Sixers Erving jerseys, that were complete forgeries (from hand-cut lettering to photo-copied on cloth tags.) This is also a 1963-64 Sixers jersey.
Can you reveal where this jersey was purchased?
The shoulder straps seem a bit short.
A Wilt Chamberlain jersey should not be assumed real, no matter what an LOA says.

Some slight differences:
http://img811.imageshack.us/img811/6471/dsc03865jpg.jpghttp://img59.imageshack.us/img59/3032/538l.jpg

[otismalibu]

Looks like a M&N swing and a miss. Hard to tell based on photos on a computer, but is that jersey pretty fresh looking? Fresher than the tags? Shouldn't it be shrunk up to almost nothing by now?

W/o even looking at the lettering...which does not match, the cut of those two jerseys are night and day.

Check out Getty #97648275

Cagers were sporting the spaghetti straps back then.

After 2 minutes of research, my initial reaction would be - sketchy jersey.

Unless I was running it in my own auction - then it would grade out to O-10!

Like BTPH, I'm no expert. I just browse photos. They're substantially more honest than many in the hobby.

[both-teams-played-hard]

http://i49.tinypic.com/8wxpp5.jpghttp://i45.tinypic.com/2u63385.jpg

[tilley72]

I'm fairly certain that the jersey you are holding was rejected by MEARS, not once, but twice. I would contact them for more information/confirmation.

-Andrew

[blades3]

The jersey definitely doesn't look fresh. It looks worn to death and old. The whole reason I don't feel comfortable with it is because I can't find a photo match, like you guys have pointed out. I will contact Troy at MEARS about it also. The straps look fine to me (length) and here's a better image of them.

[otismalibu]

Al got an ID tag in his.

http://www.americanmemorabilia.com/Auction_Item.asp?auction_id=53247

[both-teams-played-hard]

Al got an ID tag in his.

http://www.americanmemorabilia.com/Auction_Item.asp?auction_id=53247

That link helps. I don't believe Wilson even made Sixers jerseys from that season.

Blades
I would think a "photo-match" would be near impossible. There are numerous "style-matches" on Getty (although with a different font as previously mentioned).
The photo of the shoulder straps that you posted is not consistent with any 50s or 60s durene hoop jersey or any Sixers jersey from the 63-64 season.

[otismalibu]

I don't believe Wilson even made Sixers jerseys from that season.

Don't some older hoops jersey have only Pearson tags? Did Pearson manufacture those jerseys?

Doc era (except for his final season) 76ers jerseys were made by Wilson, but would have the Pearson tag if Pearson did the numbers/letters. I was told that jerseys going directly from Wilson to the 76ers (already attributed to players) only had the Wilson tag. Not sure if that's accurate or not.

[otismalibu]

And don't forget to check the tagging closely.

http://i209.photobucket.com/albums/bb110/otismalibu/76ers_tags-1.jpg http://www.decc.org/cms/img/recycle2.jpg

[cohibasmoker]

Going up in Philly, I had the pleasure of going into Pearson Sporting Goods more times than I can remember. Our little league uniforms came from Pearsons as did our baseball gloves, sneakers, caps, baseballs and basketballs.

Back in the day, there were Mom and Pop stores throughout the City but Pearson's was one of the biggest stores around. When you walked into the store, on the left hand side, they had a gigantic wooden board that displayed all of the jerseys they made for the various Philadelphia Professional, college and semi-pro teams. Being a kid, I was just amazed at the Flyers, 76ers, Eagles, Firebirds, Blazers and Big 5 team jerseys that were displayed on the wall.

Every now and again, the store would sell jerseys (I specifically remember seeing 76ers jerseys) that were returned from the teams and yes, they did have a place in the back that had a whole slew of sewing machines.

Jim

flaa1a@comcast.net

[both-teams-played-hard]

Jim
From my research, Pearson distributed uniforms made by Wilson, Spanjian, Coane and others. I realize that they applied names, numbers and crests. Do you have knowledge that they actually produced the uniforms and jerseys?

I am using this picture of 63-64 Sixers shorts tagging as my example. No other manufacturer's tag is present. The "36" size flag tag seems like it may be from another maker...but I am not sure. This kinda looks like the font that Coane used for size tags. No you know when Pearson moved from 1010 to 1128 Chestnut. That would definitely help date certain tagging?

http://img215.imageshack.us/img215/8815/sixersshorts.jpg

[cohibasmoker]

I do NOT know if they actually produced jerseys. Pearson sold blanks of all the team jerseys they provided to various teams in the Philadelphia area. These jerseys just had the team logo on them. In another part of the store, they had a "locked" large display case where they had team jerseys that were numbered and lettered and these jerseys were far and away more expensive than the blanks.

I don't know about the Sixers but I do know the Eagles had blank jerseys. I saw them in Franklin Field and later at the Vet. If they needed a new jersey and they could not cannibalize a jersey (s) from their inventory, they would send a blank jersey (s) out and have the work done locally. Did Pearson's do the work? Can't say.

I posted a ad from a Eagles program from 1966. Note the address.

Jim

flaa1a@comcast.net

[G1X]

I will quickly confess that I do not collect basketball jerseys and know absolutely nothing about the sizing of basketball jerseys, but was Wilt wearing a size 44 back in that era?

Mark Hayne
Gridiron Exchange
gixc@verizon.net

Always looking for game-worn Atlanta Falcons jerseys, World Football League uniforms, and Darren Lewis and Willie McGee game-used items.

[both-teams-played-hard]

I will quickly confess that I do not collect basketball jerseys and know absolutely nothing about the sizing of basketball jerseys, but was Wilt wearing a size 44 back in that era?

Wilt wore a a size 40 in the early 1960s. With extra length, although.

[both-teams-played-hard]

http://img189.imageshack.us/img189/9436/wilt1959sz40.jpg

1959, size 40

[G1X]

btph,

Thanks for the jersey size information and photos. Your knowledge and input is always much appreciated.

Mark Hayne
Gridiron Exchange
gixc@verizon.net

Always looking for game-worn Atlanta Falcons jerseys, World Football League uniforms, and Darren Lewis and Willie McGee game-used items.

[both-teams-played-hard]

btph,

Thanks for the jersey size information and photos. Your knowledge and input is always much appreciated.

Mark Hayne
Gridiron Exchange
gixc@verizon.net

Always looking for game-worn Atlanta Falcons jerseys, World Football League uniforms, and Darren Lewis and Willie McGee game-used items.

Mark
That's nice of you to say. I always enjoy your take on football stuff.