MEARS Auction: Chicago Bears Helmets

[aeneas01]

i recently contacted mears with a few concerns i had with the four chicago bears football helmets they listed as gamers, and mears was very responsive. they pulled one which had obvious problems and they corrected player attribution with another. however i haven't heard back on the helmet manufacturing dates i requested for the remaining two helmets, lots 3338 and 3339. if any guu members are thinking about getting in on the action for these two helmets, i recommend that you ask mears for the helmets' mfg dates before bidding because the bears switched from white "c" decals to white/red (orange) "c" decals for the 1973 season. as such, if either of these helmets have a mfg date later than late 1972, there's obviously a problem.

[cohibasmoker]

i recently contacted mears with a few concerns i had with the four chicago bears football helmets they listed as gamers, and mears was very responsive. they pulled one which had obvious problems and they corrected player attribution with another. however i haven't heard back on the helmet manufacturing dates i requested for the remaining two helmets, lots 3338 and 3339. if any guu members are thinking about getting in on the action for these two helmets, i recommend that you ask mears for the helmets' mfg dates before bidding because the bears switched from white "c" decals to white/red (orange) "c" decals for the 1973 season. as such, if either of these helmets have a mfg date later than late 1972, there's obviously a problem.

Robert - great thread. I was considering one of the helmets your referenced. I'll certainly contact MEARS.

Jim

[aeneas01]

yeah jim - i would definitely want to see the date code on the wilson, a couple of things about the helmet are suspicious. also, fwiw, if the date code makes sense on the riddell suspension it's a darn nice helmet....

[Vikingshelmetguy]

yeah jim - i would definitely want to see the date code on the wilson, a couple of things about the helmet are suspicious. also, fwiw, if the date code makes sense on the riddell suspension it's a darn nice helmet....

Hi Robert, I am happy your brought this up. The more I look at that Bears Wilson helmet, I begin to wonder about it a little bit. Namely, the outside silver rivets are all painted over in Bears Blue/black. Admittedly, I don't know much about Bears helmets, and I know that alot of teams back in the 70's would crudely spray-paint their helmets sometimes (including the Lions, Vikings and Seahawks), yet I wonder if the Bears did such a thing? Usually, to my knowledge, a factory reconditioned paint job would not spray over the silver rivets.

I also agree with you that the old Bears Riddell suspension listed on Mears looks pretty darn nice. That one looks very legit to my eyes. Again, I am not a Bears helmets expert (as you know, I exclusively study and know only MN Vikings helmets), but that Bears Riddell suspension seems very nice and looks real to me.

[aeneas01]

nothing unusual about painted rivets on bears helmets from that era - but, having said that, the wilson in the mears auction is not the real deal imo, i believe it's a reproduction. first, it's one of the less common f2000 models with jaw pads instead of full panel f2000 side pads - the bears typically sported the latter. second, i believe it's an early '70s model which presents a problem with the "c" decal positioning - the bears often positioned their "c" decals high on their helmets (which is the case with the auction helmet) up until the mid to late 1960s because they used so many "bubble ear" wilson models which created a decal mounting challenge. consequently the bears simply applied their decals above the "bubble" which resulted in a high position, they did this with non-bubble helmets as well for consistency. but as the '70s rolled around, and the bubble ear wilson models became obsolete, the bears moved the "c" downward because they no longer had to contend with the bumps created by the bubbles. third, the "c" decal and paint job don't strike me as authentic or vintage, from the photos at least...

[Vikingshelmetguy]

nothing unusual about painted rivets on bears helmets from that era - but, having said that, the wilson in the mears auction is not the real deal imo, i believe it's a reproduction. first, it's one of the less common f2000 models with jaw pads instead of full panel f2000 side pads - the bears typically sported the latter. second, i believe it's an early '70s model which presents a problem with the "c" decal positioning - the bears often positioned their "c" decals high on their helmets (which is the case with the auction helmet) up until the mid to late 1960s because they used so many "bubble ear" wilson models which created a decal mounting challenge. consequently the bears simply applied their decals above the "bubble" which resulted in a high position, they did this with non-bubble helmets as well for consistency. but as the '70s rolled around, and the bubble ear wilson models became obsolete, the bears moved the "c" downward because they no longer had to contend with the bumps created by the bubbles. third, the "c" decal and paint job don't strike me as authentic or vintage, from the photos at least...

Hi Robert! Thanks for your reply. Wow, I always learn something new from you. Incredible information and analysis provided by you, as always.

Kindest regards,
Max (Vikingshelmetguy)

[aeneas01]

max, you gotta wonder who mears has on hand with the experience to evaluate football items, especially helmets. i'm sure dave grob is probably still doing baseball uniforms, and the other guys bats and baseball related, but who's doing football? is mears just looking at getty images and/or taking the word of the consignor when it comes to football? anyway, it does look like mears has some nice football gear in their auction!