1978 Mets Jersey With Nob?

[hblakewolf]

Forum Readers-

As most advanced collectors are aware, the Mets began using NOB's on their 1979 jerseys.

Currently on Ebay is a "1978 Joe Pignatano Mets home jersey with NOB-all original"

http://cgi.ebay.com/Joe-Pignatano-New-York-Mets-1978-Game-Used-Worn-Jersey_W0QQitemZ150111972878QQihZ005QQcategoryZ60597QQrdZ1QQcmdZViewItem

How can a 1978 Mets jersey with NOB be offered as "original" when the team did not even wear NOB's until the following season?

Howard Wolf
hblakewolf@patmedia.net

[TNTtoys]

Re: 1978 Mets Jersey With Nob?

Howard & others,

I posted a long informative narrative on this particular item, its history in prior auctions, and somehow when I hit submit, it was lost.

Short of typing the whole thing over, I went through the following points:

1. Jersey was listed in Feb 2006 at Hunt Auctions. Jersey was "set 1 1978" and contained the nameplate, as per the description at Hunt. Was valued at $500-700 (which I feel is ridiculous for a bullpen coach's jersey. Jersey did not sell -- probably because the starting bid was set unrealistically high. This auction contained MANY Pignatano items, and was likely sourced from Pignatano himself. Hence, it is plausible that this is the reason why the ebay seller has Pignatano's own letter of provenance.

2. Jersey resurfaced at Hunt in July 2006; this time it was packaged with 1 other game used Pignatano jersey in a 2-jersey lot. Lot sold for $350.

The nameplates as well as names on the back in general did not come about on these Mets 2-button pullovers until 1979. This nameplate appears to be an alteration after the fact. And a wrong one to boot. For starters, it doesn't match the white on the jersey (faded, darker), which would immediately make me think it's newer than the actual jersey. Secondly, the letters are wrong. Longer names on Mets jerseys did not use the fat lettering -- they instead used thinner letters (for example, I am sure you have come across many Strawberry jerseys in your time -- these are very narrow letters as opposed to the letters you see on the nameplate in the ebay Pignatano jersey).

I do believe the jersey is an original 1978 Mets Pignatano jersey, however I do not think that it is as described ("all original and unaltered"), as it is likely that this nameplate was applied later.
I also believe that it is likely that the letter of provenance either doesn't state "all original and unaltered" or is incorrectly written due to the fact that so many were written at the same time for the Feb 2006 auction.

Nick

PS -- Ok, I somehow managed to type out the whole thing again... lol

[ryan4fregosi]

Re: 1978 Mets Jersey With Nob?

1. Yes, the Mets jerseys didn't use NOBs until 1979, on orders from the NL.

2. Yes, the early NOBs really were that wide and ugly, aleast until the alternate blue jerseys were introduced in '82.

My guess is that it was a '78 leftover pulled/recycled for '79 use. Keep in mind that the Mets were a, um, penurious organization pre-Wilpon.

[dcrules01]

Re: 1978 Mets Jersey With Nob?

Nick do you still think between $500 and $700 as an estimate is crazy for a Joe Pignatano jersey

Howard & others,

I posted a long informative narrative on this particular item, its history in prior auctions, and somehow when I hit submit, it was lost.

Short of typing the whole thing over, I went through the following points:

1. Jersey was listed in Feb 2006 at Hunt Auctions. Jersey was "set 1 1978" and contained the nameplate, as per the description at Hunt. Was valued at $500-700 (which I feel is ridiculous for a bullpen coach's jersey. Jersey did not sell -- probably because the starting bid was set unrealistically high. This auction contained MANY Pignatano items, and was likely sourced from Pignatano himself. Hence, it is plausible that this is the reason why the ebay seller has Pignatano's own letter of provenance.

2. Jersey resurfaced at Hunt in July 2006; this time it was packaged with 1 other game used Pignatano jersey in a 2-jersey lot. Lot sold for $350.

The nameplates as well as names on the back in general did not come about on these Mets 2-button pullovers until 1979. This nameplate appears to be an alteration after the fact. And a wrong one to boot. For starters, it doesn't match the white on the jersey (faded, darker), which would immediately make me think it's newer than the actual jersey. Secondly, the letters are wrong. Longer names on Mets jerseys did not use the fat lettering -- they instead used thinner letters (for example, I am sure you have come across many Strawberry jerseys in your time -- these are very narrow letters as opposed to the letters you see on the nameplate in the ebay Pignatano jersey).

I do believe the jersey is an original 1978 Mets Pignatano jersey, however I do not think that it is as described ("all original and unaltered"), as it is likely that this nameplate was applied later.
I also believe that it is likely that the letter of provenance either doesn't state "all original and unaltered" or is incorrectly written due to the fact that so many were written at the same time for the Feb 2006 auction.

Nick

PS -- Ok, I somehow managed to type out the whole thing again... lol

[RJB44]

Re: 1978 Mets Jersey With Nob?

Looks like it was pulled off ebay. No longer available. Did anyone happen to capture a photo?

[dcrules01]

Re: 1978 Mets Jersey With Nob?

This posting was from 3 years ago. Hunt auctions just auctioned off a 80 road Pignatano jersey that went for $600 + with buyers premium.