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given dave grob's recent "open letter" to lou lampson i thought it might be a good time to see how well mears's past work (or, rather, mears's well-advertised approach to authenticating items) held up to lampson's work as far as game-used football helmets (my particular game-used passion!) are concerned. i believe someone mentioned that all of mears's loas are available at the mears website but that this info is reserved for paying members only. given that i am not a paying mears member and don't have access to these loas, i instead resorted to mastro's auction house archives.
anyway, the first four game-used helmets i came across that were authenticated by mears ("dave bushing & troy kinunen / mears") are listed below - unfortunately they appear to be as problematic as some of the game-used helmets i've come across with a lampson loa...
1. tony gonzalez 2000 kansas city chiefs sigend game used helmet - loas from dave bushing & troy kinunen / mears, steve grad psa / dna and james spence authentication.
problems: 1) in 2000 the chiefs wore a derrick thomas memorial decal on their helmets in recognition of his passing, this helmet does not have this decal, 2) the nfl did not sport american flags on their helmets in 2000, 3) missing warning decal, 4) gonzalez's 2000 helmet was not reconditioned (freshly painted) nor was his 2001 helmet as evidenced in the photos below (notice the visible jaw pad rivets) - the helmet appearing in this auction has been freshly painted, 5) gonzalez never wore the type of facemask pictured. note: bottom right hand photo from 2001 season to show unpainted jaw pad rivets, all other photos from 2000 season.
2. 1980s lyle blackwood miami dolphins game used helmet - loa from dave bushing & troy kinunen / mears.
problems: 1) lyle blackwood, like his teammate brother gelnn blackwood, was a "schutt/bike" man not a riddell man - the helmet in the auction is a riddell, 2) the dave overstreet memorial decal would date this helmet to 1984, the only year the dolphins featured overstreet's decal - in 1984 the dolphins also faced the niners in the super bowl, 3) following photos 1) lb's first year with the fins (1981), 2) lb playing in the 1984 super bowl against the niners, 3) the blackwood brothers leaving the field together in 1984, 4) the blackwood brothers in lyle's final season (1986) - blackwood can clearly be seen sporting a schutt/bike in all photos, not a riddell as offered in the auction.
3. 1980s jerry sisemore philadelphia eagles game used helet - loa from dave bushing & troy kinunen / mears.
problems: 1) eagles never wore white facemasks, 2) like many philadelphia eagles of this era, jerry sisemore sported a classic maxpro clearshell during the late 70s, early 80s (1978-1982), not a riddell as pictured in the auction. he wore a riddell from 1973-1977 and, most likely due to maxpro going out of business in the early 80s, his final two seasons (1983-1984), 3) the riddell helmet pictured in the auction is molded of white plastic and painted green which would suggest that it is from the very early 70s, not 80s as stated in the item description, 4) in all of the photos and film clips i have seen of sisemore wearing a riddell helmet, pre and post maxpro, he is wearing an impregnated green shell not a white one painted green, 5) photos below show sisemore sporting his classic maxpro clearshell during 1978-1982 era.
4. 1980s louis wright denver broncos game used helmet - loa from dave bushing & troy kinunen / mears.
problems: 1) like lyle blackwood mentioned above, louis wright was a "bike/schutt" man not a riddell man - the helmet pictured in the auction is a riddell, 2) did wright sport a riddell when he first entered the league as a bronco in 1975, early in his career? hard to say - but from available photos and film frames it's clear that he wore bike/schutt from at least 1978 through 1986 (his final year), the years that the advertised helmet is said to have been used by wright, 3) photos below - wright sporting his schutt/bike during the 80s.
comments:
as i mentioned earlier, given grob's recent open letter to lampson in which he pointed out the benefit of taking one's time during the authentication process versus the pressures of engaging in the rush jobs lampson eluded to during the gavel chat interview, i wanted to see if i could track down some mears loa game-used helmets to see how they stacked up to lampson's work. however, the very first helmets i came across with mears loas, listed above, have serious problems in my opinion.
i contacted mastro by phone and asked them about these lids and the loas - the guy i spoke with, who seemed very well informed, told me that some helmets in the past had incorrectly been described as having mears's loas when in fact that they should have been described as having lampson loas. he went on to say that the item descriptions on these lots had been publicly modified and corrections made. as such, he felt that the helmets i was asking about were indeed authenticated by mears. he also added that i could confirm this information on mears's website for the cost of a membership fee. given that i didn't want to shell out for this info, i called troy kinunen to see if he might confirm the loas over the phone - i got his answering service and didn't leave a message.
needless to say i was more than a little surprised to find that the entire handful helmets i looked at with a mears loa (again, listed above) had serious issues - obviously this was a fluke and had i been able to spend more time looking for additional mears helmets i'm sure i would have come across some winners. also, these lots came from the same auction which makes me wonder if they were all from the same consignor - perhaps mears felt so strongly about the consignor that they didn't feel the need to take a closer look? who knows...
it would be interesting to know if these helmets were incorrectly attributed mears - perhaps a guu forum member with a mears membership account could confirm the loas? i would also be interested to know of any proof that would confirm that these helmets are in fact authentic and as described in the auction item descriptions, info that would confirm that i missed the boat on these lids because, honestly, i would sincerely like to believe that the buyers got what they paid for.
...
anyway, the first four game-used helmets i came across that were authenticated by mears ("dave bushing & troy kinunen / mears") are listed below - unfortunately they appear to be as problematic as some of the game-used helmets i've come across with a lampson loa...
1. tony gonzalez 2000 kansas city chiefs sigend game used helmet - loas from dave bushing & troy kinunen / mears, steve grad psa / dna and james spence authentication.
problems: 1) in 2000 the chiefs wore a derrick thomas memorial decal on their helmets in recognition of his passing, this helmet does not have this decal, 2) the nfl did not sport american flags on their helmets in 2000, 3) missing warning decal, 4) gonzalez's 2000 helmet was not reconditioned (freshly painted) nor was his 2001 helmet as evidenced in the photos below (notice the visible jaw pad rivets) - the helmet appearing in this auction has been freshly painted, 5) gonzalez never wore the type of facemask pictured. note: bottom right hand photo from 2001 season to show unpainted jaw pad rivets, all other photos from 2000 season.
2. 1980s lyle blackwood miami dolphins game used helmet - loa from dave bushing & troy kinunen / mears.
problems: 1) lyle blackwood, like his teammate brother gelnn blackwood, was a "schutt/bike" man not a riddell man - the helmet in the auction is a riddell, 2) the dave overstreet memorial decal would date this helmet to 1984, the only year the dolphins featured overstreet's decal - in 1984 the dolphins also faced the niners in the super bowl, 3) following photos 1) lb's first year with the fins (1981), 2) lb playing in the 1984 super bowl against the niners, 3) the blackwood brothers leaving the field together in 1984, 4) the blackwood brothers in lyle's final season (1986) - blackwood can clearly be seen sporting a schutt/bike in all photos, not a riddell as offered in the auction.
3. 1980s jerry sisemore philadelphia eagles game used helet - loa from dave bushing & troy kinunen / mears.
problems: 1) eagles never wore white facemasks, 2) like many philadelphia eagles of this era, jerry sisemore sported a classic maxpro clearshell during the late 70s, early 80s (1978-1982), not a riddell as pictured in the auction. he wore a riddell from 1973-1977 and, most likely due to maxpro going out of business in the early 80s, his final two seasons (1983-1984), 3) the riddell helmet pictured in the auction is molded of white plastic and painted green which would suggest that it is from the very early 70s, not 80s as stated in the item description, 4) in all of the photos and film clips i have seen of sisemore wearing a riddell helmet, pre and post maxpro, he is wearing an impregnated green shell not a white one painted green, 5) photos below show sisemore sporting his classic maxpro clearshell during 1978-1982 era.
4. 1980s louis wright denver broncos game used helmet - loa from dave bushing & troy kinunen / mears.
problems: 1) like lyle blackwood mentioned above, louis wright was a "bike/schutt" man not a riddell man - the helmet pictured in the auction is a riddell, 2) did wright sport a riddell when he first entered the league as a bronco in 1975, early in his career? hard to say - but from available photos and film frames it's clear that he wore bike/schutt from at least 1978 through 1986 (his final year), the years that the advertised helmet is said to have been used by wright, 3) photos below - wright sporting his schutt/bike during the 80s.
comments:
as i mentioned earlier, given grob's recent open letter to lampson in which he pointed out the benefit of taking one's time during the authentication process versus the pressures of engaging in the rush jobs lampson eluded to during the gavel chat interview, i wanted to see if i could track down some mears loa game-used helmets to see how they stacked up to lampson's work. however, the very first helmets i came across with mears loas, listed above, have serious problems in my opinion.
i contacted mastro by phone and asked them about these lids and the loas - the guy i spoke with, who seemed very well informed, told me that some helmets in the past had incorrectly been described as having mears's loas when in fact that they should have been described as having lampson loas. he went on to say that the item descriptions on these lots had been publicly modified and corrections made. as such, he felt that the helmets i was asking about were indeed authenticated by mears. he also added that i could confirm this information on mears's website for the cost of a membership fee. given that i didn't want to shell out for this info, i called troy kinunen to see if he might confirm the loas over the phone - i got his answering service and didn't leave a message.
needless to say i was more than a little surprised to find that the entire handful helmets i looked at with a mears loa (again, listed above) had serious issues - obviously this was a fluke and had i been able to spend more time looking for additional mears helmets i'm sure i would have come across some winners. also, these lots came from the same auction which makes me wonder if they were all from the same consignor - perhaps mears felt so strongly about the consignor that they didn't feel the need to take a closer look? who knows...
it would be interesting to know if these helmets were incorrectly attributed mears - perhaps a guu forum member with a mears membership account could confirm the loas? i would also be interested to know of any proof that would confirm that these helmets are in fact authentic and as described in the auction item descriptions, info that would confirm that i missed the boat on these lids because, honestly, i would sincerely like to believe that the buyers got what they paid for.
...
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