Marcus Allen SB XVIII Helmet?

[aeneas01]

playoffs and super bowl photos - same torn stripe throughout the postseason games.



ebay helmet and helmet hut helmet - no damage to the stripe :



side facemask clip location comparison - super bowl photo vs ebay helmet:




given the letter states the helmet was taken from allen immediately after the super bowl, i think it's pretty obvious that it's not the same helmet allen wore. the location of the side facemask clips also easily disqualifies this helmet as allen's sb gamer. and, of course, allen sported transparent clips at the top of his facemask as mentioned.

fwiw allen was known to have worn a modified wd helmet - the ebay helmet is clearly a pac3. i have conclusive photo evidence confirming that allen wore a modified wd after the sb18 season but i don't have conclusive evidence confirming that he wore a modified wd during sb18 or during previous seasons.

btw, very nice reproduction "helmets"! although ma wore a green dot!

...

[aeneas01]

here's a good shot of the inside of allen's lid - circa 1985...



...

[helmets]

btw, very nice reproduction "helmets"! although ma wore a green dot!

...

Hence, the need for your paint pen.

I gotta go...I have a center stripe to tear...

[aeneas01]

Hence, the need for your paint pen. I gotta go...I have a center stripe to tear...

btw, did you win that great looking bengals gamer on ebay? it was a tak29 with a full cage dungard - sold for $600+ last month or so...

some other helmet notes...

- didn't realize you had a website with gamers for sale, it's very nice.

- i've been loking for a vintage tk5, recently found one on ebay and made the seller a reasonable offer (which i don't do very often, contact an ebay sellers that is) - he turned me down, said he was in need of money and thought it would go for more. i ended up winning it for half what i offered - there was zero interest in the helmet (or it flew under the radar) and i got a great deal.

- recession? what recession? vintage riddell helmet lamps have been going for some good $$$ - with and without the lamp parts. a great looking rams lamp (complete) just sold for $400+, a redskins and cowboys lamp shell (without lamp parts) just sold for $300 and $400 respectively and a patriots lamp shell with a helmet hut reproduction suspension unit just sold for $500.

- is ebayer "canton_collectibles" a forum member? he lists some nice helmets on ebay. he also picks up helmets on ebay and relists them with a buy-it-now at 3 times his purchase price using long-term auctions.

- my nicest, most recent pick up - a 1964 rk2 giants gamer. lots of game wear, a real beauty. now if i can just get my hands on some quality thin-mil number decals, a "1" and a "4" would be nice, and a black magic marker...

- a griese/hadl dungard is getting a lot of attention on ebay - and it's bent to hell.

- i looked at quite a few vintage helmets recently that will be featured in an upcoming auction, some real beauties. as it turned out, some were not as described but they were real beauties nonetheless - a couple of very rare models. hope the auction runs with them anyway even tho they weren't what they were hoping...

- there are two guys out there that make tremendous clear shell reproductions - no easy feat. they are really works of art. one of the guys emailed me some photos of a recent clear shell raiders lid he just finished - stunning. i'm not much into reproductions but these things are a definite exception.

- a few months ago i was asked to look at a gamer said to have once belonged to a hall of famer. great looking lid, a ton to like, but one of the rivets didn't look right even though this player was known to have worn a helmet with a modified rivet, which could be seen in photos. so the problem was not that the rivet was modified but the way it was mounted - very odd, not done with a standard helmet rivet tool and it seemed debatable whether or not it could hold up. lampson, who apparently loa'd the helmet, explained that it was in fact a shoulder pad rivet and that this team was known to do this. taking another look at it, it was clear that it was indeed a shoulder pad rivet. i'm telling you, lampson does know his shat...

...

[mvandor]

I did email the seller yesterday about all the specific probs with his lid, but no response, and auction is still running.

[helmets]

btw, did you win that great looking bengals gamer on ebay? it was a tak29 with a full cage dungard - sold for $600+ last month or so...Yes, great helmet.

some other helmet notes...

- didn't realize you had a website with gamers for sale, it's very nice. Yes, have listed helmets that are not "keepers." I have many more to go, but just no time and no HTML ability...

- i've been loking for a vintage tk5, recently found one on ebay and made the seller a reasonable offer (which i don't do very often, contact an ebay sellers that is) - he turned me down, said he was in need of money and thought it would go for more. i ended up winning it for half what i offered - there was zero interest in the helmet (or it flew under the radar) and i got a great deal. Yes, you got an awesome deal on that helmet. I meant to bid on it and missed it. I was glad to see that you got it, and at the price you did.

- recession? what recession? vintage riddell helmet lamps have been going for some good $$$ - with and without the lamp parts. a great looking rams lamp (complete) just sold for $400+, a redskins and cowboys lamp shell (without lamp parts) just sold for $300 and $400 respectively and a patriots lamp shell with a helmet hut reproduction suspension unit just sold for $500. Yes, I saw those prices. Quite high for helmet lamps...

- is ebayer "canton_collectibles" a forum member? he lists some nice helmets on ebay. he also picks up helmets on ebay and relists them with a buy-it-now at 3 times his purchase price using long-term auctions.

- my nicest, most recent pick up - a 1964 rk2 giants gamer. lots of game wear, a real beauty. now if i can just get my hands on some quality thin-mil number decals, a "1" and a "4" would be nice, and a black magic marker...

- a griese/hadl dungard is getting a lot of attention on ebay - and it's bent to hell. It looks like a factory bend to me. Most had that bend in the middle of the lower bar, that kind of formed a "v" shape.

- a few months ago i was asked to look at a gamer said to have once belonged to a hall of famer. great looking lid, a ton to like, but one of the rivets didn't look right even though this player was known to have worn a helmet with a modified rivet, which could be seen in photos. so the problem was not that the rivet was modified but the way it was mounted - very odd, not done with a standard helmet rivet tool and it seemed debatable whether or not it could hold up. lampson, who apparently loa'd the helmet, explained that it was in fact a shoulder pad rivet and that this team was known to do this. taking another look at it, it was clear that it was indeed a shoulder pad rivet. i'm telling you, lampson does know his shat...Lou has some of those rivets in his suitcase...

[mvandor]

Seller has made it clear to me he's sticking to his LOA and sale, facts be damned. Just FYI for all here.

[aeneas01]

Seller has made it clear to me he's sticking to his LOA and sale, facts be damned. Just FYI for all here.

imo the helmet never belonged to allen - and i also think it's pretty obvious that it's simply not his sb18 lid. if you look at images of allen through the years (getty, wire, film footage), you would be very hard pressed to find a single instance of him sporting a shell with the side facemask clips mounted so closely to the helmet's front edge. the drill hole locations found on the ebay helmet seem to imply the mounting of a facemask that was too small for the shell - for example a red dot schutt mounted to a large riddell cell helmet. or perhaps reverse clips although even reverse clips aren't normally mounted so closely to a helmet's edge.

the top two photos show allen during his sb18 season - note where the side facemask clip screws are mounted. below are two photos of the ebay lid - the red dots roughly indicate where the clip screws should be.





Yes, great helmet.
congrats - that is a beauty...

Yes, have listed helmets that are not "keepers." I have many more to go, but just no time and no HTML ability...
although not the rarest of lids, you do have some nice helmets displayed.

Yes, I saw those prices. Quite high for helmet lamps...
i wouldn't say the prices were quite high - i've seen them often go for this amount in the past (especially rams, vikings and lions). i was just surprised that given the supposed state of the economy, collectors were still willing to shell out this amount for these type of pieces - especially considering they can go for around $100 or so...

It looks like a factory bend to me. Most had that bend in the middle of the lower bar, that kind of formed a "v" shape.
i was actually referring to the mounting area, not the factory bend. it looked like it had been additionally bent, manually, to fit a certain size helmet (which was required with dungards given they were not offered in different sizes). bending these babies is no easy task - i know, i've done it! btw it ended up selling for $180 - not too shabby. earlier this year i passed on a youth helmet mounted with the same facemask - the helmet alone was worthless. i think it ended up selling for around $40 - i should have pulled the trigger!

btw ebayer "canton_collectibles" ended all of his vintage helmet auctions and relisted them with a starting price of $9.99 - coincidence?


...

[helmets]

Yes, I noticed ol' CC relisted with no BIN. I've bought two helmets from him in the last month. I think they were both "ID Private" so you didn't know it was me that pulled the trigger. -- Didn't want you to think I overpaid for them. The only problem with ol' CC is that he does not accept Paypal. Pain in the arse for me to send a check, but hey, sometimes the right helmet makes it worth it...

We need to start a thread - "Show me your NFL GU Helmet." Majority of threads are about bats. I get a warm fuzzy when I see a topic about football helmets.

Yes, I agree on this ebay "Allen" lid. Is it just me or are the numbers on the rear in mint - new condition. The center stripe on the rear is beat, along with the helmet, but then you look at the numbers, and they are new. That is one of the reasons that I have never sold numbers, or any decals for that matter. I have received thousands of requests for numbers and decals and have turned down 99% of them. When you can't control what they are going to do with them, then you get this sort of thing. IMO it is a Raiders GU helmet, but not MA's.

So Robert, start the thread. You have 1,000 members wanting to see some of your helmets, yet they are mysteriously tucked away for only a select few to enjoy. I will follow each one of your posts with one of my own. Then you can put the photos of mine and other members helmets into your database, and Lou can print them for his suitcase...

[mvandor]

Amazingly, this obvious fraud is up to $4,000 and hasn't cleared reserve.

Are people so free with their money in a recession as to TRUST any listing without minimal effort to photomatch???

Incredible.