Help on 1984-88 Boomer Esiason jersey

[boomstick]

Hello all, can anyone help me out with this Boomer Esiason jersey from JO sports? Roger has been helping me compare to some other Bengals jerseys from that era, but I would love to know if anyone else here could shed some light so I feel comfortable purchasing this jersey. The jersey cannot be photomatched as of yet.
Here are the pics from JO:

[boomstick]

inside pic from JO:


Inside pics from Eddie Brown and Turk Schonert verified and obtained from a team member:

[sox83cubs84]

I can't say 100% without seeing the jersey in hand, but there are several encouraging signs. Russell made the Bengals unies until 1988, when a tranisition to Champion began during the season (photos of both suppliers' jerseys can be seen on Getty 1988 Bengals entries). The handwarmer makes sense, and the chopped-off left sleeve shows up on a couple of Getty road jersey photos from 1987 (not a big leap to assume his home jerseys were similarly affected). Most Esiasons that I have seen are size 50s, but they're nearly all 1990s vintage...a 48 for early-career would be reasonable. I hope this helps.

Dave M.
Chicago area

[boomstick]

I can't say 100% without seeing the jersey in hand, but there are several encouraging signs. Russell made the Bengals unies until 1988, when a tranisition to Champion began during the season (photos of both suppliers' jerseys can be seen on Getty 1988 Bengals entries). The handwarmer makes sense, and the chopped-off left sleeve shows up on a couple of Getty road jersey photos from 1987 (not a big leap to assume his home jerseys were similarly affected). Most Esiasons that I have seen are size 50s, but they're nearly all 1990s vintage...a 48 for early-career would be reasonable. I hope this helps.

Dave M.
Chicago area

Yes, thank you that does make me feel a little better. The main thing that makes me uneasy is the inside stitching on the hand warmer and inside strips don't match the verified original Eddie Brown and Turk Schonert jerseys.

[chakes89]

Kinda surprised to see the "Koch Sporting Goods" tag on there

They are still in business in Downtown Cincinnati.

[boomstick]

Kinda surprised to see the "Koch Sporting Goods" tag on there

They are still in business in Downtown Cincinnati.

Yeah, I've seen that on a lot of vintage bengals jerseys. Not really out of the ordinary.

[boomstick]

I think I'm gonna pass on this jersey. I've heard that the stitching on the inside regarding the hand warmers has always been exactly the same throughout the 80's. On the Esiason jersey the stitching is different from the verified Brown and Schonert and the stripes have orange cloth not white.

If anyone else has any new information or other Bengals comparisons from that era then please let me know, but for now there are too many inconsistencies to drop $2000.

[CollectGU]

Kinda surprised to see the "Koch Sporting Goods" tag on there

They are still in business in Downtown Cincinnati.

Actually the Koch label is considered a must have by many collector's for 80's Bengals, much like you'd expect to see Pearson's on late 70's and 80's Sixers, or Cosby's on Knicks and Rangers from various era's, and 80's NY Giants.

Dave