Beat The Authenticator!!!

[Eric]

Okay everyone, it's time to play Beat The Authenticator.

On May 1st, I got an email from a very reputable dealer- one of the best in the business, saying they had a great Chargers item available.

I am not including their name because they have acted completely professionally here, they were as upset and confused as I was, and I don't want their name to get dragged into this.

It was a Kellen Winslow game used helmet from the 1980s.

I wrote back for photos, price, and provenance. Good news they said, the bought it straight from the collection of Lou Lampson and comes with a letter from Lou.

Let me emphasize this- "IT CAME STRAIGHT FROM THE COLLECTION OF LOU LAMPSON"

Here are the photos











Find what's wrong with this helmet and Beat The Authenticator!

I started doing my homework and was looking at the details, color of the tag on the front, facemask design, number size on the back etc. Meanwhile, I sent the photos to a fellow collector for his opinion. He pointed out a major, obvious flaw. Not a small detail, a gigantic mistake.

I pointed the flaw out to the dealer, who couldn't believe it. All of a sudden it was obvious. But it wasn't obvious how Lampson missed it.

They were embarrassed and attempted to contact Lou. It took them weeks to get a response from him. When they did, Lou stood by the authenticity of the item.

Lou said the Chargers did wear helmets like this. I am a Chargers fanatic and have never seen an example of this in game play or otherwise. Lou has not provided any proof. Just his word. No photos, no links, no video, nothing. It has been two and a half months, I am tired of the dance, so that is no longer good enough.

For the record, last week, the dealer sent the helmet back to Lou for a refund. And, if I'm wrong here and someone can show me the proof that Lou is right, I will be the first to acknowledge it, but I am tired of hearing "Lou said it's real, so it's real" without any proof. I want to see the proof.

This reminded me of a similar problem I had with Mr. Lampson. In my earlier days of collecting, I bought a Doug Flutie USFL game used New Jersey Generals jersey with a letter from Lou.

It was white and did not have TV numbers on the sleeves. This bothered me, so I contacted people who run USFL fan sites who confirmed what I thought- it was a practice jersey. At the time, I presented all of the information to American Memorabilia, who had sold me the jersey and they passed it to Lou. The response passed back to me was that the Generals used jerseys with and without TV shoulder numbers in games and he had photo record of it. I kept asking AMI for the photos but Lou would not provide it. AMI gave me my money back.

Back to the Winslow helmet, I can tell you there's a major problem here. You don't even have to be a Chargers expert to see it.

Whoever can Beat The Authenticator not only gets the respect of the forum, you get to look like a genius!

Go nuts people!!
Eric

[byergo]

Suspension helmet is incorrect. Should be padded with foam inside.

[suave1477]

I disagree with byergo, BUT I AM NOT SAYING HE IS COMPLETELY WRONG.

I will explain I had a retail helmet I bought from the 80's that had that same kind of suspension inside the helmet.

That is why I disagree, but I can be wrong maybe for 80's PRO helmets they did have the foam inside?????

[Yankwood]

Is this the original facemask?

[Eric]

Those may or may not be issues- but there's a huge one staring you right in the face

[hblakewolf]

Eric-
The lightning bolts are incorrectly placed! The right sticker should be on the left side and the same with the left!

My 2 year old daughter could easily see this!

How can Lampson even try to pass this off? I dare anyone to try to find one photo of any Charger with this type of masking.

Then again, Lampson stands by his Ripken green St. Pat's jersey, too.

Eric-maybe you want to contact Judge Wopner and try to resolve this on a public forum. It may be your only way to get a refund and also find out if there actually is a real Lou Lampson.

Howard Wolf
hblakewolf@patmedia.net

[b.heagy]

The helmet is smooth at the top between the bolts and does not have the raised area for striping.

[weimerskirch]

Eric,

Is it as obvious as the size of the helmet?

[otismalibu]

I know nothing about NFL helmets, but seeing I clicked on the thread, I'll take a guess.

I thought you literally meant "beat" the authenticator. Sort of like a public caning.

I bought an older solid black Riddell (sp?) helmet on eBay to make into a Steelers helmet for my son. After buying the decal kit, I had to stick everything in place. There is a ridge on his youth helmet, right down the middle on which I applied the yellow strip.

Should this one have the same raised ridge???

[allstarsplus]

Not his typical facemask which was typically a 2 row instead of a 3 row. Looks like a facemask change....