Show off your Pittsburgh Pirates items!

[jojac]

Gregory Polanco Game Used helmet also from opening weekend last year:


Polanco wearing it here:

Great looking batting helmet. Players go thru a bunch of bats and game used jerseys in a year but the number of batting helmets in a season is limited and that's why they're one of my favorite items to pick up....Nice job!!!

[Shipp_96]

Great looking batting helmet. Players go thru a bunch of bats and game used jerseys in a year but the number of batting helmets in a season is limited and that's why they're one of my favorite items to pick up....Nice job!!!

Thanks for the compliments, jojac!

I agree, I have a full size curio filled with batting helmets. Half game worn, half retail signed. I think visually helmets display the nicest as well. As far as even return on investment, I have always got more out of worn helmets that jerseys, bats, caps or cleats.

I also feel matching a helmet is so much easier as they have more use as you stated and thus, more distinctive markings as well.

I will say my only beef with MLB used helmets is some of the 3M decals start to peel, which has actually made me sell off some lids I would of normally kept.

[jojac]

Thanks for the compliments, jojac!

I agree, I have a full size curio filled with batting helmets. Half game worn, half retail signed. I think visually helmets display the nicest as well. As far as even return on investment, I have always got more out of worn helmets that jerseys, bats, caps or cleats.

I also feel matching a helmet is so much easier as they have more use as you stated and thus, more distinctive markings as well.

I will say my only beef with MLB used helmets is some of the 3M decals start to peel, which has actually made me sell off some lids I would of normally kept.

The decal issue can be a bit of a problem but for the most part that hasn't been to much of an issue for me. I thought part of the peeling issue may be due to the heavy wear and use on the helmet.
I also found they are by far the easiest item to photo match because of the distinctive markings as you stated.
The other thing that was nice about helmets is that they seemed to be reasonably priced compared to bats and jerseys. From what I'm seeing that's changed the past few years and the helmets took a jump in price for some of the recent players I've collected.

[Shipp_96]

The decal issue can be a bit of a problem but for the most part that hasn't been to much of an issue for me. I thought part of the peeling issue may be due to the heavy wear and use on the helmet.
I also found they are by far the easiest item to photo match because of the distinctive markings as you stated.
The other thing that was nice about helmets is that they seemed to be reasonably priced compared to bats and jerseys. From what I'm seeing that's changed the past few years and the helmets took a jump in price for some of the recent players I've collected.

I will say I at one time had my full curio with all game used helmets and even another corner curio filled with them. Maybe it was the climate where I used to live, but I had numerous helmets that were fine upon purchase start to have decals (numbers on the back, MLB logo, or even the front team decal) peel. Vinyl ones like the Pirates and Tigers use were less of a problem and seem to hold up well.

However the A's are a great example (my other favorite team) and I sold all but one used helmet off because all the 3M "A's" started to peel badly. The one I kept is so used and pine tarred up that the logo is almost encased like a mosquito from Jurassic Park haha.

I also have an Orioles tri color one (from former Pirates Pedro Alvarez) that I repurposed to get Cal Ripken signed on. The Oriole bird was coming off so bad I had to use Gorilla Glue to keep it on there. It has also happened with Twins retails helmets, the 3M logos they use on those are the worst! I have had to either out right replace the retail "TC" logo with a thinner older version or again, use Gorilla Glue on them.

Obviously for an unaltered game worn helmet I won't do that so my solution has been to sale them off when they got to that point. I sold lots of helmets from players I kind of wanted to keep based off those issues (Nelson Cruz, Adrian Beltre, Khris Davis, Brandon Moss, Josh Donaldson) to name a few.

As for your last point, I agree at one time used helmets were a steal price wise. You can still get lucky and get some great deals, even on decent players. But I have also got into bidding wars and lost a couple Pirates used helmets the last couple years that IMO 5 years ago I would of got cheap and easily before.

[tictkac26]

Dale long 1957 jersey and autographed bat

[tictkac26]

Melky cabrera bat helmet and jersey

[Shipp_96]

Added probably my last two jerseys for now. Josh Bell SIGNED throwback jersey from last year vs ST.L!