Show off your clear shell helmets

[Vikingshelmetguy]

Re: Show off your clear shell helmets

Thanks. I mostly lurk All the photos except for the last one in Bob Hope's house are helmets in my collection. The SMU helmet used to belong to Bob Hope, but now it's mine!

Jacuzzi, that's pretty incredible to not only own a Maxpro clear shell SMU helmet, but also to have acquired it from the personal collection of Bob Hope. That's incredible! Just curious, how did you get a helmet from Bob Hope's collection? Was his sports memorabilia collection auctioned off to the public at some point?

[mad87man]

Re: Show off your clear shell helmets

Hate to be a dumbass and ask this but what is a clear shell helmet exactly?

[Vikingshelmetguy]

Re: Show off your clear shell helmets

Hate to be a dumbass and ask this but what is a clear shell helmet exactly?

Hi Mad87man, your question is a very good one (and not dumb at all). Clear shell helmets are football helmets that have the paint, stripes and logos applied to the helmet beneath a clear outer shell, so that the logos and stripes stay intact and do not have to be replaced. Only a few helmet manufacturers made them in the 70's and 80's (Maxpro and Kelly brands, I believe), and they are very rare and very desirable to many football helmet collectors. Here are two links that you can read that gives great background on clear shell helmets. The first link is from the incredible Helmet Hut website that features an amazing Cincinnati Bengals Maxpro clear shell helmet and a great history of clear shell helmets:

http://www.helmethut.com/Bengals/Simmons.html

This next link is a story on Uniwatch featuring my friend and Seahawks helmet collector, Mike Princip, and his amazing creation of a Seahawks Kelly clear shell (which is also featured on Mike's www.greenglare.com website):

http://www.uni-watch.com/2008/04/07/washington-monument/

[ivo610]

Re: Show off your clear shell helmets

Hi Mad87man, your question is a very good one (and not dumb at all). Clear shell helmets are football helmets that have the paint, stripes and logos applied to the helmet beneath a clear outer shell, so that the logos and stripes stay intact and do not have to be replaced. Only a few helmet manufacturers made them in the 70's and 80's (Maxpro and Kelly brands, I believe), and they are very rare and very desirable to many football helmet collectors. Here are two links that you can read that gives great background on clear shell helmets. The first link is from the incredible Helmet Hut website that features an amazing Cincinnati Bengals Maxpro clear shell helmet and a great history of clear shell helmets:

http://www.helmethut.com/Bengals/Simmons.html

This next link is a story on Uniwatch featuring my friend and Seahawks helmet collector, Mike Princip, and his amazing creation of a Seahawks Kelly clear shell (which is also featured on Mike's www.greenglare.com website):

http://www.uni-watch.com/2008/04/07/...gton-monument/

Curious, are these helmets faked very often? Is it hard to replicate this style/design? Or if you see one on the market are you pretty safe?

[G1X]

Re: Show off your clear shell helmets

To follow-up on Vikingshelmetguy's fine post, MacGregor was another major manufacturer of clear-shell helmets during that era. Also, while the intent was to put the decals and stripes under the clear shell, this was not always done (see photos in my post #7 in this thread).

Mark Hayne
Gridiron Exchange
gixc@verizon.net

Always looking for World Football League and Atlanta Falcons jerseys, and Willie McGee and Darren Lewis game-used items.

[Vikingshelmetguy]

Re: Show off your clear shell helmets

Curious, are these helmets faked very often? Is it hard to replicate this style/design? Or if you see one on the market are you pretty safe?

To be honest, I don't really know if these helmets are faked very often (I have never seen one in person, and have only seen photos of clear shells). But I doubt if clear shells are faked very often. First, because as far as I am aware obtaining any kind of clear shell helmet is hard due to their scarcity and, second, if you read Mike Princip's Uniwatch article on how he custom-created his Seahawks Kelly clear shell helmet, it seems as if it would take a tremendous amount of work and talent to create a fake clear shell. Mike Princip makes it sound pretty easy but, in reality Mike is an exceptionally talented artist, graphic designer and helmet inventor who has the confidence and artistic experience to reproduce and create a custom clear shell. My hunch is that it would be very hard for most people to replicate and produce a fake clear shell that would fool serious helmet collectors.

[Vikingshelmetguy]

Re: Show off your clear shell helmets

To follow-up on Vikingshelmetguy's fine post, MacGregor was another major manufacturer of clear-shell helmets during that era. Also, while the intent was to put the decals and stripes under the clear shell, this was not always done (see photos in my post #7 in this thread).

Mark Hayne
Gridiron Exchange
gixc@verizon.net

Always looking for World Football League and Atlanta Falcons jerseys, and Willie McGee and Darren Lewis game-used items.

Thanks Mark! I forgot that MacGregor also made clear shells (as evidenced by the many awesome MacGregor clear shell photos featured in this thread).

[Jacuzzi]

Re: Show off your clear shell helmets

Jacuzzi, that's pretty incredible to not only own a Maxpro clear shell SMU helmet, but also to have acquired it from the personal collection of Bob Hope. That's incredible! Just curious, how did you get a helmet from Bob Hope's collection? Was his sports memorabilia collection auctioned off to the public at some point?

Sorry for the delay, I didn't receive a new post notice? Anyway, the person I got the items from won them in a Julien's auction of Bob Hope's estate. Here is a link of the auction results. http://www.juliensauctions.com/aucti...e/results.html. He won the clear shell an unused team helmet that was customized to "Mustang Bob Hope" and a the game ball that is between the two helmets in the picture I posted. He won all three for I believe it was $192. I made him an offer on the clear shell and it became mine. He offered me a good deal on the other helmet and I would have liked to keep them together but I had depleted my funds at the time and was not able to secure it. He kept the football. I guess Bob was a good friend of Hayden Fry and a large SMU supporter.

[aeneas01]

Re: Show off your clear shell helmets

great thread, gotta love clearshell helmets, i know i do... some thoughts:

- the red smu helmet with "bob hope" lettering that can be seen in the bob hope display case photo, surfaced on ebay earlier this year, sold for about $600, i thought it should have gone for more...

- someone mentioned earlier in this thread that only a few manufacturers made clearshell helmets, not true! just about every helmet manufacturer produced clearshell helmets at one time or another including riddell, wilson, rawlings, protective products, nokona...

- the first plastic helmet, introduced in 1940 and used thru the early to mid 1950's, was manufactured by riddell and also made of transparent plastic, i.e. they were clearshells as well. not only were these helmets offered in solid colors with paint applied to the inside of the shell, but team designs (michigan, rams, eagles, etc.) were also painted on the inside of the shell given decals weren't used.

- "faking" clearshells is possible but very difficult and, given the time and energy it takes to create the reproduction, not worth the effort. there are a couple of guys out there, one a forum member, that do tremendous jobs reproducing clearshell helmets, the result of their work is truly amazing, just beautiful pieces. from time to time you can find one listed on ebay, always listed honestly by these guys as an authentic reproduction. on rare occasions one of their reproductions will find its way into someone hands that will list it on ebay as authentic, but they are pretty easy to spot given, among other things, their typically pristine condition. if you search the guu auction archive you find one of these beautiful reproductions, a rice helmet.

[Vikingshelmetguy]

Re: Show off your clear shell helmets

Hi Robert!

Thanks so much for correcting the mis-information that I had previously posted. I am still learning about clear shell helmets (my team, the Minnesota Vikings, never wore clear shell helmets, so I don't know too much about clear shell helmets). I had always assumed that Maxpro, Kelly and MacGregor were the only manufacturers of clear shell helmets (most photos I have seen of clear shell helmets primarily reflect those three brands of clear shell helmets).... Clearly my assumption was wrong, and I really appreciate your clarification and information on how actually there were many helmet manufacturers, such as Riddell, who also produced and manufactured clear shell helmets. As always, your astute and incredible knowledge of football helmet history and details continues to educate me and everyone here on GUU! Thanks for your great post on this great discussion thread!

Max (Vikingshelmetguy)

[Gridiron Heroes]

Re: Show off your clear shell helmets

-Ditto to what Robert said regarding the numerous manufacturers of clear shell helmets. My partner Matt has an early 50s Riddell MN Gophers helmet that is a clear shell that I helped him aquire from the Tim McGovern collection that was unfortunately broken up after he passed.

-I've owned mostly MacGregors and Kelley clear shell's, but have also owned a few Max Pros (my Atlanta Falcons that I sold a few years back was amazing), and one Wilson, and one Nakona (a high school helmet from my old area).

-I'll also piggyback on Robert's statement that clear shells are very difficult to reproduce or fake. I've seen very, very few repro clear shells. I just nabbed a Michigan clear shell on ebay that I paid a ridiculous price for as I sold my MacGregor a few years back for around 1200. This was less than half that and fills a hole in my collection till I can buy the real deal. This helmet is so well done that if I were less than scrupulous I imagine I could resell it as an original and get around 1K for it and no one would be the wiser. It was an original MacGregor that was stripped of paint and redone down to every exacting detail. I'm only aware of one person myself who remakes these helmets and here's a great link to the article w/ some nice pics of his collection and a few models he's a bout to produce. I'm also throwing in a helmet hut link on clear shells as well (2nd paragraph).

http://www.uni-watch.com/2008/05/07/uni-watch-field-trip-a-visit-with-jeff-fedenko/

http://farm4.static.flickr.com/3050/2423366978_9ee704a536_o.jpg

http://www.helmethut.com/042006.html

-Photos of the Michigan MacGregor are here w/ the correct era facemask

-Thanks to Robert for all the amazing helmet info. You have an immense wealth of info and I always appreciate your posting about football helmets!

[Gridiron Heroes]

Re: Show off your clear shell helmets

The Washington State Cougars Kelley helmet with Kelley manufacturs date label Aug 13, 1978. Note the taped double jaw pads. That's one of the very few times I've seen it, and the first time in a clear shell. This is also the only WSU clear shell I've seen out there.

I threw in a pic of my current clear shell collection. I've picked them all up within the past 6 months, so not too bad of a start.

Shawn Kennedy
GridironHeroes.net
gridironheroes22@yahoo.com

[aeneas01]

Re: Show off your clear shell helmets

love the cougars helmet, very rare, would have loved to win it... here are some random clearshell shots, some from collections owned by a guu member or two, plus a few game photos...

[aeneas01]

Re: Show off your clear shell helmets

continued....

[aeneas01]

Re: Show off your clear shell helmets

continued...