Someone's Holy Grail: Early to Mid 1960s Minnesota Vikings Helmet

[bgakladd]

Hey, guys.....yeah, it is fun to research this stuff.....my helmet is obviously an RK version.....so you can eliminate the TK '70's versions....and dungards. If this helmet goes back to 1964-65, I think a butterfly/clip mask first was on it.....then maybe a clip only mask in 1966ish may have been put on.....looks like he wore a TK in '68, an RK in '69 and then back to TK in '70. The date code inside the helmet must have rubbed off......cant find it. Still some mystery surrounding this one......Tony

I am taking a stab at the year on this one since there is no date you can find but look at the back of the helmet. It had the cursive ELL in Riddell logo imprinted into the shell on the bottom left side. It looks like it was repainted at one time with lacquer paint and then the newer italic type font put on top the old Riddell logo if it was reconditioned. What year did they switch the font?? 1967? If it was, then I'm guessing a 1966 helmet, like you mentioned. If so that would explain the font change on back and the facemask clip impression and outline rubbing into the paint along with the aging outline. Is the Riddell font on top stamped in or a stencil type?