a forum friend pointed me to this namath "gamer" which sold at ami in 2004 for a whopping $30k - according to the colorful (and comically dramatic) lot description:

"The Riddell helmet is the classic and favored RK2 bubble eared shell which Namath only used early in his career."

false. namath wore an rk "bubble eared" helmet from 1965 (his rookie year) through 1971 for a total of 7 seasons - given that willie joe played for 13 years, he actually wore an rk helmet for most of his career.

"The Jets' logos are well "creamed" and their upward angulation between the two side suspension bolts are '60's "specific."

false. the jets transition to a horizontally positioned helmet logo was a slow, uneven process - many players, including namath, sported the upward angled logos well into the '70s. as far as the ami helmet logos being "well creamed", well let's just say that the this uncomfortably peculiar description ranks right up there with the "delicious" unitas helmet.

here are a couple of 1971 photos - the photo on the left shows some jets players still sporting the upward angled helmet logos (which the lot description claims are "'60s specific") and the photo on the right not only shows namath sporting the same upward-angled helmet logos but an rk helmet to boot, 7 years into his career.




"The supporting provenance on this helmet is superlative. It was given by Namath to a prominent New Orleans restaurateur and was displayed in various eateries and bars owned by the family for over 30 years along with other AFL helmets of Lance Alworth, Johnny Robinson, Billy Cannon, Bob Griese, etc."

since when does a helmet hailing from a restaurant/bar constitute "superlative" provenance? sure, outstanding helmets have indeed surfaced from old restaurants and bars, player/team watering holes, but so have an ocean of bunk helmets. and, of course, the restaurant/bar story has always been a favorite among those that peddle doctored helmets which have never seen the inside of a restaurant, bar, locker room or the top of pro's head.

"1966-67 joe namath a.f.l game worn helmet."

namath wore the type of facemask pictured in the lot (bd9) from 1965 (his rookie year) through part of 1967, about 2 1/2 years. at some point in 1967 namath gave up the two-bar mask (never to return to it) in favor of more protection, an opo mask, which he continued to wear throughout the following year, 1968, including the jets' super bowl win over the colts.

so here's the deal - for the ami helmet to be namath's 1967 sombrero it would needed to have been drilled with facemask holes to accommodate his facemask change, but these holes aren't present. or the upgraded facemask should have been included, but it wasn't. and, of course, it's extremely doubtful namath would have dumped his entire helmet in '67 when he switched masks.

so that leaves 1965 and 1966 assuming of course that namath didn't use his '65 or '66 helmet in '67. however this may be moot given that the heat stamped "riddell" logo on the back of the ami helmet appears to be the all caps stenciled version which wasn't introduced until the very late '60s, when namath had stopped wearing the two-bar mask - and the lot description could not very well identify the helmet as a late '60s "namath gamer" because that would make the facemask impossible to explain.

the two photos on the left show the type of "riddell" logo that appears to be present on the ami helmet, a very late '60s logo, stenciled caps. the two photos on the right show the type of "riddell" logo consistent with a helmet from the '65-'67 era (and earlier), caps/cursive.




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