New York Jets Rawlings Jerseys

[gridman80]

Re: New York Jets Rawlings Jerseys

I've been going to Jets games for 40 years...season ticket holder for 30 and uniform collector for 28 years. To net this out, all the 'evidence' supporting Rawlings as having supplied the Jets is circumstantial or based on convoluted logic, e.g, "Rawlings supplied other AFL teams so why not the Jets". Many of these arguments come under the heading of wishful thinking or 'Damn, I couldn't have been burned on this piece' in my humble opinion.
I think it's prudent to lay down hundreds or sometimes several thousands for these pieces based only on hard evidence rather than emotion. I try not to convince myself that a piece is good...been burned too often doing that....
On the other hand, the evidence supporting MacGregor and SandKnit is factual and indisputable, as I own examples that I have obtained directly from the players or their families over the years. I would not lay down a dollar for a Rawlings piece unless I had direct photographic or player/equipment mgr evidence of its provenance. If you have such evidence, please show me that I am wrong as I completely open minded.
Hope this helps the discusssion...I don't want to see anyone burned on a piece....sharing factual knowledge among collectors helps all....speculative arguments can lead to wasted money and hurt feelings...

[nyjetsfan14]

Re: New York Jets Rawlings Jerseys

The Namath piece resurfacing should be the final nail in the coffin here. The Jets never screened identifiers on their dureens during that era so this lends to the possible early 70's salesman sample theory as maybe Rawlings was trying to provide an example of what screened dureens would be like in comparison to the sewn dureens? Obviously the screened Rawlings Namath size 40 is in no way a team issued piece. In case somebody was interested in my font synopisis here are some photos (picked from many). The first two (Don Maynard and Mike Taliaferro) are the types of #1 fonts that can be found on Jets dureen jerseys of the AFL era. The third (Matt Snell) is the type of #1 font used by the Jets on their screened mesh starting around/after the merger. You can compare to the personalized Howland piece shown earlier in this thread, that had the NOB removed than subsequently authenticated/sold as a Talieferro gamer, and see that the Howland #1 matches that of the early 70's Jets mesh - the slant angle of the top of the 1. I too hope this discussion has been of value to fellow collectors, paid authenticators, and even our banned member Mr. WJones III. As always, happy collecting to all.