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Re: at national right now.....
Not meaning to hijack the thread, but I wanted to add some observations to lund6771's comments of seeing older football jerseys from the 1980's - back in the days when they were worn for many more games - that didn't seem to show near as much wear as some of the newer jerseys worn in only one game.
There is a reason that older jerseys will sometimes not show as much wear as current jerseys. Current football jerseys are made somewhat differently (especially in the shoulder area and the tapering of the body) and most importantly, worn much more tighter than they were back in previous decades. This leads to current jerseys being prone to showing more wear in a shorter period of time.
I have a number of older jerseys in my collection and have been involved in a few bulk buys from teams consisting of older jerseys. Some of these jerseys will look almost mint at first glance. However, upon close examination, there will be signs of use such as a team repair, scrape marks (I love screened-on numbers for that reason), etc. For example, I collect WFL jerseys (1974 and 1975), and many of the teams had only one set of jerseys. Some will look hammered, but others will look almost new, especially teams that used Russell jerseys as they seemed to be very durable and not reflect much use, even for players who were starters. The same holds true for the Atlanta Falcons - a team that I also collect - as they wore Russell for many years.
See the below Detroit Wheels WFL jersey (made by Sand Knit). At first glance, it looks just as "mint" in person as it does in the photo. I assumed that it was mint when I obtained it until I found several nice team repairs and other subtle signs of game-use. I have a number of older jerseys that fall into this category as does other collections that I've observed over the years.
Of course, many older jerseys will look just as hammered as the newer ones (especially linemen), and sometimes will look even more battered. However, I wouldn't necessarily run from an older jersey that looks mint if everything else looks right about it. I would assume that is "team-issued" at worse as back in those days, store-bought replicas were not made near as well as they are today.
In my observations and opinion, I am more suspicious of newer jerseys looking mint (even one-gamers) than older jerseys looking mint.
Mark Hayne
Gridiron Exchange
gixc@verizon.net
Not meaning to hijack the thread, but I wanted to add some observations to lund6771's comments of seeing older football jerseys from the 1980's - back in the days when they were worn for many more games - that didn't seem to show near as much wear as some of the newer jerseys worn in only one game.
There is a reason that older jerseys will sometimes not show as much wear as current jerseys. Current football jerseys are made somewhat differently (especially in the shoulder area and the tapering of the body) and most importantly, worn much more tighter than they were back in previous decades. This leads to current jerseys being prone to showing more wear in a shorter period of time.
I have a number of older jerseys in my collection and have been involved in a few bulk buys from teams consisting of older jerseys. Some of these jerseys will look almost mint at first glance. However, upon close examination, there will be signs of use such as a team repair, scrape marks (I love screened-on numbers for that reason), etc. For example, I collect WFL jerseys (1974 and 1975), and many of the teams had only one set of jerseys. Some will look hammered, but others will look almost new, especially teams that used Russell jerseys as they seemed to be very durable and not reflect much use, even for players who were starters. The same holds true for the Atlanta Falcons - a team that I also collect - as they wore Russell for many years.
See the below Detroit Wheels WFL jersey (made by Sand Knit). At first glance, it looks just as "mint" in person as it does in the photo. I assumed that it was mint when I obtained it until I found several nice team repairs and other subtle signs of game-use. I have a number of older jerseys that fall into this category as does other collections that I've observed over the years.
Of course, many older jerseys will look just as hammered as the newer ones (especially linemen), and sometimes will look even more battered. However, I wouldn't necessarily run from an older jersey that looks mint if everything else looks right about it. I would assume that is "team-issued" at worse as back in those days, store-bought replicas were not made near as well as they are today.
In my observations and opinion, I am more suspicious of newer jerseys looking mint (even one-gamers) than older jerseys looking mint.
Mark Hayne
Gridiron Exchange
gixc@verizon.net
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