Mastro - Vintage GU Football Helmets

[aeneas01]

Re: Mastro - Vintage GU Football Helmets

many thanks to roger for sending me great photos of atkins as well as many other great photos from his fantastic collection!

...

[Jake51]

Re: Mastro - Vintage GU Football Helmets

Hi,

Does anyone know what the Timmy Brown Pro Bowl helmet went for that Robert described earlier in this post?

Thanks,

Tom

[RKGIBSON]

Re: Mastro - Vintage GU Football Helmets

Robert,

Here is a quick photo of some of the pictures that I got from Doug. He is a real gentleman. If you want a copy of the Saint picture with the helmet, email me your address and I'll send you one, he gave me two.

Roger
irestorecars@sbcglobal.net

[aeneas01]

Re: Mastro - Vintage GU Football Helmets

The Lamonica Pro Bowl lid at the start of this thread just made an appearance on the Pro Bowl broadcast, great archive footage of he and John Madden at the 71 Pro Bowl.

that was indeed great vintage footage but it was from the 1970 pro bowl, not the 1972 pro bowl (the mastro helmet was billed as lamonica's 1972 pro bowl lid). madden was the afc pb coach in the 1970, noll was was the afc pb coach in 1972. but from the quick glimpses i caught it did appear that lamonica was sporting a tk in that 1970 footage, which is the model in the mastro auction. fwiw the photos i've seen of lamonica in the 1970 pro bowl also seem to show him wearing a tk although i wouldn't say the photos are conclusive.

Does anyone know where the Adkins helmet went? I got a picture from Doug in which he is holding the helmet. I would like to have this helmet for my collection.

roger, would you mind sharing that photo?

...

[RKGIBSON]

Re: Mastro - Vintage GU Football Helmets

Does anyone know where the Adkins helmet went? I got a picture from Doug in which he is holding the helmet. I would like to have this helmet for my collection.

Roger
irestorecars@sbcglobal.net

[genius]

Re: Mastro - Vintage GU Football Helmets

The Lamonica Pro Bowl lid at the start of this thread just made an appearance on the Pro Bowl broadcast, great archive footage of he and John Madden at the 71 Pro Bowl.

[aeneas01]

Re: Mastro - Vintage GU Football Helmets

I was offered the Unitas chargers helmet 12 years ago at $2000 and passed...not a goldmine but better than the stock market. Great work Aeneas

although the unitas bolts helmet appeared to be interesting, i would take one of the many gems in your collection over it any day of the week!

...

[gridman80]

Re: Mastro - Vintage GU Football Helmets

Robert
This is the best information that this forum can possibly offer. You have cut the supply of "game worn helmets" in half. What's wrong with common players? These guys need to realize that every helmet doesn't need to be a Namath or Unitas.
Thanks for your time and energy!

P.S. I know a guy in San Diego, who saw a Unitas Chargers helmet at a flea market in the mid 70s. He was 10 years old and obviously couldn't afford it. It was $100 and could very well be the same one as the one you posted...

I was offered the Unitas chargers helmet 12 years ago at $2000 and passed...not a goldmine but better than the stock market. Great work Aeneas

[aeneas01]

Re: Mastro - Vintage GU Football Helmets

Helmets,

I did want the Adkin's helmet. It was #1 on my list.. Doug Adkin's lives close to a friend of mine in Humbolt TN. We spoke to him about the helmet. He sold it to a local sports dealer in 1999. He said it was the only helmet he was able to keep from his career. He is a great gentleman and I have looked for something of his for several years. My proxy was $1800.00. I would like to own this helmet if it ever comes up for sale or if the new owner wants to turn it for a quick buck.

I just screwed up and was not able to bid today. I called and the said they could not figure how to let me bid today. ??? If the numbers are right on the web, I did get six jerseys.

In my opinion this was a big loser for the owner of these items. To have a live auction on Monday was a joke. To not be able to bid from the internet was a joke. They cost their customer, and their self, thousands of dollars.

Roger

great info on atkins - that lid is a beauty. it's hit the blocks before and will probably hit the blocks again - but i'm not sure it will ever go for less. btw it looks like you and i had the same problems when trying to register for the "live" auction. what a disater of a format that auction was!

...

[RKGIBSON]

Re: Mastro - Vintage GU Football Helmets

Helmets,

I did want the Adkin's helmet. It was #1 on my list.. Doug Adkin's lives close to a friend of mine in Humbolt TN. We spoke to him about the helmet. He sold it to a local sports dealer in 1999. He said it was the only helmet he was able to keep from his career. He is a great gentleman and I have looked for something of his for several years. My proxy was $1800.00. I would like to own this helmet if it ever comes up for sale or if the new owner wants to turn it for a quick buck.

I just screwed up and was not able to bid today. I called and the said they could not figure how to let me bid today. ??? If the numbers are right on the web, I did get six jerseys.

In my opinion this was a big loser for the owner of these items. To have a live auction on Monday was a joke. To not be able to bid from the internet was a joke. They cost their customer, and their self, thousands of dollars.

Roger

[helmets]

Re: Mastro - Vintage GU Football Helmets

Yes, one Proxy on the Atkins was $1900, so that is where the bidding started. Anyone here bid on it?

Anyone here buy any of the helmets? Roger, I know you had to have bid on some...

The Hornung went for 3500 I believe. I was on the phone waiting for the Pitts to go and was trying to listen to the auctioneer. That's a far cry from the 10,700 that it brought in May 2007 from Heritage.

[helmets]

Re: Mastro - Vintage GU Football Helmets

Yes, "enhancing." There were a few other things on some of the helmets that were enhanced. Some of the masks on some of the helmets - to me, - IMO, have been "enhanced." In fact it looks like some of them have are hh repros, that have been "enhanced" to look original. If you look at the photos of the helmets where it shows the interior, and you look at the masks, they look very similar to the reproduction masks. I know you like the Pugh helmet, but that mask...look at the shape, look at how it shines, look at the color, look at the runs in the coating, and lastly... the helmet is "absolutely destroyed" but the mask does not have a mark on it.

Is it just me, or are Pat Fischer's numbers - new? They are very white compared to the stripes. Very white for almost 40 years old.

Why is it every GB Husky belonged to Davis? The shape of the side decals - compared to other Packer gamers. They look like the two pc reproduction decals that I have...

I don't think Nitschke ever wore a Rawlings. I could be wrong.

The Aneneas premium has really taken effect on the Atkins. I probably don't stand a chance on that one - 14 proxy bids already.

[aeneas01]

Re: Mastro - Vintage GU Football Helmets

Robert:

I was wondering why it was taking you so long to post about the Mastro auctions. Now that I see your post and know how much time and research you put into it, I wonder no longer. Great post as always.

I seem to have the same sentiments as you do on most. I think you increased the auction price on some. I may have to check my piggy bank for extra funds to cover the increase due to the "Aeneas01 premium"

Being a Packer fan and from Wisconsin, I am always interested in the Packer helmets. Yes, the Hornung did have a BD9 and chinstrap when it sold on HA, but I believe in the description of that auction that the mask and chinstrap were from a later period. I recall that anyways. Perhaps the new owner removed them as they were not "original" to the helmet.

Interesting story...
My father sold insurance in Wisconsin when I was growing up. - Employers Insurance of Wausau - later Wausau Insurance Companies. He was always bringing "stuff" home to me from his customers. He brought me home a Packer gamer when I was a kid. It had the suspension cut out of the helmet, but the rivets were still there - similar to a helmet lamp. I think the Packers did that for liability. It had a number on the rear - 20's, (24? 26? ) BD9 two bar, and the shell was cracked. I remember trying to wear it and the rivets hurt my head. I wore my Packer winter hat under it for "rivet protection." I had to cut the tassle off of the hat so the helmet sat right. That didn't work too well, so my father went to a fabric store and bought some foam rubber and tried to glue it into the helmet. The glue those days wasn't very good, and each time I would try and wear it, the padding would pull off. Well Santa went to Sears later that year and bought a Rawlings Air-Flo Packers for me, and the Packers Gamer was tossed into a closet. Needless to say the gamer was sold at a rummage sale when I was away at college. I remember seeing other Packer gamers growing up at flea markets, etc, and most had the suspensions removed - cut out. I think the team cut them out - faster and easier, but the reconditioners must have drilled out the rivets like the two on Mastro.

great story! i would imagine that the rawlings store model packers lid was indeed quite a bit more comfortable than the gamer with protruding interior rivets! although i'm not quite sure how an equipment manager would go about cutting out a suspension unit while leaving the rivets cleanly intact, like a helmet lamp! i would think that if the team wanted to render a helmet useless for liability purposes, the easiest way would be to simply cut the suspension unit in half a dozen places around the crown support and be done with it. but, hey, odder things have taken place in equipment rooms!

so what do think about the "enhancing" of the rear numbers on those packers helmets?

speaking of flea markets, what a potential treasure trove! i have a few vintage helmets that were picked up at an east coast flea market almost 30 years ago - two belonged to a couple of hall of famers, no doubt about it. i'd rather not say much more about them - i made that mistake a couple of years ago and was bugged to no end, and i mean no end, by a couple of auction houses.

as a packers fan do you happen to know if nitschke ever wore a rawlings? i don't think so. nor did butkus as far as i can tell. but the hall of fame has nitschke and butkus gamers on display - both rawlings. speaking of the hall - great people. their researchers and archivists are tremendously helpful and more than willing to help you research anything if you are inclined to pay them a personal visit. i was told that access to their "vault", where they keep 95% of their inventory, is also available by appointment. yet having said that, their off the cuff knowledge can be somewhat lacking. for example, get this, i noticed they had the helmet bruce smith wore in the 1990 super bowl on display. interesting, eh? but guess what? it was riddell vsr4. i told their researcher that it wasn't smith's lid, that he wore a schutt, and that this fact could be easily verified. i was told that they would check it out although he was pretty certain it was smith's sb helmet because it had an american flag decal on the back just like smith's super bowl lid. mama mia! fwiw it appears that they did remove it!

...

[Nathan]

Re: Mastro - Vintage GU Football Helmets

Mr. Aeneas,

This is incredible work; it really is.

Funny that the inability to find a Pafko jersey compared to a Mantle was brought up. In hockey, I don't know that anyone has ever been able to find a Russ Romaniuk jersey from any of his various stops (and there certainly were a lot of them). A couple days ago, one of them finally popped up on eBay.

Here's his statline if you want to see how many teams he played for.

http://www.hockeydb.com/ihdb/stats/pdisplay.php?pid=4647

[kingjammy24]

Re: Mastro - Vintage GU Football Helmets

...

on the bottom right photo, the sticker actually goes underneath the "center stripes". sort of interesting, no? mayhaps the stripes were put on after the sticker?

re: reconditioning
ok gotcha. not a concept most baseball collectors think of.

rudy.