Old Leather Penco Strap Helmet

[jefe86]

Hi guys,

I picked up this (football I think?) helmet today at a garage sale for $5. The owner has had it for years in an old chest and pulled it out today with a lot of other University of Washington collectibles. He thinks it was from his friend who passed away a few years ago, and that he had owned it as part of his Husky collection. It's not in the best shape, but I thought it was cool (and I'm a UW Husky) so I bought it. I haven't been able to find much at all online about it, the only markings are on the top it reads Penco Sporting Goods. I think Penco might have been one of JC Penny's brands, but not positive. Any help from all you experts is much appreciated. Thanks!

[aeneas01]

Re: Old Leather Penco Strap Helmet

you have one of the more desirable vintage leather football helmet models on your hands, an 8-spoke "head harness". these helmets typically and regularly fetch between $500 - $2,000 depending on condition. when it comes to vintage leather helmets, heavy game use/wear is usually not a plus and almost always hurts the price. for example, if your helmet was in mint condition and came with its original box, it would fetch far more than one in game used/worn condition (unless it was worn by one of a handful of legendary players). stitching condition is very important, as is interior liner and exterior condition. from the photos you posted, yours seems to be in ok shape although there seems to be something going on with the front and quite a bit of loose stitching. penco sporting goods (not related to jc pennys) is a solid brand but i believe most collectors would prefer a "reach" or "wright & ditson" version.

here's a penco in brown (identical model as yours i believe), in mint condition, that sold for $950:



here are some vintage ads for this type of helmet:



...

[jefe86]

Re: Old Leather Penco Strap Helmet

That's great, thanks for the reply and information. I'm not sure what I'm going to do with it, I'm really more of an autograph/baseball collector, so I may consider trying to trade it or perhaps sell so I can buy more :-)

Considering that it is storied to have been worn by a UW player in the teens/twenties, do you think it would be worth the effort of trying to track down who/when exactly it would have been worn? Since I live in the Seattle area I was thinking that this would attract more interst. I assume that if I do want to sell it, that this would add to the appeal of it, or do you think that would be a near impossible task?

[princip]

Re: Old Leather Penco Strap Helmet

That's great, thanks for the reply and information. I'm not sure what I'm going to do with it, I'm really more of an autograph/baseball collector, so I may consider trying to trade it or perhaps sell so I can buy more :-)

Considering that it is storied to have been worn by a UW player in the teens/twenties, do you think it would be worth the effort of trying to track down who/when exactly it would have been worn? Since I live in the Seattle area I was thinking that this would attract more interst. I assume that if I do want to sell it, that this would add to the appeal of it, or do you think that would be a near impossible task?

Would not hurt to do some fact checking and include player's names that might have worn a helmet such as this and include it in the writeup. Even if you can't pinpoint it to any specific player.

[jefe86]

Re: Old Leather Penco Strap Helmet

I agree. Hey aeneas01, about what year do you think they would have been wearing this helmet if it was really used in a UW football game? Maybe I could go check out some old photos and do some sleuthing.