Dating football helments

[MikeSharon]

Recently found a Cowboys Ridell helment with heavy use and the name RICHARDSON in blue dyno tape on the back. its is a Ridell WD1 and i dont know how to date it. The only Richardson i can find on a Cowboy roster is from 1971 any help would be appriciated
thanks
MIKE SHARON
dingo464@gmail.com

[tom1315]

i see in one picture posted a circle and then what appears to be a line dividing the circle near the helmet size. I am pretty confident that is a date code with either letters or numbers and would tell you the year of manufacture of the shell.

If you search for dating helmets in the Forum you will come across threads that tell you how to interpret the letters or numerals in the circle.

Another clue of use and dating the helmet may be the letters on the facemask. For example if you see "EHG" as an example the facemask was manufactured May 1987. "E" is the fifth month, "H" is the 8th letter and "G" the 7th letter.

Might want to try and see what style facemask, helmet used and and where his chin strap connected in pictures in Getty Images, and similar photo sites. Search using his name or Cowboy games when you believed he played.

Lets us know if you have a real gamer!

Tom

Go Pack! NC State grad 1981

[MikeSharon]

Thanks for the help, using your date coding on the facemasks its FHE so thats 6/85 and the shell has a " 2 l "code looking at the rosters the helment belongs to Howard Richards the Cowboys 1981 1st round pick he played G-T. I appricate your help, any idea what it would be worth I collect baseball and dont really have any idea what football stuff goes for.
Thanks
Mike

[tom1315]

Mike, glad to help. Tough to say what the value may be - if "G-T" is Georgia Tech may be worth more to GT fans than others. Cowboy's items seem to be highly desired yet hard to know in these times. Lots of their helmets on eBay and other web sites.

For me if the player attended my college, NC State, and I had excellent provenance of worn by the player, then worth more to me than others. From your pictures looks like an excellent game used helmet!

Tom

Go Pack! 1981 graduate

[Vintagedeputy]

The Cowboys signed a special teams guy named Bucky Richardson in 1995 but he never played a regular season game for them.

FWIW, here's his work contact info (available via the net)

Bucky Richardson
Vice President
Environmental Improvements, Inc
Mobile (713) 206-8750
bucky@ei2hou.com

Maybe you could shoot him a pic and he could shed some light.

[brianborsch]

I try not to date football helmets. They can't hold a conversation or even a job! Sorry, couldn't resist.... :D