The New England Patriots game used thread

[jeffaary]

A word about Starter era Patriots jerseys (1995-1998) During this era if purchasing game used jerseys, I would highly recommend making sure that you have a photo match or if your photo resolution isn't high enough, a style match. I say this because I have seen MANY "game used" Patriots jerseys from this era that are absolutely not game used. Most of these jerseys have the Custom Crafted stamp on the inside of the jersey. In fact some of these jerseys even have repairs on them. But I can assure you that some of them that I have seen are not game worn. I know this from spending hours looking at photos and game film from games.

Michael:

This is great info, but as I've learned in the last few years there are no absolutes with this era of Patriots jerseys. Specifically regarding the Custom Crafted stamp, not all Patriots jerseys got them. When the Patriots Pro Shop started selling jerseys on their website a couple of years ago I ordered what was listed as a 1997 Keith Byars home jersey. I already had a home 1996 Terry Glenn and a 1997 road Byars, each of which had Custom Crafted stamps, as did every other Pats jersey from that era that I had seen. When the jersey arrived it did not have the CC stamp. My first thought was it was a fake, but the jersey had a TON of marks/burns/damage/repairs and it came straight from the Patriots. I went to the internet to see if I could photo match it. It took all of 2 seconds to identify it as the jersey Byars wore in the 1996-97 AFC divisional playoff and Championship games against Jacksonville and Pittsburgh. When I was in Boston last year I met with Jim Scollins from the Pro Shop and told him this. He told me that during that time frame the Pats actually used three different shops to do the names/numbers/logos, not just Custom Crafted.

[MichaelofSF]

Michael:

This is great info, but as I've learned in the last few years there are no absolutes with this era of Patriots jerseys. Specifically regarding the Custom Crafted stamp, not all Patriots jerseys got them. When the Patriots Pro Shop started selling jerseys on their website a couple of years ago I ordered what was listed as a 1997 Keith Byars home jersey. I already had a home 1996 Terry Glenn and a 1997 road Byars, each of which had Custom Crafted stamps, as did every other Pats jersey from that era that I had seen. When the jersey arrived it did not have the CC stamp. My first thought was it was a fake, but the jersey had a TON of marks/burns/damage/repairs and it came straight from the Patriots. I went to the internet to see if I could photo match it. It took all of 2 seconds to identify it as the jersey Byars wore in the 1996-97 AFC divisional playoff and Championship games against Jacksonville and Pittsburgh. When I was in Boston last year I met with Jim Scollins from the Pro Shop and told him this. He told me that during that time frame the Pats actually used three different shops to do the names/numbers/logos, not just Custom Crafted.

Thanks for the great info, good to know! I'm glad we have a place to share and organize Patriots Game Used knowledge. Please share pics of the jerseys when you have time to.

1994 season - 1995 (preseason) Willie McGinest game used jersey (Patriots COA)
As I had mentioned earlier, the Patriots wore Apex One in the preseason of 1995 before switching to Starter in the opener. This McGinest jersey was worn during his rookie year of 1994. The 75th patch has been removed. In the preseason of 1995 the 1994 style is pictured without the 75th patch (last picture). Multiple repairs are present on this jersey.

[MichaelofSF]

Richard Seymour 2005 game used alternate jersey (Patriots COA)
This Seymour jersey comes direct from the Patriots. The COA says issued, but clear signs of use exist (paint transfer on shoulder numbers, fabric snags). This jersey was worn against the Chargers. Seymour was a 1st team All Pro in 2005 as well as a Pro Bowler. There are velcro attachments on both the front and back tail.

[MichaelofSF]

Lawyer Milloy 1998 game used jersey (Patriots COA)
1998 was a Pro Bowl year for Lawyer Milloy. This jersey is an away jersey with many repairs. 1998 was the last year of Starter making Patriots jerseys as previously stated. There is no front tail tag on this jersey. There is a custom crafted neck tag present but no inside stamp. I would love to add a matching Ty Law jersey but haven't seen a good one out there yet.

[MichaelofSF]

Lawyer Milloy 1996 game used jersey (Patriots COA)
Here is a rookie home jersey of Lawyer Milloy. A few team repairs are present as well as hit/scuff marks. The 1996 style front tag is present on the jersey. On the interior is a custom crafted team stamp. On the right side flying elvis shoulder logo there is a large scuff that can be seen in the photo below as well as a larg repair within the front 3. The Pats won the East in 1996 and made it to the Super Bowl before losing to the Packers.

[MichaelofSF]

some more home jerseys...
1997 Dave Meggett game used jersey (PSA/DNA)
This home jersey was worn the entire season when the Patriots wore their blue jerseys. The sleeves on this jersey have been custom shortened. 1997 style Starter tag is present on the front of the jersey. Inside there is a team stamp. A few team repairs are present. Some remnant paint transfers are present on teh jersey.

In this jersey Meggett threw a Touchdown Pass to Troy Brown and caught a Touchdown against the Steelers. This jersey was last worn against the Dolphins in a playoff win.

[PatriotsProShop]

Lawyer Milloy 1998 game used jersey (Patriots COA)
1998 was a Pro Bowl year for Lawyer Milloy. This jersey is an away jersey with many repairs. 1998 was the last year of Starter making Patriots jerseys as previously stated. There is no front tail tag on this jersey. There is a custom crafted neck tag present but no inside stamp. I would love to add a matching Ty Law jersey but haven't seen a good one out there yet.

Michael, we will try and get a Ty Law jersey available this season - Thanks for starting this thread, awesome stuff!

Jim

[jeffaary]

Michael:

Here are some more examples of there being no absolutes with Starter era Pats jerseys:

1) My blue Byars divisional playoff and AFC Championship jersey, in addition to not having a Custom Crafted stamp, has no tag and no evidence of one ever having been there. It has Starter logos on the sleeves, but no tag inside or out. It may not even be a Starter jersey for all I know, it may just have the Starter logos.

2) I also own Byars' white 1996-97 Super Bowl jersey he wore 2 weeks later. It also has no Custom Crafted Stamp. It does have a tag, but it is what you have documented as a 1995 tag. My 1996 Terry Glenn regular season jersey has a Custom Crafted stamp and a tag that matches what you documented as a 1996 tag. I also own Byars and Glenn 1997 jerseys that both have Custom Crafted stamps and what you documented as 1997 tags.

It looks to me like when the Pats made the 1996 playoffs they decided to quickly put together new home and away jerseys made out of leftovers.

This also ties into your comment about the location of the Starter sleeve logos. Through the 1996-97 AFC Championship game the logos were below the sleeve numbers (here's Byars in the AFC Championship game):


...except for linemen who had the sleeves customized to tuck under the shoulder pads, in which case the logos were next to the numbers:


For the Super Bowl the logos were moved above the numbers:


And I literally mean moved. You can clearly see remants on my Byars Super Bowl jersey where the logos were before they moved them up. The following season the logos remained above the numbers.

[MichaelofSF]

Michael:

Here are some more examples of there being no absolutes with Starter era Pats jerseys:

...
And I literally mean moved. You can clearly see remants on my Byars Super Bowl jersey where the logos were before they moved them up. The following season the logos remained above the numbers.

Great info Jeff.

Jim, that sounds great, would love the chance at a Law jersey (1998 home would be awesome, if not that a 2001/03 home would be next on the wish list). Speaking of Ty Law...

Ty Law 1997 game used helmet
This helmet was worn by Ty Law from the preseason all the way through the playoffs. The Flying Elvis logos were not changed on this helmet throughout the season as the same ones can be seen from preseason until the end of the season. The rear decal that covers up the "Riddell" decal has been removed. In the playoffs the Patriots switched from the blue "PATRIOTS" rear decal to a "Riddell" decal with the Patriots logo to the left of it and a playoff logo to the right of it (this can be seen in the last photo). The chinstrap is screwed to the helmet on the upper attachments and shows season long wear. During most of the season Law has the lower right chin strap attached with the lower left strap hanging loose. The 1997 Patriots season was the first under Pete Carroll and ended with a playoff loss in Pittsburgh.

A special thanks to Larry P. who was kind enough to allow me to add this to my collection. Larry was a real pleasure to deal with and is a great asset to our community.

[MichaelofSF]

A special thanks to Larry Pelliccioni who was kind enough to allow me to add this to my collection. Larry was a real pleasure to deal with and is a great asset to our community.

I typically don't write out last names on my posts to help maintain some google search level of privacy, but since Larry has no problem with it, I wanted to include it in there. A big thank you Larry Pelliccioni!