Very rare Philadelphia Eagles Nokona Clear Shell helmet from 1973.  This helmet was purchased as part of a collection by the grandson of a former Marietta (Helmet manufacturer) worker.  Marietta was trying to gain market share in the NFL with their padded Kineomatic clear shell helmet - offering more protection than the suspension helmets sold by Riddell, Wilson and others.  Marietta would accumulate helmets from NFL teams as well as from other manufacturers for their benchmark testing of their helmets.  These “sample” helmets as well as helmets that were returned to Marietta for warranty or rejected in the reconditioning process were often brought home to his two boys who had a collection of NFL helmets lining their bedroom walls.  

This rare model helmet is complete and all original with no modifications.  The helmet has the original Nokona suspension, leather padding, original Nokona leather jawpads, and Dungard lineman facemask.  The mask is secured to the helmet with original Dungard clips and hardware.  The shell of the helmet is clear, painted from the interior, in an attempt by many helmet manufacturers to protect both the paint as well as the striping and logos.  This helmet has the Eagle wings applied to the exterior of the helmet - which was done by many of the college and NFL teams during this era.  The wings of the helmet are all original and adhered to the helmet very well with no lifting.  The helmet exhibits very little game wear and remains in excellent display condition with no cracks - which was often the case with clear shell helmets.  Nokona helmets are very rare in general but more so for college and almost non-existant for NFL teams.  Very few were used in the NFL with a couple of southern teams experimenting with them.  This is a very rare helmet - in which we have never seen another - of the Eagles or any other team.   A great helmet to display for your collection, of a very rare team helmet in an ultra rare model.  Have you ever seen another one?  Me neither…