Bill Kelley very rare Philadelphia Eagles 100MH Clear Shell Helmet.  Kelley took over the older MacGregor helmet line with his helmets virtually identical to the older MacGregor 100MH model helmets. We have been doing this a long time - over 30 years, and we have never seen another Eagles Kelley clear shell helmet from this era.  This helmet is in pristine, museum quality condition from the interior to the mask and the included Kelley chinstrap.  

Clear shell football helmets have been around for more than 80 years.  It seems that every major football helmet manufacturer has produced clear shell helmets at one time or another.  Today, they are rare, highly collectible and bring top dollar with serious collectors. The clear shell helmet has the logos, labels, striping and paint - under the shell - unlike conventional helmets with the exterior painted and decals/striping applied over the exterior paint.  The idea was that the paint and any logos and/or striping would be protected by the shell, keeping the helmet paint and logos in undamaged conditon from game wear.  

The period of these helmets that is most desired by collectors is the mid 1960's through the mid 1980's, due to the logos used and "displayed" under the helmet shells. NFL teams and college teams alike used the 100MH model helmets, with superstars of both preferring to wear them due to the fully padded interiors.  These helmets were, and are today, a bit brittle and prone to cracking - especially at the facemask mounts, and at the rivets where the suspension padding was installed.  This helmet is an exception.  The helmet has no cracking at any of the facemask mounts with minor spider cracking at the suspension rivets.  Yes as far as cracking, this helmet is a rarity - it is near perfect. 

The other issue with the 100MH models was the paint.  Some of the helmets had some paint issues with the paint not properly adhering to the shell, which is a bit more prominent with white, silver and gold colored helmets.  Additionally, as the paint was sprayed on the inside of the helmet, some helmets exhibit light paint coatings and inconsistent paint thicknesses.  Internal paint wear or scratches resulted in a clear spot on the helmet rather than a molded base color or primer spot on the exterior.  Lastly, since the outside of the helmet is clear, it had tendency to yellow over time or with exposure to light - resulting in a different shade of color than a teammate's conventionally painted helmet. This helmet has no paint issues at all - no scratches, no light spots, no fading.  Again, just perfect.  

This beautiful helmet is complete including the chinstrap.  The helmet itself is all original and unaltered in any manner.  The padding is original, complete including the jaw pads, and in perfect/mint condition with no visible wear or issues.  The logos are perfect and colorful, properly positioned with no issues.  The helmet is a very rare size - 7 1/2 which will fit the largest of melons.  Clear shell helmets this size are very rare.  They just are not out there.  The facemask is an original Schutt NJOP in the XL/Green Dot size, in NOS conditin with no wear.  Finally there is a factory labels with the 1981 datecode on both sides of the helmet interior.  

A great, beautiful Kelley clear shell - perfect paint, logos, mask, and padding, no cracking, and in a massive very rare size, just as nice as it left the factory 45 years ago.  Bill would be proud. Don't wait on this one.