Don't know if a lot of people saw but their are 3 styles of the VT helmet that are now on auction. Auction ends February 2529th and part of the proceeds go to Herma's Readers!
The Tri Colored
The Metallic Orange
"The Beamer"
Hurry up and TAKE MY MONEY, click below
Helmet Auction
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Thanks for sharing. Now to figure out a way to convince the wife that we need to spend $500+....
Well in comparison, you're being super responsible
$21000 for Super Bowl Tickets
Early bids indicate that someone really likes #32. I'm glad that people are still highlighting it. Never forget!
$500 minimum? Ulp. That's too high...
The Tri-color and Orange Chrome are hydrodipped helmets that cost the school somewhere in the $1100-1400 range from what I've heard from other programs equipment manager(s). You can't really replicate the way those two look with paint/decals.
$500 is pretty reasonable.
I touched on those two at the beginning of the year as those will be much more pricey due to the fact that they are hydrographic helmets when it comes auction time.
I'm not sure they started this high last year but I could be mistaken.. I thought I got the normal camo VT one a few years ago for like $350...?
They auctioned an autographed black helmet and orange helmet at the baseball night.
So a few questions that haven't been answers when I tweeted at VT football. Why are only certain numbers available? Why don't the kids get to keep their helmets? Do other items get auctioned off?
Are the numbers from the seniors missing? I could see where seniors might get to keep their helmets since they have no more eligibility and there might not be questions of impermissible benefits.
If that's not the case, I'd bet that some of the helmets were given as gifts to donors/supporters/retiring coaches and they're just auctioning off the ones that are left.
Those are all the game-worn helmets which is why some are labeled as offense and defense for those with duplicate numbers. Other items are frequently auctioned, such as uniforms for other sports and other equipment. VT Surplus also auctions old items too if you watch the announcements.
Darn, I was hoping we'd still be using the tri-colored ones next year.
By this logic I guess the absence of the White Face Mask helmet is a good sign. I love that helmet. Would be cool to use that again next season.
With the rebrand and new uniforms coming I doubt we see any of this year's helmets again except for the ol' maroon on maroon.
Especially since the rebrand seems to be trending towards a futuristic motif, I don't see retro looking helmets being part of the uniforms going forward. But man, they were cool!
I agree, those white facemasks were slick. I just think there would be a small riot if we completely got rid of these.
You're probably right, but things change. If we're gonna go the retro route full time, the difference between those and adding a stripe and a white facemask is minimal. Personally I'd like to see us completely change the helmets. I really liked the tri-color and thought they'd make a good permanent replacement.
If it were up to me I'd go with the stripe from the Fight Gobbler helmet on a maroon gloss paint with an orange flake, with a white facemask. And power VT of course.
Personally, I hope to never see them again.
Thanks for posting this. I've been waiting for this auction to get started. I have a fledgling helmet collection, so I've been checking the auction page every now and then since the season ended.
For those of you interested in the tri-color, Schutt makes a pretty convincing replica. I have one, and the major difference is the maroon outline on the VT isn't as thick as the authentic helmet.
I've seen replicas for "The Beamer" in Campus Emporium, but the numbers are too large. It looks pretty cheap. I'll probably go after one of the metallic orange helmets since you can't seem to find those anywhere.
another good place to look is Helmet Nation.. I have 2-3 VT ones from their and they're all spot on.
ranges from $90-$300 so much much better on the wallet.
Helmet Nation
Why in god's name did you have to share this site??? My wife is going to kill me....
I'm right there with you. I'm fighting myself not to buy one right now!
My wife got me the camo replica helmet for Valentine's. I want to post a picture, but can't figure out how to do that from the gallery on my phone.
Click Me
click the cloud button top right.. then upload from device find picture upload then copy the link and put it in the insert image button in our comment section.
Cool. Thanks!
www.Scorehere.com is where I get all my sports memorabilia. They pretty much destroy comparable prices on this stuff.
I really wish these bids didn't start so high. I can't help but think they'd actually make more money lowering the prices. I'm not a business guy though so I won't argue it. But I still wish they catered to the young recent grads like myself.
I agree, unless they have another plan for unsold ones. Normally they have a lot fewer for sale and start at a lower price. With there being so many and a higher starting bid it will be interested to see what happens. I think people will most likely lay low and then try to snipe one for $500 at the end.
Lower prices to make more money? I'm not sure I understand the logic there. You don't have to pay to bid, you just bid. Setting a minimum gives a guaranteed return, covers the cost of the helmet, which are almost $300 a piece, and allows overage for donation to Herma's Readers. With a lower starting price, the bids will still get above $500. Hell, I promise you that there will be a couple here that will go for over $1,000. Kendall's for sure will.
In the past I've seen a lot of these go unsold. Like you said some will explode but others wont even sell. I'm just thinking with a $200-300 minimum you'd get more bids and sales. I'd be MUCH more likely to buy at that price and I feel like others would.
I'm just an engineer though so I'll quit acting like I know anything about it haha
In my memory, I've never seen 1 go without a single bid, but it's certainly possible. But they have to make their money back on them. Custom helmets come from the Athletic Department's budget. One of the most common helmets I've seen in college football recently is the Riddell Speedflex. That helmet retails for $400. It will be very surprising if any helmet goes without a single bid.
Interestingly enough #11 is missing from the black helmets. I wonder if Kendall got to pre-bid on it.
Kendall never wore a black helmet, thus there is no game worn #11 Black helmet.
That makes much more sense. Completely forgot that. Have a leg.
I am actually hoping we get more of the tri-colors. I liked that helmet.
Completely agree. I think it should be at least in the rotation for away-game (white) uniforms.
Just FYI for the OP - the bidding closes on the 29th, not the 25th.
Maybe one day...
Shoot, I have a game helmet decaled by Lester himself with the gold metal flake, ACC and is autographed with Tech NFL past and SOON to be NFL players such as D Hall, Kevin Jones etc etc I am thinking about selling but not sure the best place to do so? Any ideas. It is the all maroon with the VT logos on each side and all other appropriate decals such as ACC on front face mask, and Hokies on rear bumper etc.
I'd say eBay is going to be your best bet. It will be the easiest on your end and you'll get the highest amount of potential bidders. You can start the bidding at the lowest point you're will to go, or pay a little extra to set a reserve (the low starting price attracts more views). eBay will get a cut but it's worth it when you end up with about 15 minutes of total time invested into the venture and a nice hefty deposit into your bank account.
Throwing in for a black frank beamer one. I've wanted one for years now and I feel like a Beamer final home game one is probably the best one to get (although the metallic orange is bad ass looking)
For anyone that doesn't have the budget to buy a game used one and wants a little DIY project, this site sells full sets of decals for at least 10 of the different helmets we've had over the years, including the Fighting Gobbler. Just gotta pickup a blank helmet on eBay for pretty cheap and stick em on. You can also buy mini helmet versions and even individual stickers.
http://upperdeckstudios.com/upperdeck_183.htm
Would this be partially tax deductible?
Hopefully that's the last of the motocross helmet. It was fine as a one-off, but how many times did it get used last yr? Enough for eternity, IMO.
They might fall flat on their face with this auction starting at $500. Only a handful of bids in so far...
They might but there are still 19 days to bid. I bet most people are going to sit back and see where things are on the 28th and then decide from there. At least that's my plan. It also gives me another 2 weeks to figure how to financially justifying doing it.
I mean, on eBay, when there are 7 days left, do you place your bid and let it get run up above your price range or do you wait until there's less than an hour left and hope you can sneak one last bid in before it ends to grab it as cheap as possible? All the action will occur in the final days.
I'll bet they don't.
A little unrelated, but does anyone have a Hokie Stone mini helmet they would be willing to sell? My father in law collects them and has over 125 so far, a good slew of them being VT helmets. We never got a chance to track down the Hokie Stone ones and they are way out of production at this point. I'd be happy to pay for one if anyone is willing to let it go.
500$?!?!
I only got about a tree fiddy
yeah.. not expecting many of these to be going higher than maybe 600 if that..
I would love to have one but there's a snowball's chance in hell I'm gonna drop half a grand on a helmet.
I'm considering it. It is pay day afterall...
I live in DC.... disposable income doesn't exist anymore :(
Bids are in increments of $25, so you're saying few will have more than 4 bids? Despite the fact that there are so many available, that would go against precedent set during every other helmet auction.
I don't know that we've ever auctioned off this many helmets at once though. I'd throw those other precedents out the window for this one.
This is true, but that when I looked through the bids placed thus far, I saw at least 5 people place bids on multiple helmets which tells me that there are not as many people with reservations of spending that much as you think. Again, the bidding ends in 17 days. If there are over half without bids with just a week left, I'd be shocked. You're bidding on a helmet that retails at $300-400 WITHOUT any branding or labeling and that wasn't worn by a player you have a connection to. Add that in and an initial value of $500 is very reasonable.
I'll bet some go for more than $1,000.
ALMOST have the wife convinced this would be a great Christmas gift. I think if I can get one for 500 I might get her to agree. In surprised some of the helmets that have bids and the ones that don't.
Has anyone actually won one of these auctions? Does it come with anything that identifies it as the certain jersey number, or is it just the helmet?
I got a James Gayle helmet a few yrs back and it had a number 99 decal on the back of the helmet in the bottom center. It was in between the American flag and NCAA decals.
I was very happy with the purchase, and will probably get one of the 3 styles up for auction now.
Thanks for the intel!
I've got the one from the 2010 ACC Championship Game. As jspenge said, mine also has a small number sticker of the player.
Reminder that the auction ends today at 5:00pm. Good luck to everyone bidding, just don't outbid me.
Does anyone know what will happen to the helmets that receive 0 bids?
McMillian's helmet is popular, 800.00 dollars right now.
Who was number 55 last year? I can't find a name.
Jack Willenbrock shows up as #55 for the 2014 team. Perhaps he changed numbers between the start of the 2015 season and now.
It's for the black game worn helmet though?
Got me, maybe he changed it after the season. I can't come up with much information either. Maybe if someone has a program from that game they could tell us.
The power of Twitter came through, Josh Erbely. Not sure who he is but Hokie sports says he wore that helmet that game.
Come on 5pm!!! I want a Beamer helmet badly.
I'm pretty sure one person is buying all three Wyatt Teller helmets for over 600.00 each. That's impressive.
They must really like pancakes.
Did you win yours?
Got the metallic orange Facyson helmet even though someone tried to snipe me for it. Had a proxy bid set at the same price as their max.
How about you?
Got Green "Beamer" helmet. Well wife got it for my xmas gift. So Shhhhhhh
The big winner was Travon McMillian, his three helmets sold for over 2,400 total. Damn.
Any of you fellas or ladies heard back from VT regarding winning your auction? Starting to get nervous about not scoring the AJ helmet I bid on....
I haven't heard back either. I wouldn't worry too much.
Haha thanks, yea it was an impulse buy 11 seconds before the end but after thinking about it more...I really really want it haha
New member here so not able to post a new topic, but there is a fundraising auction going on for many VT athletics "experiences". I can imagine some of these will go for much more than the starting bid as they are pretty cool. Anyone want a lunch with a few friends and Whit Babcock?! Or to watch a football game with him in his box? Here is the link http://www.hokiesports.com/cws/
Lunch with Whit for $300?
I may have to start putting together a fencing team proposal...
We need to upvote this man and let him start a whole new thread for these.
Uh, so I don't know what happened with my bid. I expected an email if I got outbid, or an email at the end to let me know if I won or not. I guess I was expecting the communication to be on par with eBay. I never received an email about anything now when I go to look at the auction I can't find it. Is there a link to find the results of the auction?
OK false alarm guys. Got an invoice in my email today. Yayyyyy!
Just got mine too, woohoo!
Got mine as well. Asked for clarification on whether Beamers signature costs anything extra before sending payment. Also asked if there is a form of electronic payment I can do since I cant remember the last time I looked at my checkbook.
Lol, I had the same thoughts. I left a message for Lisa Marie at the football office
Holy shit Beamer might be able to sign these!!! I never thought about that.
Lisa responded. No form of electronic payment available, checks only. No extra cost for Coach to sign the helmet, just check the box and it will get his signature before being sent out.
Aw man, I didn't realize you could have Beamer sign these!!! DAMNIT
It wasnt something they advertised before hand. They likely would have gotten a ton more bids if they had. It just happens to be a check box on the invoice they sent us.
This was a massive oversight on their part.
Agreed, I was super excited when I saw the option. Also, who the hell WOULDN'T want beamer to sign a helmet? Like, naw I'm good. I want the helmet to be super game time authentic
My wife just said these exact words.
Honestly, I'm that guy. I'm not big on autographs on game worn gear. If I had the coin, I would have tried to win a helmet from one of my favorite players. Had I won, I would have set it on the shelves in my office and enjoyed the fact that I had a game worn, unblemished, unwritten on helmet worn by one of the guys I like to pull for. I'd rather have him sign a glossy to display next to the helmet in a frame.
Now hats and shirts and other stuff is a different story. I'd love to have Beams' autograph on a football or hat.
I was already working my brain to get my helmet to Blacksburg ASAP so I could find a way to get Beamer's signature. All this planning and then...'please just circle yes or no' haha. Now, to track down AJ Hughes...
Check is in the mail this morning. Too bad I don't live close enough to pick it up. I may have to get down to fan day this year to get Facyson to sign the helmet.
Any recommendations on how to display the helmet? Case vs no case and if so which case? First serious piece of memorabilia I've purchased
I'd like this advice as well.
I keep all of my replica helmets in an Ikea Kallax shelving unit. They fit in there pretty nicely. I plan on featuring this helmet on top of it with no case.
Just got this in the mail. I had thought that these helmets were black, but close up in the light, they appear to be a really dark maroon topped with high speckle maroon flecks. Really needed a little pick me up today and this definitely fit the bill.
That's interesting that they send the players mouthpiece with it too
I don't have mine yet, time to start panicking.
I got the package with mine but can't open it until my birthday. But whoever wrote the address at Tech did a bad job and it ended up being sent back to Fedex for an extra day.