Large countertop displays at your local card shop may be a little difficult for shop owners to pull off unless they’ve got a lot of space, but Leaf Trading Cards is hoping collectors are ready for a different kind of autographed product. 2013 Leaf Autographed Helmet Football contains…well…an autographed full-size NFL helmet. No cards, no gum, just one big ol’ head protector signed by a past or present football player—or maybe Madonna.
“Not every collector wants his or her autographs strictly on trading cards,” said Leaf President Brian Gray. “And what better way to make an impact during football season than by packing out full-size helmets signed by the best players in the game?”
Leaf Autographed Helmet Football is being released across North America this week.
They may have found the ultimate Super Bowl party favor—provided you’ve got the cash. Each helmet will come at a suggested retail price of around $225 according to Leaf.
Leaf put out a mini-helmet version not long ago but this is the first regulation size memorabilia product to hit the market.
Among the signed helmets you could pull are those featuring the autographs of Hall of Famers Walter Payton, John Elway, Jim Brown, Dan Marino, Joe Namath, Bart Starr, Joe Montana, Troy Aikman, Emmitt Smith and Barry Sanders. But it’s just not limited to on-field players.
Even Madonna, the halftime performer at Super Bowl XLVI, has signed a rare helmet commemorating her appearance. In fact, her show at Lucas Oil Stadium in Indianapolis on Feb. 5, 2012, broke the record as the most-watched Super Bowl halftime show in history, garnering 114 million viewers.
Some of current NFL standouts included in Leaf’s assortment are former league MVPs Peyton Manning, Aaron Rogers and Adrian Peterson, along with Drew Brees, Cam Newton and RG3 himself, Robert Griffin III.
Additional rare helmets that found their way into the product are a “2012 NFL Draft” logoed beauty that boasts more than 20 players’ signatures from that year’s draft class (Andrew Luck, RG3, etc.) as well as a Dallas Cowboys triple-signed helmet that sports autographs from Troy Aikman, Emmitt Smith and Michael Irvin.