WE JUST ADDED NEW ITEMS TO THE HARTLAND SECTION OF OUR ONLINE STORE! CLICK THE LINK ABOVE TO VIEW THEM.

REMINDER:  Our first Summer Sports Memorabilia Auction is now open for bidding. The auction closes on Friday June 29, 2007. You can view all the items in full detail by clicking the AUCTION button at the top of the screen. It's fast and easy to register & bid. If you have already registered online for our past auctions and have forgotten your User ID or Password, just contact us and we'll be happy to forward you your information. You can email us at: sharlou28@aol.com

CORRECTION: Oops- we made a mistake in last week's entry- the date of the Hockey Illustrated article was March 1965 not 1964 as we mentioned. Believe it or not- that's the first mistake we've ever made (if you believe that we have a bridge in Brooklyn to sell you). Thanks to Frank Parrella for pointing this out.

**We have received a number of interesting emails about our Blog. One involved the growing interest in phantom bobbing heads- by that we mean dolls that were never made but are being customized by professional artists. We do not find anything wrong with this practice, as long as they are not being sold as original vintage pieces. Below is an incredible example of a Kissing Pair set that was customized into the Oakland Raiders by long-time collector Dave Graziano. Dave urges that collectors be careful not to be "ripped off" by unscrupulous sellers who might sell phantom/customized dolls as rare originals.

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CANADIAN FOOTBALL MEMORABILIA

I also received an email from collector concerning our Blog entry about the works of Fred Kail. The collector (asked that his name not be used) is from north of the border in Canada and rightfully caught that I had forgotten to mention that there was a series of Kail down-lineman of Canadian Football teams.

These statues are extremely rare. They are slightly smaller in size than the large NFL down-lineman figurines, but larger than the mini NFL statues. The pose of each statue is also different. The NFL statues are posed in the 3-point stance, while the CFL teams are posed in a 4-point stance. The other major difference is that the team name is decaled on the backs of the CFL lineman.

This brings up another topic that should be addressed. There are some very fine pieces of figural and display memorabilia devoted to the Canadian Football League that often is overlooked by collectors, especially American collectors.

The CFL bobbing heads and mascot nodders are some of the most colorful and well-made dolls in the hobby. There are several series including maybe the most under-valued dolls in the hobby- the mascot nodders. These nodders (they truly nod with the head attached to a hook rather than a spring) have a mascot head peeking out of a football. The mascots include the lion of B.C., the Tiger cat of Hamilton, the bird from Montreal and two horse heads of both Ottawa and Saskatchewan. There is no NFL bobbing heads that compare to these, yet they can be found at very reasonable prices. If these were of NFL mascots and based on the same rarity, NFL mascots would garnish incredible prices.   

There are also plenty of other great display pieces from the CFL. The 60's helmet pennants of CFL teams are some of the most colorful in the hobby. There are fantastic board games, hard plastic megaphones and mascot banks all devoted to CFL teams. If you haven't yet started to look for these great pieces, you might want to get into the action before the word gets out. They will only enhance the look of your collection and give it an international look.

NEXT WEEK'S TOPIC: Italian Baseball Figurines