July 2017
Victor No. 535A
Face & Ear Guard
Our July 2017 Artifact of the Month is a rare variant of Victor Sporting Goods Co's batwing nose mask, the 535A Face and Ear Guard. Introduced around 1898, the No. 535A incorporated the design features of Victor's standard No. 535 face guard without the rubber forehead rest.
Nineteenth century football players commonly wore headbands that covered their ears to protect against cauliflower ear, or swelling of the ear lobes due to blunt trauma. Victor's Face and Ear Guard combined a modified No. 535 face guard with a wide, worsted headband that covered a player's forehead and ears. According to the 1904 Victor catalog, the headband could be knitted in wool to match a teams colors.
This featured No. 535A is the only known surviving example of this unusual protective device.
Nineteenth century football players commonly wore headbands that covered their ears to protect against cauliflower ear, or swelling of the ear lobes due to blunt trauma. Victor's Face and Ear Guard combined a modified No. 535 face guard with a wide, worsted headband that covered a player's forehead and ears. According to the 1904 Victor catalog, the headband could be knitted in wool to match a teams colors.
This featured No. 535A is the only known surviving example of this unusual protective device.
Questions or comments? Please email me at:
Football Nose Masks
The story behind football's most unusual protective device
Nose Guard History
One of AntiqueFootball's first articles was a comprehensive history of the football nose guard back in March 2015. After featuring numerous nose guards over the past 2 years, we've updated this history to capture the knowledge we've gained from studying these artifacts.
No. 535A advertisement, 1904 Victor Catalog
No. 535A advertisement, 1904 Victor Catalog
Other Nose Guard Examples
Over the past 2 years we've featured a variety of nose guards that have come to market, in our Artifact of the Month series.
