Very rare goalie mask came from a former employee of the St. Louis Blues and is tied to the man widely credited as the creator of the innovation, Jaqcues Plante. Though he did not use his newly-created "mask" in game competition until 1959, the then-Montreal Canadiens netminder had been tinkering with using them during practices since '56, until a broken nose suffered during a game forced the issue as Plante refused to return without it. We can only surmise that this early-style "pretzel" design came from Plante at one time - we are fairly positive that Plante made the mask as he owned the company (Fibrosport) that made these. This is a custom mask, basically one of a kind made of fiberglass and resin from the early part of the 1960; a few of the cross supports have been cut out and the nose has been reformed. Has vintage tan paint, and this was definitely used; by whom we are not sure but we are confident that it was made by Plante as it also has "PLANTE" written on one of the cross supports. Great hockey history in this piece and its design.