Masquerade in blue

[David Wilson]

One of the attractions of vintage dive masks is the availability of mask skirts in colours other than our modern era's stark choice of clear and black. Though sometimes hard to source, fourteen classic/retro dive mask models with colourful skirts are still in production worldwide.

During one of my recent online searches I found a couple of masks with blue skirts on the website of Gonper, a rubber manufacturer in Mexico:

According to the caption at
PRODUCTOS DE HULE GONPER
the company makes the first mask in a choice of oval, round and rectangular shapes. The second mask comes with a metal band. I have not been able to identify any stockists of these masks, which are also available with black skirts.

When we think of vintage masks, what probably comes to mind is the classic oval with its metal band, topped with a screw. While the second Gonper mask goes some way towards this ideal, the first Gonper may seem more reminiscent of a child's mask. It's worth remembering, though, that not all pre-1975 masks were of the oval with metal screw kind. Here's an image of Commander "Buster" Crabb, a legendary British frogman who died in mysterious circumstances during the 1950s while spying on a Soviet ship moored in a British port:

Note the simple dive mask he is wearing on his forehead, Mike Nelson-style!

 

[knowone]

I'm pretty sure a lot of Big Name gear was Mexican years ago for years.
Is Nike or Adidas still made there?
I think I have some Mexican SP bits somewhere.

Yep. Just found a SP wing from 1976 under the bed.

 

[John C. Ratliff]

David,

Do you know whether that second mask has a plastic or glass lens? I seem to remember a lot of those old masks with colored skirts were plastic lens masks, and we considered them "cheap."

SeaRat

 

[DaleC]

I just saw a Canadian black skirted vintage mask like the one above (on Buster) with no metal band but rather the rubber going up and over the glass.

I only have one blue mask, a Coral brand (mid/late 70's?) made in Japan but the rubber is partially perished:

 

[David Wilson]

David,

Do you know whether that second mask has a plastic or glass lens? I seem to remember a lot of those old masks with colored skirts were plastic lens masks, and we considered them "cheap."

SeaRat

John:

The web page doesn't say whether the mask has a plastic or a glass lens. I recall many old masks having the words "tempered glass" printed on the lens to certify that they were made of glass. I also remember old diving handbooks mentioning that plastic lenses were liable to end up covered with scratches after protracted use.

David

 

[David Wilson]

I only have one blue mask, a Coral brand (mid/late 70's?) made in Japan but the rubber is partially perished

I still have my blue-skirted Typhoon Super Star from the 1960s, a birthday present from my parents and too precious to use in the sea even though it is a perfect fit. The rubber is still as soft as it was when the mask was purchased:

I also have the cardboard box it came in. The mask has a plastic lens, a proper screw at the top of the band and a protuberance which could be pierced to accommodate an attached snorkel.

More recently, I've bought, new, a couple of blue-skirted masks still manufactured by Escualo Sports of Mexico:

I've used them occasionally when snorkelling in the North Sea.

One blue-ish dive mask is still manufactured in Japan by Gull, the Basara:

 

[David Wilson]

I'm pretty sure a lot of Big Name gear was Mexican years ago for years.
Is Nike or Adidas still made there?
I think I have some Mexican SP bits somewhere.

Yep. Just found a SP wing from 1976 under the bed.

Voit is now based in Mexico, I believe, but the company focuses on soccer. In the matter of blue-skirted dive masks, the two Mexican firms Gonper and Escualo produce six different models. That's almost half the number of different models of blue-skirted masks produced worldwide: fourteen.