Vintage 1997 NFL Fingernail Tattoos Jacksonville Jaguars 🏈 It's Football Season!!!

Size: 2.5 x 2.5 inches ~

Ten tattoos come on the sheet - one for every nail on both hands: eight fingernail-size in two rows of four, plus a larger pair between them.

🐆 Vintage 1997 NFL Fingernail Tattoos: Jacksonville Jaguars

Package is 2 1/2" x 2 1/2" ~. Tattoos are fingernail size.

When this card was printed in 1997, the Jacksonville Jaguars were only in their third season, and they had already given the NFL a shock. In their second year they beat the Buffalo Bills in the playoffs, upset the Denver Broncos, and played for a trip to the Super Bowl. This card put that brand-new snarling jaguar head on a fan's fingernails, and this pack of ten was saved from Florida, the Jaguars' home state.

🔍 What Is in the Package

Ten jaguar heads fill the tattoo sheet, gold with black spots, mouths open to show the teeth, with "© 1997 NFL Properties, Inc. All rights reserved." printed along the bottom. Above them the header card sets the NFL shield against a stadium and a striped green field, with FINGERNAIL TATTOOS in yellow, MADE IN TAIWAN, a warning that they are not recommended for children under 3 years of age, and a list of promises: Easy to apply, Easy to remove, Waterproof, Lasts for days, Safe & non-toxic.

The instruction sheet, headed TEMPORARY TATTOOS, shows the method in four red line drawings, using a Steelers tattoo as the sample: take off the protective sheet, press the tattoo face down, wet the back with a sponge or cloth, then wait 20-30 seconds, peel off the backing, rinse and let dry. The same steps work on skin, and a wipe of alcohol or cold cream takes them off. The bottom of the sheet names the distributor, Play·By·Play Toys & Novelties, San Antonio, TX 78218-0267, a nine-digit ZIP of the kind the Postal Service introduced in 1983.

🏟️ How Jacksonville Got a Team

On November 30, 1993, the NFL awarded its 30th franchise to Jacksonville, Florida. The winning bid came from an ownership group called Touchdown Jacksonville!, led by Wayne Weaver, the businessman who founded the shoe company Nine West. After the Gator Bowl game on December 31, 1993, the city's old stadium was essentially demolished and rebuilt around a new reinforced-concrete superstructure for the team. The Jaguars entered the league in 1995 alongside the other new expansion club, the Carolina Panthers, and were placed in the AFC Central.

📈 From 4-12 to the AFC Championship Game

Tom Coughlin was the first head coach. His 1995 team, built around quarterback Mark Brunell, offensive lineman Tony Boselli and receiver Jimmy Smith, finished 4-12, a respectable record for a first-year franchise. The next season the Jaguars went 9-7 and made the playoffs, beat Buffalo 30-27 in the wild-card round, stunned Denver 30-27 in the divisional round, and lost the AFC Championship Game 20-6 at New England. The Jaguars and Panthers were the youngest expansion teams ever to reach a conference championship, both in their second season. In 1997, the year on this sheet, Jacksonville went 11-5, and it went on to make the playoffs four years in a row, winning the division twice; the 1999 team went 14-2 and reached the AFC Championship Game again before losing to Tennessee.

🐾 The Teal Tongue and the Car Company

The team's colours were teal, gold and silver with black accents, and its logo was a snarling jaguar head with a teal tongue. The story Wayne Weaver told was that the teal tongue was his wife's touch. The cat caused a dispute of its own. Jaguar, the car maker then owned by Ford, objected that the team's logo looked too much like its own emblem. The two sides settled amicably, and Jaguar became the official car of the Jacksonville Jaguars.

🧸 Play-By-Play Toys & Novelties

The San Antonio distributor was the creation of Arturo Torres, who in 1986 started Play-By-Play as a supplier of prizes for vending machines. The company went public in 1995. Its May 1996 purchase of Ace Novelty for $44 million made it the largest supplier of stuffed toys and novelties in the United States, and by 1998 it supplied about half of America's carnival prizes. In 2002 its headquarters moved to Spain, and in 2006 the Spanish toy group Famosa bought the business.

🏢 NFL Properties

The copyright holder, NFL Properties, is the league's licensing arm, founded in 1963 during Pete Rozelle's time as commissioner to control the league's and teams' brands and to license official NFL merchandise.

🎁 Who Will Love These

• 🐆 A Jaguars fan who remembers Brunell, Boselli, Jimmy Smith and the 1996 playoff run
• 💅 Game day nails, or skin, per the instructions
• 📦 Collectors of 1990s NFL licensed novelties and early Jaguars merchandise
• 🎉 A football party favor or stocking stuffer

❓ Questions People Ask

How many tattoos are on the sheet?

Ten jaguar-head tattoos.

What year are they?

The sheet is printed © 1997 NFL Properties, Inc., from the Jaguars' third season.

Who made them?

Play-By-Play Toys & Novelties of San Antonio, Texas distributed them, and the package says MADE IN TAIWAN.

How do they come off?

Wipe with alcohol or cold cream, per the instruction sheet.

How big is the package?

2 1/2" x 2 1/2" ~.

Go Jaguars!