Historical Hockey Memorabilia Auction Winter 2014
This lot is closed for bidding. Bidding ended on 2/25/2014
La Sainte Flanelle! This classic and photo-matched red, white and blue Montreal Canadiens wool sweater is the late Emile "Butch" Bouchard's game-worn captain's jersey from the HOF defenseman's final season in 1955-56. This is sacred wool, indeed. Bouchard won the Stanley Cup four times during his 15-year career with the Canadiens. He was inducted into the Hockey Hall of Fame in 1966 and had his jersey number 3 retired by the Habs on December 4, 2009, prior to the Canadiens' centennial anniversary game against Boston. Butch wore this bleu, blanc et rouge classic during the 1955-56 regular season, when a knee injury limited him to 36 games. (Bouchard wore a different sweater when he accepted the Stanley Cup that spring after only playing once in the playoffs. Toe Blake put him on the ice late in the Canadiens' Cup-clinching 3-1 win against Detroit in the final.) Bouchard's 1955-56 Canadiens captain's jersey has the Habs' famous CH crest sewn on the front in red, white and blue triple felt. Its placement, with relation to the upper white and blue bands across the chest, matches up with a David Bier portrait of Butch in uniform, carrying the puck while wearing this wool sweater. The white and blue double felt captain's C offers more solid photo matches to the same image. The top line of the upper part of the white felt C curves slightly downwards; the long vertical part of the C tapers from wider to narrower moving from top to bottom; and the bottom end of the C is angled somewhat open. The photo also matches the big team repairs on the lower right sleeve. We count five more sewing fixes on the front, one on the left sleeve, another on the left side of the collar and a pair on the rear tail. White and blue double felt number 3 sewn on the back, with diamond-style stitching in the middle, has a few stains, including some pinkish marks on the bottom right, that do not diminish this historic sweater's display, nor do the small unrepaired holes observed in a few areas of the jersey. This amazing Montreal Canadiens game-worn captain's wool jersey comes with Butch Bouchard's signed letter of authenticity.
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