Historical Hockey Memorabilia Auction June 2017
This lot is closed for bidding. Bidding ended on 6/21/2017
Arguably the most desirable items in our illustrious hobby, vintage wool NHL sweaters are always highly sought after, with the small supply of surfacing examples hotly contested over. We have just that for your collecting consideration, with a beautiful vintage wool Toronto Maple Leafs sweater from circa 1962-63, and adding considerable fuel to the fire… it hails from a Stanley Cup championship season!
Attributed to Bronco Horvath and first issued for the 1961-62 playoffs, the vintage garment was then worn in the 1962-63 regular season, with this the first year that numbers appeared on the sleeves of Leafs jerseys. A partially detached Doug Laurie MLG label sits on the inside seam, with the collar void of any tagging. Styled with a gorgeous vintage Leafs team crest with affixed letters and white accent threading, the off-white sweater also features twill sleeve and verso numbers, with four eyelet configuration on tie-neck construction. Wear is present from later recycled use, with some of the darker blue colour bleeding onto the lighter sections, with the team crest also loose in a few spots. The bottom portion of the “7” on the left sleeve has also broken off and is lost, with approx. 46 team repairs present (10 wool and 36 thread), some of which might be from an affiliate Maple Leafs minor team where the jersey would have been recycled to.
The jersey would not have seen action in the 1961-62 season as Brian Conacher who wore #17 that season did not see any actions in the playoffs. In 1962-63 Bronco Horvath (10 games), Bruce Draper (1 game) and Rod Seiling (1 game) all wore #17 with a photo of a 1962-63 Leafs vs Habs game showing Horvath wearing this style of jersey with the correct numbers, with this photo apparently showing the team repairs on the same general area on the left breast, but the image is not high resolution enough to call it a photo-match.
By clicking this button, you will IMMEDIATELY bid the amount selected.
By clicking this button, you will submit this amount as your MAXIMUM (absentee) bid. The auction software will place bids on your behalf up to this amount only as it is bid against competitively by other bidder(s).