Historical Hockey Memorabilia Auction Winter 2013
This lot is closed for bidding. Bidding ended on 3/5/2013
An extensive and staggering Montreal Canadiens card collection, this monstrous stash was amassed over the years by a fanatical one-team collector. How does a collection spanning over 100 years sound to you?! We know, you need to hear more, so here goes. Actually, a one-city collector, with 1911-12 C55 Montreal Wanderers cards of HOFers Harry Hyland, Riley Hern and Jimmy Gardiner leading things off, albeit in Poor condition. Montreal Maroons join Canadiens in a 16-card pre-war lot, (Ice Kings, 37-38 OPC), in the P-F-G range. There are some holes to fill-in in the 1950s and '60s, with very few in the '70s and '80s, represented by both O-Pee-Chee and Topps team sets. The beauty is that handwritten checklists from each year are included, informing what's present and what's not - nice! Parkhurst cards include 10 from '51-52, with lower grade RCs of Richard (minor back damage), Geoffrion, McNeil and Olmstead. Rocket's (G-VG) #1 card is joined by 13 mostly VG to VG-EX from '52-53. Nothing really destined for the pro graders among 133 other '50s Parkies, with the majority in the VG neighborhood (some better, worse), but Rocket cards from each year carry some weight/value. Notable are (33) from '55-56, three Beliveau's ('54-55 VG) and a VG '58-59 Plante. Condition improves with 1960s Parkhurst cards (70), with VG-EX and EX appearing (joining VG and lower), along with Henri (3), (29) '63-64 and Rocket's last (VG+) card. A similar wide range of conditions in '60s O-Pee-Chee and Topps cards (128), which include 11 Tall Boys (one 2nd series - Backstrom) and a VG Lemaire RC. Condition typically improves in the '70s, (NM joining the parade!), with however Dryden's RC stained and G-VG and Lafleur's noticeably faded but otherwise EX, with an off-centered Topps Dryden RC at VG-EX . The '80s look sharp, with the rest of the hoard, including nifty autograph and jersey cards with considerable book value from the past 20 years, summed up below. Good luck with this sensational Habs collection.
Both versions of Patrick Roy’s 1986-87 rookie (OPC, Topps) are EX-MT, with a glut from the early ‘90s card boom present and including a host of parallels. The mid-to-late ‘90s are more interesting with some nice Roy inserts and the start of numerous Be A Player and other pack-pull autographed cards. We had the idea to start pulling all the signed cards and kept going right through to 2011-12, with the total surpassing, get this, 200! Binder after binder of gorgeous cards from the 21st century include autograph and jersey cards, numbered inserts and rookie cards, to go along with hundreds of base cards, many from expensive, high-end issues – competition amongst the card companies made for fantastic and often limited issues – beautiful! Such cards featuring Canadiens legends are among our favorites, with the likes of Beliveau, Lafleur and Roy showing up dozens of times each on various inserts. Cards of star goaltenders Jose Theodore and Carey Price add more weight/value to the collection, with an even dozen featuring the stylish autograph of the Habs’ current netminder. Looking most notable are Carey’s 2007-08 SP Authentic RC, his 2008-09 OPC Premier Penmanship Gold Spectrum card (13/25) and one from the vastly-popular and chased-after Habs Upper Deck Centennial set (complete 300-card version), with other auto’d Centennial cards of Carbonneau, Brisebois, Daigneault, Higgins, Houle and Vachon. A big 1998 Pinnacle Bee Hive card autographed by Maurice Richard (pack pull) is also noteworthy, as are an additional 30 hand-signed cards, (not pack pulls – half of them by Hall-of-Famers). More than seven 9-pocket pages of jersey/patch cards are highlighted by (16) featuring Patrick Roy (one Roy & Price), while two of Carey’s and others of Lafleur, Robinson, Shutt and the Mahovlich brothers are also cool and add further to the appeal and huge book value. It is incalculable, as is the total number of cards – both in the thousands.
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