Historical Hockey and Sports Memorabilia Auction February 2025
The 1934 IIHF World Championships in Milan, Italy, saw Team Canada win it's 7th title, while the 1951 tournament in Stockholm, Sweden, witnessed the mighty maple leaf claim it's 14th title. The Canadians were not so lucky in 1949, in Paris, France, with the IIHF World Championships won by Czechoslovakia that year, with the red and white finishing as runner-up. We have participation medals from all three tournaments, and they hail from the personal collection of noted Finnish hockey executive and writer Kimmo Leinonen. First, the 1934 medal is square shaped at just over 1 1/2" in diameter, with a raised player on the obverse and raised Italian text on the reverse including "Milano-Febbraio-XII". The 1949 medal is rectangular shaped with crossed sticks on the obverse along with "Stockholm" and the date, with the obverse blank except for a hallmark on the bottom. Lastly, the 1951 medal is 2" in diameter, with "FFSG", "Paris" and "Chamionnats du Monde et d"Europe" on the obverse along with "1951", and a blank reverse. All three medals show just very light wear from age and handling. An LOA from Classic Auctions will accompany.
Born in Tampere, Finland, in 1949, and beginning his rise in the hockey ranks as a junior hockey coach while also involved in the hockey stick industry in Canada and Germany, Finnish hockey executive and writer Kimmo Leinonen had a connection to the NHL as he was employed as a scout for the New York Rangers from 1978-79 to 1982-83. As a founding member of the Finnish Hockey Hall of Fame in 1979 - where he served as chairman from 2011 to 2018, Leinonen also helped to establish the IIHF Hall of Fame in 1996 and was the director of public relations and marketing for the organization from 1995 to 2007. His later career included an appointment as general secretary of the 2012 and 2013 Ice Hockey World Championships co-hosted in both Finland and Sweden. The hockey guru has written multiple books on the history of hockey in Finland, and for his great contributions to the sport, was inducted into the builder category of the Finnish Hall of Fame in 2011. He was further acknowledged as the only person from Finland to win the Paul Loicq Award in recognition for his efforts in international ice hockey in 2023. We are pleased to offer items from his personal collection that he acquired during his years as the IIHF director of public relations and marketing from 1995 to 1997, with others originating from later in his career as well as international hockey memorabilia he collected and items he was gifted.
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