Historical Hockey Memorabilia Auction June 2017
This lot is closed for bidding. Bidding ended on 6/21/2017
Another in the line of exceptional uniforms offered by Classic Auctions, we have an extremely desirable New York Rangers captain’s jersey worn by HOF superstar Phil Esposito in 1975-76 – his first year as a Ranger, and excitedly, it’s been photo-matched! Hailing from the collection of Bruins trainer/equipment manager Joseph (Joey) Bucchino and accompanied by his handwritten letter, the striping on the arms of this white durene are down low which differs from almost all of the other players except for the # 11 Wayne Dillon (who was a new acquisition that season), # 2 Carol Vandals (who was also acquired from Boston in the trade) and Dunc Wilson # 31. The Rangers apparently had new jerseys made for the new players. The video footage from the Dec 28, 1975 Super Series between the Rangers and the Central Red Army is showing Esposito in this jersey and it illustrates that the striping for his jersey was different than most of the other players. Also on the team photo you can see where Dillon, Vandals, Wilson and Esposito are the only players with the lower striping.
Gerry Cosby labeling sits affixed along the collar, with a size “52” swatch to its right. Styled with “Rangers” diagonally across the chest in dual-colour drop-shadow tackle twill, with “77” on the sleeves and verso in matching material, thin white and red striping bands across the shoulders and back neckline have also been utilized, along with six eyelet configuration on tie-neck construction. With dark marks present along with numerous team repairs including large examples over the right sleeve, the jersey exhibits considerable use. Ranked 18th on the Hockey News list of the top 100 NHL players of all-time, this vintage sweater should elicit considerable attention.
We should note that the outline of a former #12 is visible on the sleeves, with the verso number changed as well, with the 75 patch and captain's "C" removed from the breast, with the outline of the former "Esposito" visible on the reverse. (sewn directly onto the jersey). A mystery as to why the "12's" were changed to "77's", Esposito and the Rangers switched to the shield style jersey for the start of the 1976-77 season and Esposito also switched to #77 for that season, with the numbers appearing to be correct for the period. The possibility exists that the numbers were changed for Esposito to wear the jersey in practices the following season.
Regarding the previously mentioned photo-match, a ghost image of our the jersey has been superimposed over the included numeric image, showing perfect placement of the letters "ERS" of "Rangers" and it also shows near perfect placement of the captain's "C" because of the angle of the jersey on the included numeric image. This image also shows that the space between the "S" of "Rangers" and the stripes on the lower hem is the same, and that the stripes on the sleeves and hem are placed quite identically as well.
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