Historical Hockey Memorabilia Auction February 2018
This lot is closed for bidding. Bidding ended on 2/27/2018
On the evening of October 15th, 1989 in front of fans at Northlands Coliseum in Edmonton, Wayne Gretzky of the Los Angeles Kings eclipsed Gordie Howe's all-time NHL record of 1850 career points as he backhanded a pass in behind a sprawling Bill Ranford. The milestone moment marks, without a doubt, one of the most unobtainable accomplishments in the history of the game. Wayne would go on to post an incredible total of 2857 regular season points, a feat which will never be surpassed. Certainly, it is also highly doubtful that any player will topple Gordie from his third-place perch of 1850 in the foreseeable future.
The actual puck that crossed the goal line to score this milestone was scooped up by the linesman and brought over to the scorekeeper's box where Don Whidden, the NHL’s off-ice official tucked it away for safekeeping. According to the detailed and notarized letter of provenance from Mr. Whidden, he explains what proceeded after the linesman handed the puck directly to him, "I tucked it into my briefcase, fully expecting that either Wayne Gretzky or Peter Miller would come to me afterward and request the puck". Whidden further added "I labeled all four pucks before putting them in my briefcase, so as to be sure to be able to identify the one which was actually used in the scoring play", adding, "The additional pucks were to be used only if someone other than Gretzky or Miller requested the puck”. He recalls he gave up one of the labeled, cooler-fresh gamers when the Oilers requested the puck after the game, but then saved the actual milestone goal puck and the other two unused examples for over 20-plus years. The immensely-important black vulcanized rubber disk is an Official Edmonton Oilers Inglasco game puck, correct for the period, and it shows obvious game wear. One of the perfect-condition, unused bucket pucks from that momentous occasion has vintage cloth tape wrapped around the edge with the added notations in Whidden’s hand, "W Gretzky's 1851st point - broke G Howe's all time scoring record 89/10/15 19:07 third period". The other unused game puck is similarly marked "W Gretzky's 1851st point 15 October 1989 L.A. Gretzky from Taylor & Duchesne 19:07 third".
This historic keepsake and the accompanying two labeled “bucket pucks” were originally offered at auction by Classic back in March of 2011 and bidding concluded at just over $48,000 plus the buyer's premium. Soon after auction end, claims made by the Hockey Hall of Fame that they were in possession of the 1851 puck garnered media attention and newspaper and online articles broke across the country. The Hall stood by their story that they had obtained the goal puck from the Oilers immediately following the game and later mounted it, along with others, into a clock that is on display at the Hockey Hall of Fame in Toronto. The controversy surrounding the origins led the winning bidder to back away from the sale and the pucks were subsequently returned to the consignor.
With the paramount importance of such a historic item, we feel that the utmost accuracy of representation trumps all monetary gain, and we have performed all possible due diligence. We strongly believe - based on both the physical evidence along with Mr. Whidden’s personal notarized recollection of the account and preceding events – that we in fact are in possession of the actual “1851” goal puck.
Don Whidden was a long-time NHL off-ice official and a familiar face around the Northlands Coliseum. He sold these three pucks outright to a collector in 2010 for substantially less then they would later sell for at auction, with this lending credence to the authenticity of his story, as financial gain was apparently not a factor. Don passed away in 2014. The new owner of this historic puck will receive the aforementioned detailed letter of provenance signed by NHL off-ice official Don Whidden in 2011, witnessed and dated by a notary.
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