Historical Hockey and Sports Memorabilia Auction February 2024
This lot is closed for bidding. Bidding ended on 2/20/2024
Still affectionately known in the hockey circles as simply "Mr. Hockey", Born March 31st, 1928 in Floral, Saskatchewan, Gordie Howe would get his first taste of professional hockey at age 15 in 1943 when he was invited by the New York Rangers to their training camp held at "The Amphitheatre" in Winnipeg, Manitoba. He played well enough there that the Rangers wanted Howe to sign a "C" form which would have given that club his National Hockey League rights and to play that year at Notre Dame, a Catholic school in Wilcox, Saskatchewan, that was known for producing good hockey players. Turning down the offer the Blueshirts made him, Howe would return home and be noticed by the Detroit Red Wings in 1944, who extended the kid, who would become known as "Mr. Hockey", an invitation to their camp in Windsor, Ontario. Signed by Detroit to the same previously mentioned "C" form and enjoying a 1944-45 season with the Galt Red Wings and a 1945-46 campaign with the Omaha Knights of the USHL, Howe would finally crack the Motor City lineup on October 16th, 1946. In true Howe fashion, the 18-year-old right winger scored his first of 1071 professional goals (including both regular season and playoffs in the NHL and WHA) that night against the Toronto Maple Leafs at Detroit's Olympia. Switching to his famed number "9" after his rookie season and becoming a mainstay in Detroit's lineup for 25-years, Howe would lead the Red Wings to four (4) Stanley Cup Championships, win six (6) Hart and six (6) Art Ross Trophies and be named an NHL All-Star a total of twenty-one (21) times.
Retiring from the National Hockey League at the conclusion of the 1970-71 season but making a comeback in the World Hockey Association beginning in 1973-74 to play with his son's Mark and Marty as a member of the Houston Aeros, the Howe's, led of course by their father, would lead the Aeros to the AVCO Cup in back-to-back years of 1974 and 1975. Finishing out his WHA tenure with two (2) seasons with the New England Whalers, Howe would find himself back in the NHL for the 1979-80 season with the merger between the NHL and WHA, where he would play one final season, suiting up in 80 games and registering 15 goals and 26 assists for 41 points at the age of 52-years-old. Proudly offered here, we present this Detroit Red Wings jersey worn by Howe during the 1970-71 season, his final wearing the familiar red and white of the Detroit Red Wings.
Coming up to the auction block with excellent provenance behind it, the story goes that the jersey was gifted by Howe to a 12-year old back in the day whose father was a neighbour of Gordie's. Fast forward many decades later, the then 12-year old, now an older gentleman, had moved away overseas and mailed the jersey back to North America for his daughter at her mother's house where it sat for nearly a decade as the daughter never thought nothing of it. The jersey was recently unearthed once again and accompanying it are photocopies of a signed photo that was gifted to the once 12-year old child by Howe that was dedicated to him as well as photocopies of a Christmas card that he sent along with the jersey back to North America that reads "Enclosed is one of my most prized possessions given to me when I was 12 by Gordie himself. Enjoy!"
Coming with numerous photo-matches, perhaps the most important one accompanying the piece hails from a March 31st, 1971 contest between the Red Wings and the Toronto Maple Leafs at Toronto's famed Maple Leaf Gardens, the second to last road game of Howe's as a member of the Red Wings. The Maple Leafs honoured the hockey legend with a "Gordie Howe Day" in Toronto on his 43rd birthday which included an official presentation by Dave Keon that was done at center ice. The game would mark the 76th game of the season for Detroit, resulting in a 2-2 tie, with Howe also playing in the last two games of the season on April 3rd at home vs Chicago and on April 4th vs the Rangers in New York, with the latter marking his last match in a Detroit uniform and meaning that the offered jersey is likely the same one worn both in Toronto on March 31st and on April 4th in New York, making it the final jersey the legend ever wore for the team he played 25 seasons for, the club he won four (4) Stanley Cups with and scored 786 of his 801 NHL goals for on top of numerous Art Ross and Hart Memorial Trophy's among many other awards. For the image, taken during that Toronto contest on March 31st, the photo clearly shows the pair of orange paint transfer marks on the right side hem, the long loose white thread on the right edge of the alternate captain's "A" and the particulars in the visible portion of the team's crest on the front, all of which provide matches to the offered piece.
A scarlet red durene knit garment by General Athletic, a washed out label from the brand displaying washing instructions is sewn inside the reverse hem while an additional label for team equipment provider, Olympic Sporting Goods, and a size "48" fly tag are affixed to the inner collar. Decorated over the front with a familiar Red Wings winged-wheel team crest that features embroidered details throughout, the sleeves and verso of the jersey have had Howe's famous number "9" sewn to them in single layer white tackle twill numerals while the distinguished alternate captain's "A" has been added over the right breast in matching style. Exhibiting excellent game-wear throughout its entirety, including the previously mentioned elements used to photo-match it to that March 31st game against the Maple Leafs, light stick marks are present over the lower front, reverse and both sleeves which are heaviest along the front hem and at the left cuff, while board burns are observed in all the same areas and down both sides of the jersey as well. Also sporting team repairs totaling no less than seven (7) by our count over the lower reverse and front as well as the left sleeve, additional wear is seen in the form of a blue coloured board paint transfer mark on the reverse hem and through light pilling on the interior as well as frayed and loose threads. Of note, on the interior, a partial outline of a former crest placement is observed, with it looking like when Olympic was doing up the jerseys for the Red Wings, they stopped midway through the stitching process of affixing the crest, removed what they had done and put the crest back on in a new slightly higher position.
Also having been photo-matched to many other images, the second (#2) match is done with a different photo from same ceremony as the first (#1) photo-match listed above which shows the same things while the third (#3) match, again, from the same centre ice ceremony shows the pair or orange paint transfer marks on the right side hem and particulars in the visible portion of the team's crest which also match-up. For the fourth (#4) match, also from March 31st, 1971, the studio photo of Keon with Howe and the tray he received in Hockey Night in Canada's studio is matched to the particulars in the team crest. For match number five (#5), an image taken during a March 20th, 1971 game against the St. Louis Blues, the photo is matched to the pair of long loose white threads on the right sleeve's #9 and its placement, the long loose white thread at the right edge of the alternate captain's "A", the placement of the red thread line going into the white striping of the left sleeve and to the particulars of the team crest in the part that is visible in the image. For matches six (#6) and seven (#7), both also coming from Detroit's March 20th, 1971 road game against the St. Louis Blues, one (1) is matched to the blue coloured board paint transfer mark on the lower left side hem in the white striping while the other is matched to the same mark as well as the exact same placement of the back number "9" and the wrinkles in the fabric just above the top of it. Finally, the last photo-match (#8) comes via Getty Image #98350687 (January 7th, 1971 vs Buffalo) which is matched to the long loose white thread at the right edge of the alternate captain's "A" and to the very small one seen just above it.
Still regarded as possibly the greatest player to ever grace the National Hockey League throughout the entirety of its history, the jersey, one of the finest Howe examples from his days as the leader of what was the Original Six era and beyond Detroit Red Wings, the beautiful fresh to the hobby example represents not only a bygone era of the NHL and game itself but also serves as the ultimate piece to display and celebrate the unmatched career of the man known simply as "Mr Hockey".
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