The Elmer Lach Auction - October 2006
This lot is closed for bidding. Bidding ended on 10/24/2006
Get ready for a spine-tingling read as we describe for you this absolutely shocking, breath-taking, not-enough-adjectives-to-describe-it museum piece of autographed lumber! Dating from the 1920’s, the stick is autographed on both sides of the blade and parts of the shaft and took over 20 years to “produce”. The tip of one side of the blade was signed by members of the 1924-25 Montreal Canadiens including Hall-of-Famers Howie Morenz (signed “H. Morenz”), Aurele Joliat, Sprague Cleghorn, Sylvio Mantha and manager-coach Leo Dandurand. Others are Billy Boucher, an undecipherable signature and Johnny Matz who helps zero in on the ‘24-25 season. Most of these sigs have partially soaked into the wood and have blurred but are nevertheless there and mostly legible. Continuing down the blade are 17 mostly New York American autographs with the Happy Day and Jack Shill signatures pointing to the 1937-38 season. Other nice clean bold autographs (in order) were penned by Joe Lamb, Lorne Carr, Vic Ripley, Nelson Stewart, Al Murray, Joe Jerwa, Hap Emms, Charlie Mason, Tommy Anderson, Eddie Wiseman, Bill Hudson, Earl Robertson, Johnny Gallagher, Whitey Field and Harry Scott. Allowing you to catch your breath, the lower part of the shaft is then signed by 17 members of the 1945-46 Calgary Stampeders Senior team, with Archie Wilder, Pete Slobodian, Bunny Dame, Joe Fisher and Art Michaluk being the guys who suited up in the NHL during their careers. As for the other side, the blade and shaft are autographed by mostly Toronto Maple Leafs and Chicago Black Hawks, with Leaf coach Dick Irvin dating his signature “April 21/36”. Some gorgeous bold black fountain pen signatures to tell you about here with the most impressive being those of Chas Conacher, Red Horner, Ace Bailey, Conn Smythe and Mike Karakas. Other black beauties were inked by Dutch Gainor, Pep Kelly, Mickey Blake (one game with the Leafs), Alex Levinsky, Mush March, Normie Mann, Andy Blair and Chicago coach Clem Loughlin. A tad less bold but still nice are the sigs of George Hainsworth, Earl Seibert, Gordie Drillon, Marty Burke, Johnny Gottselig, Doc Romnes, Paul Thompson, Art Wiebe, Jimmy Fowler and Bill Kendall. Completing this stirring masterpiece are somewhat blurred signatures on the blade of Herb Gardiner, Red Dutton, H. L. (Hal) Winkler, “Spunk” Sparrow and two we can’t make out. These men played for the Calgary Tigers in 1924-25 and the previous season had lost the Stanley Cup final to the Montreal Canadiens, the men who signed the opposite side of the blade! Could this be a souvenir from a pre-season exhibition rematch between the ‘23-24 Cup finalists? Our consignor is in Calgary and we tend to think so. Anyways, enough said about this thought-provoking treasure. May the keenest autograph enthusiast or hockey historian in the land be the new owner! A LOA will be included.
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