Historical Hockey Memorabilia Auction - March 2007
This lot is closed for bidding. Bidding ended on 3/27/2007
From towards the end of a Hall of Fame career comes this magnificent old wool, produced for one of hockey’s fiercest competitors and most respected captains. Ted “Teeder” Kennedy inherited the captain’s “C” from another Leafs legend, Syl Apps, following the ‘47-48 season, Toronto’s first of three straight Stanley Cup titles. Some oldtimers will say that Kennedy, along with being a natural-born leader, was hockey’s greatest face-off man. He announced his first retirement in 1954 but came back for the ‘54-55 season to win the Hart Trophy as league MVP, before hanging his skates up again, this time for a year and a half until he was lured out of retirement to play the last half of the ‘56-57 season. Which brings us to this shocking sweater. It’s definitely the real deal, but without any obvious signs of wear and with tight, unstretched, like- new cuffs and a similar neckline, it was never donned by Kennedy. The style worn during the 1954 to 1957 time frame, it features a sensational old Leafs felt crest with the team’s name spelled out in blue felt letters, the captain’s “C” and Teeder’s number “9”, also in felt and attached with classic wavy stitching of the day. A red-on- white tag in the neck reads “Doug Laurie Sports - Maple Leaf Gardens - 458 Church St. Toronto - 5 - Ont.” With still vibrant colors, the sweater includes small holes throughout; some two dozen including two dime-size jobs on the upper front. Originally obtained by a big-time jersey collector from former Boston Bruins announcer Frank Ryan who had put a jersey display together and who obtained this beauty from longtime Leafs trainer Tommy Naylor. Kennedy is synonymous with everything great about the Maple Leafs and this uniform is synonymous with vintage jersey greatness. A tremendous opportunity, it will be accompanied by a letter of authenticity and our heartfelt congratulations. Classic Collectibles is pleased, as part of our winter 2007 auction, to offer the formidable game worn jersey collection of Mr. Andy Leff, a young man from Pennsylvania who in recent years went about acquiring some of the creme de la creme, if you will, of gamers put on the auction block. You have to admire Andy's pursuit of the best, donned by Hall-of-Famers and future Hall-of-Famers. Paying close attention to authenticity, he assembled a remarkable collection indeed. Over two dozen tempting offerings are thus available to serious jersey collectors, with Mr. Leff's investments subject, in some cases, to silent reserves. Good luck with these superior pieces.
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