Historical Hockey Memorabilia Auction Winter 2015
This lot is closed for bidding. Bidding ended on 2/25/2015
Awesome and very rare 1920s Stanley Cup playoffs program predates the NHL taking sole possession of Lord Stanley’s prized silver chalice. This original 1923-24 Western Canada vs Pacific Coast Playoff Series program is from the second game of the three-game series between the WCHL champion Calgary Tigers and the PCHA champion Vancouver Maroons, a prelude to both teams facing the NHL champion Montreal Canadiens for the Cup. Dated “March 12th, 1924” with a cover price of 25 cents, it is from the second game of the series at Calgary’s Victoria Arena, a 6-3 win for the Tigers that evened the series at 1-1. Completely folded, the program measures a shade under 7 3/4" x 3 3/4" overall. It unfolds to a width of 22 1/2" with pictures of both teams’ players on one side and various WCHL and PCHA stats on the other.
Calgary’s lineup on the cover page boasted HOFers Gardiner, Dutton, Oliver and Crawford, and Vancouver’s HOFers included Lehman, Boucher, MacKay.
Delicate piece with some obvious handling has been nicely preserved overall with some tears near the edges of the various spine folds. There is a blue fountain pen ink stain on the left side of the cover page and a couple of smaller spot stains on the right side of the back page that lists all of the program’s sponsors.
Players pictured inside the program are Herb Gardiner, Eddie Oatman, Red Dutton, Bobbie Benson, Rusty Crawford, Charlie Reid, Cully Wilson, Bernie Morris, Ernie Anderson, Harry Oliver, Alf Skinner, Hugh Lehman, Art Duncan, Ernie Parkes, Lloyd Cook, Mickey Mackay, Joe Matte and Frank Boucher.
The other pages show the final standings for both the Western Canada League and the Pacific Coast League, and the results of the two-game WCL playoff that saw Calgary defeat Regina by a total score of 4-2. It also shows the result of the first game of the Calgary vs. Vancouver series, a 3-1 win for Vancouver. Calgary won the final game of the series in Winnipeg as the two western teams traveled east to Montreal. As a result, Vancouver faced the Canadiens first, losing in two games. Led by Howie Morenz and Georges Vezina, Montreal then defeated Calgary in two games to win the Stanley Cup.
Also displayed are the Official Scoring Averages (scoring leaders) of both leagues in 1923-24, which seem to list every player who recorded a point that season in each league on two separate pages. Calgary’s Oliver finished second in WCL scoring with 34 points, including 23 goals and 12 assists. Vancouver’s Art Duncan led the PCHA with 30 points on 21 goals and 9 assists.
By clicking this button, you will IMMEDIATELY bid the amount selected.
By clicking this button, you will submit this amount as your MAXIMUM (absentee) bid. The auction software will place bids on your behalf up to this amount only as it is bid against competitively by other bidder(s).