Historical Hockey Memorabilia Auction June 2018
This lot is closed for bidding. Bidding ended on 6/19/2018
Uncommon black cloth tape covers the blade of Wayne Gretzky’s game-used Hespeler 5500 from early in the 1997-98 NHL season. This example, from the first “553” batch, is a 110-115 Stiff flex according to shaft markings and has the factory-stamped “Gretzky” up near the customary black “Jack the Gripper” handle. The gamer shows great game use with lots of paint transfer from face-offs along the shaft and good wear and marks on that cloth-taped blade. Wayne has added a black signature low on the shaft that shows some ink loss in places. This stick has been specially customized with a code written on the butt end and a small hologram sticker added by our consignor.
The black cloth blade tape job is a mystery as everything else is correct with the stick. We would expect to see baby-powdered bulldog tape on the blade of this style. It is quite plausible that Wayne used his two minutes in a road venue penalty box to re-tape the stick with the only available tape supplied. Even this current taping has the correct 45-degree start at the heel! This lot of sticks arrived with graphite lines running through the blade and photo evidence from early in the season is proof of their use, subsequent deliveries didn’t have these lines. This early batch of sticks was most likely used in October of the 1997-98 season.
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