Historical Hockey Memorabilia Auction Fall 2019
This lot is closed for bidding. Bidding ended on 11/5/2019
Compared to Hobey Baker during his early days in Winnipeg and seen as the superior player according to hockey journalists of the day, Dick Irvin won an Allan Cup championship with the Monarchs in 1915, and later served as the inaugural captain of the Chicago Black Hawks, in 1926. Originating from the incomparable autograph collection of E. Robert Hamlyn, we have a vintage photo signed by the legendary superstar and First World War veteran. At approx 8” x 10”, the glossy print shows Irvin in a famous image in his Black Hawks uniform during the club’s first season. Adding a large and dark signature across the lower portion of his image, the autograph is perfect and completely bold, with no issues. Passing at the age of 64 in 1957, Irvin would be enshrined posthumously the following year.
The photo exhibits light surface wear with a few large creases over the bottom left. There is also a stamp on the reverse along with handwritten text including a notation that states this photo was received by Hamlyn autographed, on March 11, 1948.
The E. Robert Hamlyn Hockey HOFers Signed Photo and Letter Collection
Beginning life as the passion of one youth growing up in Newfounland during the late-1930s, E. R. Hamlyn was bitten by the collecting bug as a teenager, and began to seek out the signatures of both contemporary and past hockey stars, with his efforts culminating in the world class collection of signed photos and letters that encompass his incomparable autograph collection, with many unique items and extremely rare signatures making up the vast collection.
Through effective letter writing, first to teams, and then when information was received, directly to the players themselves, Hamlyn would request the addressed parties sign a photo he himself would provide, with the overwhelming majority honouring the enthusiastic collector’s wishes. And enamored with the uniforms of both the Montreal Maroons and New York Americans – despite never seeing these teams play in person, Hamlyn had the foresight to seek out the signatures of past retired stars from long forgotten and defunct franchises. The insightful collector also recorded information now invaluable to his collection, with most of the signed letters and photos having dates listed when they were received back signed.
Numerous early Hall of Fame legends make up the one-of-a-kind gathering including signed photos from Dick Irvin, Steamer Maxwell, Frank Patrick, Clint Benedict, Alec Connell, Duke Keats, Frank Foyston, Moose Goheen and others, along with signed letters from Dickie Boon, Harry Hyland, Jack Marshall, Jack Ruttan, Joe Malone, George Hainsworth, Aurele Joliat, Cy Denneny and others. Impossible to duplicate, this is unequivocally the greatest autograph collection that we have handled in our 25 years of service to the collecting community.
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