Historical Hockey and Sports Memorabilia Auction Spring 2022
This lot is closed for bidding. Bidding ended on 6/1/2022
One of the greatest hockey and lacrosse players during the earlier part of the 20th century, Edouard Lalonde played for a number of clubs as iconic and legendary as the man himself, including the Renfrew Creamery Kings, Vancouver Millionaires and Saskatoon Crescents. Newsy would serve as the NHL scoring champion in both 1919 and 1921, with a Stanley Cup championship won in 1916 with Montreal. Originating from the incomparable autograph collection of E. Robert Hamlyn, we have a handwritten letter signed by the legendary superstar. At 5” x 8”, the two-page correspondence is dated “July 3-46” and executed in dark black ink, with Lalonde mentioning that he believed players of his day were as good as modern players, naming past competitors Cyclone Taylor, Frank Nighbor, Rat Westwick and others, adding “the game today is fast and good but is more or less like lacrosse pure and simple”. Signed as “Newsy Lalonde”, the signature displays beautifully, with just light wear to the letter itself including punched holes along the top from prior binder insertion. Lalonde passed away at age 83, in 1970. A JSA LOA will accompany.
Beginning life as the passion of one youth growing up in Newfoundland during the late-1930s, ER 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 honoring 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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