Historical Hockey Memorabilia Auction Winter 2020
This lot is closed for bidding. Bidding ended on 2/26/2020
Produced shortly before his first NHL goal was scored on Dec 6, 1923, this rare and extremely desirable cabinet photo feature’s iconic Montreal legend Howie Morenz captaining the Stratford Shops team (Ontario) of the Grand Trunk Railways Apprentice Hockey League in 1922-23, the very season before he made his NHL debut with the Habs. Leo Dandurand, the coach and part owner of the Canadiens witnessed a match with Morenz playing for Stratford the season this cabinet photo was produced, and signed the young star on the grounds that being of French-Canadian extract, his rights belonged to the Habs, and not the local professional club, the Toronto St Pats. At 7 ½” x 9 ¼” and affixed to a trimmed mount that is currently 10 ½” x 13 ¾”, Morenz is pictured standing in the center, with the players listed beneath along with “1922-Champions-1923”.
Offered a salary of $2,500, plus a sum of $850 so that he could pay off his debts, Morenz accepted the offer of the Canadiens, with his father signing the contract, on July 7, 1923. The photo exhibits light surface wear and minor edge chipping, with a couple areas of material loss including over the lower left, with the bottom right corner clipped. The mount itself has been trimmed, with approx 1 ½” removed from the top border, with this not affecting the photo or text. There is some water staining to the mount, surface loss (bottom left corner), an edge tear and pinholes. Despite the condition issues, the extremely rare photo display admirably.
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