Historical Hockey and Sports Memorabilia Auction April 2024
This lot is closed for bidding. Bidding ended on 4/30/2024
Perhaps the most beautiful hockey card set ever released and the sophomore issue to Imperial Tobacco’s landmark C56 hockey card release and highlighted by the coveted rookie card of the legendary Georges Vezina, the card serves as one of the hobby’s most cherished cardboard treasures to this day. Offered here in complete form glory, is this assembly of Imperial Tobacco's C55 1911-12 hockey card release. All remaining in raw ungraded form and starting with the set's key rookie card of Vezina, the card is seen as being in the condition range of VG-EX to EX with the top left corner showing a small ding to it while the other three (3) points display light wear. Additionally, the left border has light "chipping" that is worth noting for accuracy while the printing on the reverse has faded slightly. Joining the Vezina in terms of status, the examples of 20-Fred "Cyclone" Taylor (VG-EX to EX - slight corner wear and 70-30 centering over the front with the wear to the two points on the right side of the card a bit more noticeable), 42-Edouard "Newsy" Lalonde (EX - slight corner wear with the top right point showing a bit more of it than the others plus slight discolouration to the right side of the top border), 31-Art Ross (VG-EX to EX - slight rounding of the bottom corners with a tiny scratch between "Arthur" and "Ross" on the reverse as well as some residue on the reverse as well plus a bit of wear at the bottom left side), 4-Joe Malone RC (VG - a dirt smudge and ding to the bottom right corner and slight surface wear) and 1-Paddy Moran (VG-EX to EX - a small ding to the top left corner) are all present and accounted for, with the six (6) big cards in the group all found to be of the proper size as well. Also including both variations of card #27 featuring Walter Smaill over the front, the one dubbed the "Hand on Hip" version presents around VG to VG-EX with the top left corner sporting a small ding and the right border showing light chipping. Additionally, the card shows with 80-20 centering and there is additional slight wear to the remaining three (3) corners. For the "Hand on Stick" version, also seen as being around VG to VG-EX, the top left corner shows a small ding while the bottom left point displays light fuzz and a ding as well, lastly the bottom border has a slight smudge to it as well. Moving on, other key offerings from the set include 16-Percy Lesueur (VG-EX to EX - small ding to the top right corner and a tiny chip to the bottom border), 17-Jack Darragh RC (EX - ding to the top right corner and slight surface wear that shows more over his hair), 24-Sprague Cleghorn RC (EX - tiny ding to the top left corner), 45-Jack Laviolette (VG-EX to EX - light corner wear that is more prominent on the two right side corners and the image on the front is off-center from top-to-bottom), 11-Marty Walsh (VG to VG-EX - light corner wear as well as light surface wear at the right side. Back has some scratches that are seen mostly at the bottom while some light smudging/dirt is present on the reverse as well), 15-Bruce Stuart (VG-EX to EX - light corner wear and a tiny surface smudge at the top border), 28-Ernie Johnson (EX - smudge on the reverse at the top border and a very tiny amount of fuzz at the bottom right point), 29-Jack Marshall (VG to VG-EX - off-center from top-to-bottom and slight corner wear, bottom border shows light stains), 30-Harry Hyland (G to VG - light chipping on all four borders and light wear/damage to the bottom of the right border on the reverse), 32-Riley Hern (VG to VG-EX - light corner wear and a small print line on his head), 6-Tom Dunderdale (VG-EX to EX - light corner wear), 33-Gordon Roberts (VG-EX to EX - small ding to the bottom right corner and slightly off-center), 25-Odie Cleghorn RC (EX - very slight corner wear), 35-Ernest Russell (EX - very slight corner wear and a slight imperfection of the border at the top right on the front), 21-Bert Lindsay RC (G to VG - tiny scratches and wrinkles at the top right on the front that go through to the reverse) and 22-Larry Gilmour RC (VG to VG-EX - light corner wear and two scratches on the reverse near the bottom border). For the rest of the set, the examples of 7-Mallen RC, 12-Shore RC, 14-Ridpath, 37-Bernier and 41-Pitre are all around the scope of EX condition while cards seen as VG-EX to EX include 3-Holden, 9-Lake, 10-Kerr RC, 19-Smith RC, 23-Rowe RC, 26-Ronan RC, 39-Dallaire RC, 40-Power RC and 44-Poulin RC. Also sporting VG to VG-EX cards of 2-Hall RC, 5-Oatman RC, 8-MacDonald RC, 18-Vair RC, 34-Glass and 36-Gardiner RC, the final card in the set is found in the form of a G to VG offering of #36, the rookie card of Eugene Payan. Of note card #13, the rookie card of Alex Currie is also included but is short by industry standards for the set. A beautiful assembly of one of the hobby's most important releases, it should also be noted that for the photos showing the full set in a pile, the cards were all put as even as possible on their left sides and bottom edges and then the photos of all sides/corners were taken without moving how the cards were positioned. Originally purchased in 1992 from Ronald Villeneuve (Collection de Sport AZ Inc.), this gorgeous set has been in our consignor's collection since then with the original purchase invoice included as well as the original auction catalogue this set was sold in. For your viewing pleasure, shown on the listing is the actual page from the catalogue showing the offered set of cards.
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