Historical Hockey Memorabilia Auction Winter 2020
This lot is closed for bidding. Bidding ended on 2/26/2020
When contemplating Wayne Gretzky’s remarkable, unmatched career, his time in an Edmonton Oilers jersey is the most venerated, with the iconic superstar completely dominating his sport during his time in Alberta. Wayne would secure both his career highs for goals and points in a season, with consecutive Art Ross Trophies won from 1981 to 1987 along with his quartet of Stanley Cup championships. From The Great One’s final season with Edmonton in 1987-88, this historically paramount signed stick was used by the legendary superstar to score the winning goal that clinched the 1988 Stanley Cup, with this his final goal as an Oiler, and it’s been photo-matched to the cup-clinching goal of the 1988 Stanley Cup finals! A Titan TPM 2020 model in solid white with red accents/identifiers, “W. Gretzky” is stamped to the upper shaft, with “99” handwritten and currently faint over the handle. The original black tape is intact over the blade with Wayne’s patented “Gripper” over the handle, with a factory date code of "168802" stamped on the lower reverse shaft along with "1-002". The accompanying letter of provenance states that this historic specimen was obtained after the conclusion of the third period of the final game of the 1988 playoffs (May 26), also making it possibly the last stick Wayne used with Edmonton! The mentioned letter of provenance will accompany this spectacular Wayne Gretzky stick, along with an LOA from Classic Auctions.
Sporting wear to the underside of the blade along with a tear to the tape near the backside heel section, the stick exhibits nice game use, with additional marks on the upper and lower shaft. Wayne has added an attractive blue marker signature over the front side heel, with “May 88”. Photo-matched to the cup-clinching Game 5 of the finals (May 26), we should note that Game 4 was suspended at 16:37 of the second period due to a power failure (May 24), with the Oilers then winning the Stanley Cup in the fifth game. Regarding the photo-matches, Getty Image #502195546 (cup-clinching Game 5 of the Stanley Cup finals, May 26, 1988) pictures Wayne celebrating after scoring the second-period goal at 9:44, with the image matched to the black mark through the "T" of "Titan" and to the mark below the "AN" of "Titan" (both front side) as well as to the long linear black mark on the lower edge of the front of the stick. A second image from Getty, #53130104 (from the Stanley Cup finals), has been matched to the black mark on the upper shaft, to the exact placement of the handwritten "99" below the knob, and to the correct placement of the "Jack the Gripper" lettering. Lastly, an included numeric image from Wayne’s final game with Edmonton has been matched to the black mark below the "AN" of "Titan" on the lower portion of the shaft as well as to the long linear black edge streak that runs from the taped blade until the beginning of the white paint on the lower shaft (the two breaks in the streak are also visible).
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