A piece of hockey history is up for auction.
The stick used by Wayne Gretzky in the Edmonton Oilers’ 1988 Stanley Cup victory over the Boston Bruins will be available through Sotheby’s Seals from Tuesday through July 25.
The memorabilia, estimated to fetch more than $500,000 at auction, will also be on display at Sotheby’s New York from Thursday through July 24.
The 1988 title was Gretzky’s fourth Stanley Cup win, and he scored 43 points (12 goals, 31 assists) in 19 postseason games, earning him his second Con Smythe Trophy as playoff MVP.
“It’s really remarkable to have something like this,” said Brahm Wachter, head of streetwear and modern collectibles at Sotheby’s.
“You’re talking about the greatest player ever to grace the ice, and of course his last championship that helped cement his name in the history books.”
The auction estimate was determined based on multiple factors.
“We looked at an auction that happened a little over a year ago, a year and a half or two years ago, where the 1988 Stanley Cup jersey and gloves were for sale,” Wachter said. .
“I think the glove made $200,000 and the jersey made something like $1.5 million.
Sotheby’s obtained the stick from a private collector who chose to sell it, and it is dated by Gretzky himself. The company previously sold Gretzky’s stick, used in his last NHL game, for $140,000 in 2022.
Wachter said part of the process of auctioning such memorabilia is photo matching.
“We look at small details. We might look at scratches, peculiar marks, wood grain, and many other things,” Wachter said. “What we do is match physical items with photographs of Gretzky playing, along with provenance.
“This stick has a provenance, but it was also matched to a photo from the 1988 Stanley Cup final. It was signed and dated May 26, 1988. That was the date of the last championship game.”
This isn’t the first time Gretzky memorabilia has fetched such high prices at auction.
In May 2021, Heritage Auction announced that it had sold a 1979 O.P.Gretzky rookie card to an anonymous buyer for $3.75 million.
This is the first hockey card since December 2020, when Heritage sold the remaining one of Gretzky’s two rookie cards with a perfect “Gem Mint” score from Pro Sports Authenticator for $1.29 million. It broke the record of
It was the first hockey card to exceed $1 million.
This report by the Canadian Press Agency was first published on July 18, 2023.
