PghPI
Registered Trader
So I was jonesin' to open a box of BTP this past weekend, and I hit the local weekend flea market because one of the dealers there gets pretty reasonable wax from one of the Pittsburgh shops and I was hoping to scratch my BTP itch again! Anyway, long story short, no BTP, or really anything to rip, so I was wondering around.....came across a booth of a girl I had bought Pens clothing from last year, a very nice girl......and she had something that stopped me dead. Up on one of her tables were three rows of a few each of these home-made hockey stick display cases, made from cheap lexan and light frame material. The backboards looked like they were masonite or pegboard type wood sheet, and the sticks inside the cases were tie-wrapped to the backboard through little holes to hold them tight. There were anywhere from 2 to 4 sticks in each case......all autographed with a broad range of current and past NHL'ers.....so I started to dig in, moving the cases to get a look at the sticks and such. Every stick was autographed, but some of the sticks were just either a new stick that was auto'd or some were kid-size. But then my eyes started popping......
I came across one case with four sticks in it, and they all looked worn and game used to me. This case had a Larry Murphy (Koho Proforce fiberglass) with well worn graphics, but no tape job. This one is autographed on the blade. Also in the same case was an Adam Oates Louisville TPS wood stick. It is perfectly taped at the butt end like Oates did, but this blade has black tape under white tape....and the stick is auto'd on the white tape. Also in the case was a Donald Audette autographed stick, a Titan ASD autographed on the shaft, and a Bill Guerin VIC autographed on the white taped blade. I have not had a chance to look for images of the Guerin or Audette yet, but I found a Getty Image pic of Murphy holding the same Koho Proforce 2112 while playing for Team Canada, possibly 1991? Also foound pics of Oates using the same Louisville TPS woodie. As I said, the butt end tape job is the same as another Getty pic I found, but all the images of Oates playing show his blade taped all black. Not sure aboout this one, maybe the white tape added for the autograph.
So that right there would have been a fun day.....but not done. I helped the girl update her messy list of what she actually had remaining, as whoever was helping her before had the list all messed up. I told her that I was interested in a few, and we worked out a price for one, two or three of these little Cracker Jack prizes. I told her that I was more interested in the ones that appeared game used, and that two sticks I wanted were the only gamers in their cases of 4 sticks. So she gave me a sweet deal on the ones I wanted.
Found a case with 4 more auto'd sticks, but only one gamer in it. The non-gamers were Mark Recchi auto on a CCM Fiberglass stick, and a Mogilny on a red Russian stick and a third auto that escapes me right now. But the cream of the crop is an autographed Sher-Wood 7000 PMP black shafted worn beauty Chris Chelios from his Chicago Blackhawk days! Found numerous Getty images showing the correct tape job and NHL tape around the shaft. Stick is signed on the shaft about 12 inches above the blade. The stick has a small white tape butt end and the blade is all black tape, though it is worn through on the blade bottom. The stick is stamped CHELIOS 7 down the shaft, and also has Sher-Wood stampings on the heel of "Chicago" and other lot numbers.
OK, so that would be an awesome day, right? Thought so, but there was one more, and the one I really wanted. The last case had four sticks as well, but two were kid size Bauer sticks in a Linden pattern, autographed by Al Macinnis and Keith Tkuchuk, and the third one is a sweet Alexi Kovalev on an unused Nike Ignite red shafted stick. Being in Pittsburgh, I guess whoever assembled this collection got the Murphy and Kovalev and Recchi while they were in Pittsburgh. He also go this last one, and it looks to be a gamer as well.....Autographed Sher-Wood PMP 5030 Paul Coffey!!! The stick is auto'd on the shaft, and features Coffey's #77 under his sig! Once again, found a couple of Getty Images showing Coffey using the same type of stick,l with the same butt end tape job while he was with Pittsburgh! The blade tape has been removed from this stick, but the shaft shows some real nice wear too!
OK, to answer the first question, yes, there are about 5 or 6 more of these variety packs of autographed sticks left, but I don't believe there are any gamers left. Other autographed sticks that I recall include Forsberg, Sakic (both appeared to have holo stickers on the blades below the sigs), John Vanbiesbrook, Vinny Lecavalier (on a Tampa promo stick) and a few others that escape me at this point. I will make another trip this weekend, and may pick up a few more of what's left. Here's the rub- of the ones that were gone before I got there, the case I would have instantly grabbed, and paid asking price for.....had Messier, Kasparaitis and Theo Fleury in it. Don't know if any were gamers, but I can dream about the Messier auto'd gamer, can't I?
Sorry for the long read, hope you guys enjoyed it! I will get to taking some pics and posting them this week! Oh, and any of the non-gamers are up for grabs if anyone is interested!
I came across one case with four sticks in it, and they all looked worn and game used to me. This case had a Larry Murphy (Koho Proforce fiberglass) with well worn graphics, but no tape job. This one is autographed on the blade. Also in the same case was an Adam Oates Louisville TPS wood stick. It is perfectly taped at the butt end like Oates did, but this blade has black tape under white tape....and the stick is auto'd on the white tape. Also in the case was a Donald Audette autographed stick, a Titan ASD autographed on the shaft, and a Bill Guerin VIC autographed on the white taped blade. I have not had a chance to look for images of the Guerin or Audette yet, but I found a Getty Image pic of Murphy holding the same Koho Proforce 2112 while playing for Team Canada, possibly 1991? Also foound pics of Oates using the same Louisville TPS woodie. As I said, the butt end tape job is the same as another Getty pic I found, but all the images of Oates playing show his blade taped all black. Not sure aboout this one, maybe the white tape added for the autograph.
So that right there would have been a fun day.....but not done. I helped the girl update her messy list of what she actually had remaining, as whoever was helping her before had the list all messed up. I told her that I was interested in a few, and we worked out a price for one, two or three of these little Cracker Jack prizes. I told her that I was more interested in the ones that appeared game used, and that two sticks I wanted were the only gamers in their cases of 4 sticks. So she gave me a sweet deal on the ones I wanted.
Found a case with 4 more auto'd sticks, but only one gamer in it. The non-gamers were Mark Recchi auto on a CCM Fiberglass stick, and a Mogilny on a red Russian stick and a third auto that escapes me right now. But the cream of the crop is an autographed Sher-Wood 7000 PMP black shafted worn beauty Chris Chelios from his Chicago Blackhawk days! Found numerous Getty images showing the correct tape job and NHL tape around the shaft. Stick is signed on the shaft about 12 inches above the blade. The stick has a small white tape butt end and the blade is all black tape, though it is worn through on the blade bottom. The stick is stamped CHELIOS 7 down the shaft, and also has Sher-Wood stampings on the heel of "Chicago" and other lot numbers.
OK, so that would be an awesome day, right? Thought so, but there was one more, and the one I really wanted. The last case had four sticks as well, but two were kid size Bauer sticks in a Linden pattern, autographed by Al Macinnis and Keith Tkuchuk, and the third one is a sweet Alexi Kovalev on an unused Nike Ignite red shafted stick. Being in Pittsburgh, I guess whoever assembled this collection got the Murphy and Kovalev and Recchi while they were in Pittsburgh. He also go this last one, and it looks to be a gamer as well.....Autographed Sher-Wood PMP 5030 Paul Coffey!!! The stick is auto'd on the shaft, and features Coffey's #77 under his sig! Once again, found a couple of Getty Images showing Coffey using the same type of stick,l with the same butt end tape job while he was with Pittsburgh! The blade tape has been removed from this stick, but the shaft shows some real nice wear too!
OK, to answer the first question, yes, there are about 5 or 6 more of these variety packs of autographed sticks left, but I don't believe there are any gamers left. Other autographed sticks that I recall include Forsberg, Sakic (both appeared to have holo stickers on the blades below the sigs), John Vanbiesbrook, Vinny Lecavalier (on a Tampa promo stick) and a few others that escape me at this point. I will make another trip this weekend, and may pick up a few more of what's left. Here's the rub- of the ones that were gone before I got there, the case I would have instantly grabbed, and paid asking price for.....had Messier, Kasparaitis and Theo Fleury in it. Don't know if any were gamers, but I can dream about the Messier auto'd gamer, can't I?
Sorry for the long read, hope you guys enjoyed it! I will get to taking some pics and posting them this week! Oh, and any of the non-gamers are up for grabs if anyone is interested!
