Gordie Howe, or "Mr. Hockey," is widely considered to be one of the greatest players ever to play the sport. At his retirement, his 801 goals, 1049 assists, and 1850 total points were all NHL records that stood until they were broken by Wayne Gretzky, who himself has been a major champion of Howe's legacy. A 23-time NHL All-Star, he still holds the NHL record for seasons played. He became the namesake of the "Gordie Howe hat trick": a goal, an assist and a fight in the same game. He won six MVPs and four Stanley Cups throughout his illustrious career.
Howe's 1951 Parkhurst card is his rookie card, and one of the most iconic hockey cards in existence. The card shows a drawn image of Howe heading to the goal. The example offered here is a valuable PSA EX-MT 6. The last two sales of this card in this grade at auction both exceeded $25,000. This is a must-have card for any high-end hockey collector.
"Canada 150" Collector Provenance:
Our consignor had some health issues as a young boy and was unable to compete in sports, so the way he connected with his favorite sports of hockey, baseball and basketball was through collecting trading cards of the players.
Fortunately, our young collector’s health improved as he grew up and he was eventually able to get on the ice, diamond and hardwood at a competitive level. In addition, he also continued with his sports card collection.
He took that collection to another level when he embarked on a project to obtain the “rookie cards” of the top 150 NHL all-time points leaders, the top 150 MLB all-time home run hitters and the top 150 NBA all-time scoring leaders. He accomplished his goal (except for a handful of baseball rookies), and this “150” collection has been a decades long pursuit, but also a moving target as players have moved in and out of the lists.
Many of the cards are graded and are highly desired rookie issues in their particular sport. Countless others are of star players and present potential grading opportunities.
Our Canadian collector has enjoyed this pursuit and the colorful, eye pleasing mosaic of cards he had presented in frames for years, but feels the time is right to give them a new home and has entrusted SCP Auctions to present them to the market.