Randy Boswell and Deborah Tetley, Canwest News Service · Tuesday, Jun. 22, 2010
It appears that Paul Henderson’s iconic white-and-red jersey from the 1972 Canada-Soviet hockey series will remain in Canadian hands after a Toronto-area real estate developer purchased one of the country’s most storied sports artifacts for well over $1 million in an online auction early Wednesday morning.
Mitchell Goldhar, owner of SmartCentres, one of Canada’s largest developers of open-air shopping centres, bought the historic Team Canada jersey for $1,275,000 in a wild auction that saw the price surge over earlier bids.
Classic Auctions president Marc Juteau, whose company organized the sale, confirmed to Canwest News Service Wednesday morning that Goldhar was the buyer, but he could not say exactly what Goldhar intended to do with the jersey. He said only that Goldhar wanted to “let Canadians benefit” and that he will likely “keep the jersey in Canada and on display somewhere.”
Earlier in the evening, after the price had surged past $1 million, Paul Henderson himself expressed disappointment that B.C.’s Jim Pattison -- who had vowed to put the jersey in Canada’s Sports Hall of Fame -- had pulled out of the bidding, leaving the 38-year-old sweater’s fate in limbo.
For weeks leading up to this week’s sale of the artifact by the Quebec-based online auction firm, the effort to repatriate the jersey -- worn by Henderson when he scored his famous series-winning goal, but owned by an American collector since 2006 -- was generating a major buzz across Canada.
In May, when the auction was announced, Henderson said Canada’s Sports Hall of Fame -- with its new home scheduled to open at Calgary’s Canada Olympic Park next year -- would be “the most appropriate place in the world” for the jersey.
Sheryn Posen, the hall’s CEO, said late Tuesday: “I can only hope that whoever purchased it can respect the wishes of this great Canadian who wants to see his jersey come home.”
The intensity of the desire among individual collectors, museums and history-minded corporations to own the object only became clear after the sale’s initial 9 p.m. closing. That’s when the auction house’s “10-minute rule” kicked in, allowing potential buyers of the jersey to continue registering fresh bids until bidding on all of the hundreds of items for sale in Tuesday’s auction had halted for 10 minutes.
Between 9 p.m. and 10 p.m. ET, bidding shot up from just under $500,000 to $1,067,538.
The jersey’s sale even caught the attention of Heritage Minister James Moore in late May. He offered federal financial support for any buyer willing to donate the “important part of Canadiana” to a public museum.
With rival bidders upping the ante several times during the sale’s final hours, Juteau said late Tuesday that he didn’t expect the jersey’s ownership to be decided before early Wednesday morning Montreal time. He was right.
The bidding war began with a Canadian business icon skating into the fray.
In early June, Canadian Tire had announced plans to bid $200,000 to secure the jersey for a cross-country tour and eventual display in Canada’s Sports Hall of Fame.
But the next day, the hall itself said it was launching its own effort to buy the jersey with help from Molson and Forzani.
That prompted Canadian Tire to announce it would avoid a “bidding war” by supporting the Hall of Fame’s campaign and offering to help finance a winning bid with the other companies.
Then, last week, the Pattison Group announced a $309,000 bid, along with plans to take the jersey on a national tour before offering it for exhibit at the Hall of Fame.
Bidding for the Henderson jersey far surpassed the record-setting price of $191,000 US paid earlier this year at a U.S. auction for a Bobby Orr sweater worn during his 1966-67 rookie season.
Henderson’s No. 19 jersey -- at the centre of the iconic photograph of Henderson being hugged by jubilant teammate Yvan Cournoyer after the winning goal -- was initially given to Team Canada trainer Joe Sgro.
He later sold it to a Canadian collector before the jersey was acquired by its current American owner.
Calgary Herald
Read more: http://www.nationalpost.com/sports/Iconic+Paul+Henderson+hockey+jersey+bought+million/3188282/story.html#ixzz0rfy3W06M
No comments:
Post a Comment