While the origins of professional baseball are not entirely documented, they have a much more clear and celebrated history than that of hockey. The National Hockey League (NHL) as we know it didn't even come into existence until 1917 with just four all-Canadian teams, one of which disbanded after only six games. And it wasn't until 1924 that a team from the USA, the Boston Bruins, coached by hockey legend Art Ross, entered the NHL and posted an embarrassing 6-24 record. Even with this inauspicious introduction to America, the Pittsburgh Pirates and New York Americans entered the next year, followed by teams from Chicago and Detroit, and soon hockey was on its way to be accepted as an American sport. But dating back to its earliest roots, when professional hockey was just a hodgepodge of barely functioning leagues, the Imperial Tobacco company was releasing hockey cards in the same manner that American tobacco companies were introducing the public to Ty Cobb and Honus Wagner. And in 1911, the 45-card Imperial Tobacco "C55" set was born. The C55 set followed up Imperial's 36-card "C56" initial offering in 1910, and while most second issues contain very few rookie cards since every card in the first set is a rookie card, the C55 set added and changed many of the players and included 7 new pasteboard debuts, most noted of which is Hall of Famer Georges Vezina. Considered the forefather of modern day goaltending, the Vezina rookie card is often compared to the T206 Honus Wagner or 1948 Bowman George Mikan as the single most coveted card of its respective sport. In all, 22 of the 45 cards feature Hall of Famers, including rookie cards of Joe Hall, Joe Malone, Jack Darragh, and James Garner. But it's the Vezina RC that leads the way, making the C55 set one of the greatest compilations in sports card collecting. Presented is one of the finest C55 Master Sets ever assembled, ranking #7 on the PSA Set Registry with a GPA of 5.918 and trails the #6 set by just .001, maybe one or two upgrades away. Headlined by a solid PSA 5 specimen of Georges Vezina's RC, this phenomenal set features two PSA 8 cards (#13, pop 4 with none higher and 30 Hyland, pop 3 with none higher), 14 graded PSA 7 (#9, 11 Walsh, 12, 14, 15 Stuart, 19, 24 S. Cleghorn RC, 25 O. Cleghorn RC, 32 Hern, 33 Roberts, 34, 35 Russell, 36 Gardner RC, and 39), 18 graded PSA 6 (#3, 4 Malone RC, 5, 6 Dunderdale, 7, 10, 16 Leseur, 17 Darragh RC, 18, 20, 21 Lindsay RC, 26, 27 Small-hand on hip, 28 Johnson, 29 Marshall, 31 Ross, 41 Pitre, and 43), 11 graded PSA 5 (#2 Hall, 8, 22, 23, 27 Small-hand on stick, 37, 38 Vezina 40, 42 Lalonde, 44, and 45 Laviolette), and one PSA 4, #1 Moran. One of the most important sets ever made in the genre of hockey, containing the sport's most important card!
At the end of the auction, the set will be sold to the highest aggregate bidding, whether that is the sum of the individual lots or the highest bid for the complete set. Our website will automatically reflect whichever portion has received the highest bidding total. Placing a bid on this lot constitutes bidding on the complete 45 card group.