Bobby Orr Jersey Fetches Nearly $200,000 At Auction

When he was a teenager, John Rows received a gift

. His uncle, Garry Young, ran a hockey school near Toronto, and Rows had spent a few summers there helping out. Young, who also was chief scout for the Boston Bruins, thought his nephew would appreciate a hockey jersey.

"I brought it home and I put it away and I've had it in a box ever since," Rows, now 58, told the Canadian Press. "I might have got it out of that box maybe two or three times in the last, well, almost 40 years."

A few years earlier, in 1966, Bobby Orr was a rookie for the Boston Bruins. It was the start of a legendary career in which the Canadian-born Orr would lead his team to two Stanley Cup championships. With his induction into the Hockey Hall of Fame in 1979, he would be acknowledged as one of the greatest hockey players of all time.

Nearing retirement, Rows thought about selling his white, black and gold jersey. After contacting Dallas-based Heritage Auction Galleries, Rows discovered the jersey -- showing plenty of wear and tear, including marks left by sticks and stitched-up rips -- was one of only three worn by Orr during his historic 1966-67 season in Boston, and one of only two known to survive to this day.

"It's really the cream of the crop as far as collectibles go," says Chris Ivy, director of sports at Heritage Auctions. "There's one other known Bobby Orr rookie jersey and that one was sent down to the minors where they actually made alterations, which is fairly common for jerseys from the era."

Rows consigned the jersey and in April 2010 it realized $191,200 at Heritage's sports memorabilia auction.

Game-worn jerseys belonging to sports legends remain popular with collectors. Mickey Mantle's 1963 New York Yankees game-worn home jersey sold for $143,400 at a 2004 Heritage auction. A 1967-68 Pete Maravich game-worn LSU jersey sold for nearly $90,000 in April 2009.

by: Hector Cantu

POST COMMENT

How To Succeed With Reverse Auctions You Can Get Something For A Bargain With Penny Auctions The Power Of The Ebay Store - I Sold It On Ebay Consignment Selling Through The Ebay Store Hot Selling Items For E Bay Auctions The Increasing Availability of the eBay Courier The Magic Behind eBay Arbitrage eBay Arbitrage – a Real Example Foreclosures - Visit An Auction Or Use A Realtor? How To Gain A Penny Auction Victory The Convenience Of The I Sold It On Ebay Store How To Make Easy Money On Ebay Car Auctions