Despite recent record sales in the hobby, hockey typically goes unnoticed in terms of overall hobby appeal and/or price. However, the 1979-80 O-Pee-Chee (Wayne Gretzky Rookie Card Year) case, which just sold for a whopping $4.72 million, has drawn a lot of attention to the world of hockey cards and collectibles.
The 1933-34 Canadian Chewing Gum hockey card wrapper's recent historical hobby record price of $16,203.60 USD (with buyer's premium) does not appear to be attracting the same attention. This was for a single wrapper, with a significant number of tears, and if my memory serves me well, no other single wrapper ever achieved this monetary milestone in any sport, or non-sports for that matter.
In addition to the aforementioned wrapper sale, another recent auction yielded a fresh discovery related to this 1933-34 Canadian Chewing Gum set: the mail-away premium "Home Hockey Game", which will be discussed further in the latter section of this piece.
Returning to the 1933 Canadian Chewing Gum wrapper, it is demonstrated that your writer has firsthand knowledge of its journey, from who and where it came from to the path it took before being offered in the recently concluded Classic Auctions - Historical Hockey and Sports Memorabilia Auction in November 2023.
In 1933-34, the Canadian Chewing Gum Company released a set of 50 hockey cards featuring players from nine different NHL teams. Each card includes a different letter of the alphabet tastefully printed on the lower portion of the front of the card. The purpose of this 50-card set, as stated on the reverse, was to collect enough of these distinct letters to spell five of the nine NHL team names and submit them to the company, as which would qualify participants to a free "Home Hockey Game".
However, I digress. It has been 20 years, down to the month, since your writer purchased this particular wrapper. The history would see me obtaining this wrapper from Selby Colson, a longstanding dealer from outside of Toronto, for $1200 CAD. He had purchased it from former O Pee-Chee president Gary Koreen, who sold Colson just a small portion of his company's previous stored holdings.
Who would have guessed that the O-Pee-Chee gum company was the original source of this single surviving wrapper, which is still the only public one known to exist? As a result, they were clearly engaged in their competitions offerings, particularly in this inaugural year of hockey gum cards.
In all honesty, 2004 was a period in the hobby when documentation of wrappers and counter display boxes was still in its infancy. Your writer collected sealed wax packs and boxes, but not their wrappers. The underlying motivation for acquiring the wrapper was for its historical value, as hobby historians frequently do, which led in a 600 dpi, high-resolution scan, and then on its way to its rightful home in the hands of dedicated collector.
That dedicated collector who would finally retain this wrapper was Angelo Savelli, "The King of Cards", a Hamilton born early pioneer of dealing in sports cards in Canada going back to the 1970's. Angelo and myself were very good hobby friends since the 1990's and I knew he was not just a well-known dealer, but he likely had one of best collections of vintage hockey cards and collectibles at that time and started his collecting as a child in 1948.
Unfortunately, Angelo's health has deteriorated in recent years, necessitating the sale of the majority of his collection, which established several records for true rarities in the hockey field. At the time of writing this piece, I learned that my good friend Angelo Savelli passed away; he was one of hobby's earliest pioneers and will be greatly missed. Rest in peace, dear friend.
Now let's talk about the new discovery, which comes from the same 1933-34 Canadian Chewing Gum issue. These cards are frequently regarded as some of the most visually appealing pre-war cards released, due to their deep rich red hue and inventive design.
These cards are particularly unique in that, other companies used wrappers to market their premiums, which were very much supplementary, opposed to the Canadian Chewing Gum's card set was developed specifically to provide the "Home Hockey Game" premium mail away. These cards are frequently found with the lower portion cut off and removed, which housed the letters used just for this premium game redemption.
Although the game itself was often thought to be, one in the same as the "Maple Leafs Home Hockey" game which was loosely implied and pictured in my Vintage Hockey Collectors Price Guide in 2006, although without confirmation. This implication was fully removed in my updated 2015 VHC price guide and is not the associated premium game.
The Maple Leaf Home Hockey game never sat well with me as being the mail away premium especially that it was discovered to be advertised in the newspaper for Eaton's Department Stores in 1933 for $1.00, which would undoubtedly be a lot cheaper and easier method of acquisition than using the bubblegum cards as a way of pursuit.
The actual premium Home Hockey Game had finally come to market in the February 2024 Classic Auction. Funny enough, Angelo had previously remarked to me about a game in a red and white mailing tube he had, but he wasn't too precise, and knowing that his stuff was going up for sale, this was definitely what he had described.
This game was overlooked and not advertised as the premium game in the auction, and only by utilizing a close zoom in on the rear picture of the tube revealed the Canadian Chewing Gum Company name, which I saw right away, but if you weren't looking for it, you'd have certainly missed it.
The "Home Hockey Game" design bears a striking resemblance to the 1933 "Maple Leaf Home Hockey" board game. The instructions are the same, and the board game design is identical, the only exception is that the premium game is made of a kraft-like paper with weighted slatted ends attached, allowing it to be rolled out to play and then furled back up and stored in the accompanying mail tube. A kraft-type paper design would have a low survival probability given that it has been in use for over 90 years; also, children playing an interactive game and with it being constructed of thick paper does not always meet with sensitive handling. In contrast, the Maple Leaf Home Game is a packed boardgame, which certainly increases its potential survival rate.
Your writer was fortunate enough to acquiring the Home Hockey Game through the auction company, and we can now portray this one-of-a-kind survivor as being associated directly with this beautiful card set. As I usually say, "Who wouldn't want to wake up to a treasure hunt every day? Not me!
Most of the information is found on the vintage hockey website and app: needuum.com
Great work, Bobby, and that's a striking game board for any era. As much as I love the 1920s and 30s for their creativity, I was also glad to see the shift to wrapper redemptions instead of cutting pieces right off the cards themselves. :-)