HabsCast Hockey Blog

[Article via HockeyHeadquarters.com]

In April 2007 a mint graded 1911-12 C55 Georges Vezina rookie hockey card sold for a record breaking $100K. This is the highest amount paid for a hockey card to date. The Beckett Hockey Collector magazine reported in the September 2007 issue that a rare 1910-11 C56 Newsy Lalonde hockey card had tied the record, selling for $100K as well. The Newsy Lalonde hockey card was graded a 3 out of 10 by SCG, a sports card grading service.

According to Beckett this was “the first publicly reported C56 Imperial Tobacco #37 Newsy Lalonde” hockey card. To date only one other copy of this hockey card has surfaced.

Lalonde was born and raised in Cornwall Ontario where he worked in a newsprint plant during his youth giving rise to the nickname “Newsy”. Edouard “Newsy” Lalonde was the most famous athlete in Canada during his era playing both lacrosse and hockey. In fact, the Hockey Hall of Fame called Lalonde the dominant player of hockey’s first quarter century. He was inducted into the Hockey Hall of Fame in 1950. During the same year he was named Canada’s outstanding lacrosse player of the half century.

Newsy Lalonde held the record from 1910-1954 for the most goals scored by a professional hockey player. In total Newsy Lalonde scored 441 goals, many of which were before the NHL was even formed. Remarkably 124 of Lalonde’s goals were scored over 99 NHL games. Maurice “The Rocket” Richard ultimately broke Lalonde’s record. At the age of 83 years old on November 21, 1970 Edouard Charles Lalonde passed away.

Two great Newsy Lalonde resources on the web that offer a more in depth look at this legendary Canadian athlete are:

Joe Pelletier’s Greatest Hockey Legends and The Lalonde Family Web Site

It will be interesting to see how many more Newsy Lalonde 1910-11 Imperial Tabacco C56 hockey cards will surface in the future.

To read more about the Georges Vezina rookie hockey card that also sold for $100k click here.

About the author: Eric Bonnici started collecting hockey cards during the 2003-2004 season and quickly realized that things had changed from when he collected as a kid in the early 1980’s. So many brands, manufactures, insert sets, subsets, etc. had him confused and overwhelmed. He shares what he has learned through the hockey card related content and articles on his web site. To read more of Eric’s hockey card articles or to buy, sell, or trade hockey cards with him visit www.hockeyheadquarters.com

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