‘Holy Grail’ of hockey cards up for auction in Ontario

CTV’s Colton Wiens gets a close look at what could be a highly-coveted card collection.

A collection of century-old hockey cards is hitting the auction block, including what some collectors consider to be the “holy grail of hockey cards.”

Fifty-one hockey cards from the 1924–25 Champ’s Cigarettes hockey set, considered to be one of the most desirable Canadian tobacco issues in the hobby, are now up for auction at Miller and Miller Auctions LTD. in New Hamburg, Ont.

Ben Pernfuss, consignment director of sports cards and memorabilia at Miller & Miller Auctions calls it a once in a lifetime find.

“Very rare. Yeah. You don’t see discoveries like this very often,” Pernfuss said. “Especially ones that haven’t been offered in the hobby. [This collection] sort of stayed in one family for this whole 100 years.”

The main card that Pernfuss said stands out in the set is a card depicting the Stanley Cup.

“This is the first time the Stanley Cup was ever featured on a card, 1924, so it’s over 100 years old now, and it’s considered sort of the rookie card of the Stanley Cup,” Pernfuss said. “Some people would throw around the word, Holy Grail for hockey cards, in terms of prewar hockey.”

The 51-card set also includes many rookie cards from players now in the Hockey Hall of Fame.

“It also includes some pretty incredible names like Howie Morenz, Jack Adams, [Clarence] Hap Day. There’s a lot of great names in this set and people love it,” Pernfuss said.

The cards were produced by the Tobacco Products Corporation of Hamilton in 1924. According to Pernfuss, the collection almost never made it to the auction block. As the story goes, Donald Badder from Windsor found the cards in a tobacco box his father had in 1988.

“He asked his dad whether he could have them and his dad said, ‘Yes, but I was just about to throw them out.’ So these cards were destined to be thrown out in 1988,” Pernfuss said.

Badder convinced his father to let him have them and kept them in a safety deposit box until they reached 100 years old.

“Donald wanted the world to see these cards. He’d had them in his family for 100 years, and now is the time to let them go,” Pernfuss said.

Badder’s father also didn’t originally buy the cards. Instead, he acquired them by trading a similar collection of cards featuring Birds of Canada.

“They’re similar size, same age, but they had birds on them. So, he traded a collection of bird tobacco cards for hockey tobacco cards.”

Pernfuss said the bird cards would likely be worth about five dollars each in 2026.

“It was a good trade,” Pernfuss said.

The cards are now up for auction through Miller and Miller. As of Wednesday, the Stanley Cup card and Clarence Day cards each had current bids of $17,000. The auction closes on Sunday night at 6 p.m. and has blown past what Pernfuss expected bids to reach.

“I hope to find another one. I don’t expect to. I think this might be one of those once in a lifetime finds,” Pernfuss said.