Vintage Hockey Classics Owner is Back in Business ...

[LouMarcon]

There's a Yiddish word that perfectly describes George Kuhn, owner and operator of the former Vintage Hockey Classics. It's chutzpah. And, George sure has chutzpah. In traditional usage, the word expresses a strong sense of disapproval, condemnation and outrage in a person's behavior.

That pretty much sums up my feelings when I learned during a simple Google search over the weekend that George, aka James Heim in his former life with VHC, was back selling vintage replica hockey jerseys, this time under the web address VintageHockeyJerseys.Net

When I first opened the site, I knew immediately it was George Kuhn. The jerseys offered for sale, and their pictures, were identical with the former VHC site. In fact, two jerseys that I paid nearly $400 for and waited about 18 months for their delivery, were pictured, as well as a third jersey that I paid nearly $200 for and I'm still waiting four years later for it to be delivered.

If you are one of the suckers, like me, who never got your jersey from VHC, and are inclined to take a look at George's latest entry in the world of replica hockey jerseys, you should do it in a secluded part of your home. Some place where your screams of anger/disgust/exasperation wont' disturb anyone else. I'll just say the descriptions of the jerseys and the satisfied customers wearing them might make you ill.

If after looking at the site, you are thinking of purchasing a jersey, you owe it to yourself to first read a long thread about VHC on this message board, IceJerseys.com. To find it, do a search of Vintage Hockey Classics. The thread was started on the NHL forum (see page 17) on March 23, 2011.

In the thread, you'll see that the New York State Attorney General's Office filed a complaint which resulted in VHC being closed down after it was determined by a judge that consumers paid VHC hundreds of dollars for hockey jerseys that were never delivered. The thread also reveals that the NY Attorney General's Office was unable to force Mr. Kuhn to make restitution because the evidence indicated that he had little, if any, assets.

And, now he's back in business.

The good news: I've been told the authorities are aware of Mr. Kuhn's new gig, and may be paying him another visit very soon.

Don't get me wrong! Every person deserves a second chance. But, NOT before they make restitution for any, and all, earlier indiscretions. George Kuhn still owes a refund, or jerseys, to a lot of people.

Edited June 24, 2014 by LouMarcon

[akteon]

Here's the link to the original post Lou: http://forums.icejerseys.com/index.php?showtopic=3650

Also I noticed he's using Spyboy/Jeff's picture of his 1960 USA jersey on his site.

[iceman81]

I remember another guy in the past who sold nhl kits located in Minnesota. Never shipped anything and stole money from lots of people as well.

[mfitz804]

He's got two of the ones I am looking for, Maine Mariners and Utica Devils. His Utica logo looks like garbage, though.

Thanks for the heads up on this guy.

[Ceska]

Even if he was legit, the quality of those shirts look poor to me. They look like 35 dollar specials, or maybe something you'd get out of a thrift store. Not worth 200 bucks.

[DiscoStu]

Let me chime in here and give a little plug to the proprietor of customthrowbackjerseys.com -- I have dealt with them on multiple occasions and I have come away happy. Some people don't dig them because they deal in replicas, and they are connected enough to get a better price elsewhere, but when it comes to jerseys from the CCM NHL Vintage series, they do good work, and the customization looks good too. Of course, I judge them on replica standards, not authentic standards.

They have even made little accomodations for me in the past, like the positioning of the C on my Washington Capitals Guy Charron jersey -- after sending him a photo of a game worn Charron, they put the C below the stars instead of above which is what they started doing sometime in the 1980s. I usually order 1-2 jerseys from the guy a year, sometimes more.

My most recent purchase from him is definitely an oddball -- a Guy Lapointe #5 Bruins jersey done in the 1980s style -- which I consider to be my anti-Bruins Bruins jersey and the strangest one in the collection, considering he only wore that one in a handful of games. Take that, beaneating chowds.