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The latest closet entry: Wool mid-1960s Quebec Aces Sweater


LouMarcon

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It has happened again!

And, my wallet was just beginning to regain some weight after I overpaid in June for a mid-1960s durene worn by American Hockey League HOFer Fred Glover.

A random search of the various auction houses one Sunday evening last month revealed that a very rare wool Quebec Aces jersey was up for grabs on the Classic Auctions web site.

My addiction for game worns is currently focused on the American Hockey League, circa 1961-67. This one fit that profile perfectly. Worn by journeyman AHL and NHL defensemen Noel Price and Bryan Watson, it came from the collection of Joe Crozier, the former coach of the Aces and Rochester Amerks in the 1960s.

The 9-inch chenille team crest is spectacular. The No. 3s on the back and sleeves are felt, which for this era is very old-fashioned. When Ebbets Field Flannels was still accepting single custom jersey orders, EFF owner Jerry Cohen and I would go back and forth in the spirit of accuracy over his insistence on using felt for the numbers on jerseys from the 1960s. As a result, I got in the habit of having all of my EFF replicas, of which I have several (custom and off the shelf), stripped and the felt numbers replaced with twill. But, in the case of the Aces, Jerry was correct.

The tags on the Aces sweater are long gone, but the LOA says it made by Gerry Cosby of NY City, which produced the jerseys used by many teams in the AHL and NHL during the 1950s through the 1980s. There are 18 plus team repairs, according to the LOA. Since Price was a finesse player, I have no doubt that most of the repairs were made when Bugsy Watson was wearing this jersey in 1964-65. During a six-year career with the Pittsburgh Penguins, I never recall Watson ducking a fight.

At the time, the Aces were the AHL farm team of the Montreal Canadians and I immediately had memories of former Canadians Charlie Hodge, Dollard St. Laurent, Doug Harvey and Terry Harper wearing this sweater when they visited the old Civic Arena to play my team, the Pittsburgh Hornets.

It's those memories from back in the day that got me into this crazy hobby of collecting vintage hockey jerseys.

But, going into this auction, I told myself to remain unemotional, unlike my pursuit of the Glover jersey when I kept bidding like a drunken sailor just back from a 12-month deployment overseas. Unlike the Glover auction when I submitted bid after bid after bid, I did a little homework on the Aces sweater first.

By searching what similar sweaters went for in past auctions and I came up with a number which I figured had a chance of being the winning bid. And, I stuck with the one bid. After submitting it, I shutdown the computer and went to bed. When I next checked around 6 a.m. I had a winner!

And unlike after winning the Glover auction, I didn't have that sinking feeling in my stomach that I wished someone had outbid me. The Aces jersey was expensive, but I won with a number that was a little less than what I had predicted it would sell for before the auction began. All things considered, it was mission accomplished.

My AHL gamer collection now consists of three from the mid-1960s: A wool Providence Reds sweater worn by Len Ronson, the Glover durene and the Price/Watson Aces jersey.

Every time I start pursing one of these 50-year-old AHL gamers, I recall the words of one the veteran collectors on this board who warned: "When it comes time to sell, the odds are against ever getting your money back, so enjoy the ride."

I haven't tried to sell yet, but I strongly suspect he's correct. But, it has been a fun ride, and I'm still at the top of the wave.

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Edited by LouMarcon
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Gorgeous addition, and an amazing collection.

I think the highlight of the HHOF was looking at the progression of jerseys... but especially those from the 60's.

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  • 4 weeks later...

Congratulations! Those are great jerseys.

If you don't mind (as an EFF customer too), why did EFF insist on producing inaccurate jerseys? To purposely foil anyone who might try to pass the jersey off as vintage or even game-worn? Or because of some perceived value of what a "nostalgia" jersey should look like?

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Love the texture on that crest/ numbering. Plus you can never go wrong with a bilingual logo. Really appreciate you sharing the background on these sweaters with us.

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Ceska:

Based on 2 or 3 e-mail conversations with Jerry Cohen, owner and founder of EFF, I never got the feeling that there was a purposeful intent on his part to produce hockey jerseys that aren't accurate. Just the opposite, actually.

I agree there is probably at times a perceived, although incorrect, notion of what the jerseys should look like on EFF's part. I think stubbornness is also a factor. And, I have no doubt that the profit margin is the biggest consideration.

As one who has spent the past 3-4 years buying replicas and then trying to make them as authentic as possible, I know firsthand that it is a very inexact, time consuming and very expensive hobby. I've spent literally hours searching the Internet, old programs, videos and the various books I've collected over the years, looking for good front and back looks of a particular jersey. And, then the most difficult part is trying to estimate from those images the size of the crest, numbers, stripes, etc.

It took me about two years and upwards of $200 each to customize two custom made EFF jerseys (each cost $350), the 1961-63 Pittsburgh Hornets road and the white 1960 US Olympic sweater.

Using the services of at least two different vendors for each jersey, I stripped both of their felt crest/letters and numbers and had them replaced with twill and a fully embroidered, enlarged crest (on the Hornets jersey).
And, despite my best efforts, I'd say neither jersey is 100% correct. (And, yes, I'm well aware that I would be lucky to sell either jersey for half of what I spent. Call me crazy and all I'll say "guilty, as charged." Nevertheless, I enjoy the research and challenge of making each of my replicas as authentic as possible.)

As for EFF, in all fairness, they are in the jersey business to turn a profit. And, there would have been a zero profit margin if EFF had made the two jerseys below to my 100% specifications. For example, the fully embroidered Olympic patch and the Hornets crest alone both cost more than $50. That kind of cost plays hell with the profit margin.

In the end, I suspect I was so demanding with EFF that they stopped taking single jersey custom orders after making my blue Hornets jersey. Mr. Cohen told me the profit margin for the single-jersey custom orders just wasn't there. Now, I believe EFF will only do a custom job if 5 or 6 jerseys are ordered. I suspect it's too time consuming and expensive for EFF to produce a single custom jersey.

I can't fault EFF for discontinuing a practice (single custom jersey orders) that is not profitable. Overall, I consider my experiences with EFF to be positive. I appreciate the work EFF and owner Jerry Cohen does in producing historical hockey jerseys.

And, despite EFF's somewhat stubborn insistence on using only felt crests and numbers, I consider the EFF base hockey jerseys (by base, I mean the jersey fully stripped of everything that is sewn on) to be, in most cases, the most accurate on the market. You will not find a replica vendor that still uses durene, the material of choice for many gamers in the late 1960s and 1970s, but the EFF acrylic is, for me, a very acceptable substitute.

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Edited by LouMarcon
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Thanks for the informative reply. That make sense I suppose with the more detailed jersey elements/custom orders. Switching out the felt numbers for tackle twill though shouldn't be cost prohibitive.Anyhow, I will add that my customer service experiences with EFF have been very positive and they are more responsive to queries than most companies might be.

Sounds like it was a fun adventure for you though, all that research, and finally seeing the project through in an actual jersey!

-Rob

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