Collector's Corner

Believe it or not, I have a difficult time choosing what Bobby Orr items to talk about each week. Sometimes I feel like writing about a vintage item, while other times a newer item will catch my eye and I’ll go with that.

This week I chose to go vintage. Actually I have three things to show you that I’ve been meaning to write about for some time now but for whatever reason just never got around to it.

As the title of this post indicates, all three are in French, a language that I unfortunately do not speak or understand.

Here is a weekend sports insert from the Montreal-Matin newspaper. As I stated earlier, I do not understand French and the entire paper is in French. It’s a shame because I would love to read the Orr write up as well as the other articles about various sports and personalities.

Obviously, I bought this one and the other two I’m about to show you because Orr is on the cover.

The first paper appears to be around 1970, while the other two I would say are from 1972. The last one is my personal favorite. I’m partial to any Orr picture where he is circling the net.

I’ve had all three of these for at least 10 to 15 years now. I remember buying them at the annual Shriner’s show for around $25 – $50 each. They do pop up on Ebay or shows sporadically, but I honestly haven’t seen one in a few years now. At least not that I can remember.

There you have this weeks Bobby Orr items. I’ll be back next Sunday with more vintage Orr memorabilia.

Pretty easy to guess what I’m going to show you this week. These two items come from the same person that I bought last weeks mug from. They’re also two items that I’ve wanted and been looking for for a long time.

Orr’s been a spokesman for many products over the years. He’s hawked hockey equipment, cookies and shaving products just to name a few. By far, two of the best pieces of advertising memorabilia that feature him are the following two items.

Here we have the first of two mirrors featuring Orr in street clothes hawking Canadian LTD whiskey. That’s a photo of Orr that is taped to the back of the mirror.

This second mirror is my favorite of the two.

“Two distinguished Canadians”. So true. Look at the jacket and turtleneck. The man oozes class. It’s a little tough to see, but he’s also wearing his 1970 Stanley Cup Champion ring.

Any hockey fan who has a bar in their “man cave” really needs to have these hanging up behind it. Just perfect.

I know other Orr collectors who have these, but I’ve hardly ever seen then offered on Ebay or at shows. I think I remember the first one selling on Ebay a few years back for over $200. Needless to say, I jumped at the chance to grab these.

I do have one question to put to my readers: Have you tried the whiskey and is it any good?

Hope you enjoyed this weeks Orr items. As always, more will be coming your way next weekend. See you then.

One of the nice things about writing this blog is that it’s brought me into contact with some really fantastic Orr fans and collectors. Most of the time it’s through their comments, but I’ve been fortunate enough to meet a few in person and they’ve all been great people.

About a month or so ago a collector left a comment on one of my posts saying that he had some Orr items he’s like to sell in order to raise money for a very special 50th birthday present for himself. Long story short, he emailed me pictures of his collection and I ended up buying some items that I didn’t have off of him. I’m happy to say that the transaction went very smoothly and I received my stuff earlier this week.

Over time I’ll show you everything that I got, but I’m going to start with one item that I have never seen before. As always, if any of my fellow Orr collectors know where this came from please leave a comment.

This mug has what looks like a coin with Orr’s face on it. There are no other markings whatsoever. The person I bought this from also didn’t know its origin.

My original thought is that it came from The Bobby Orr Hall of Fame in his hometown of Parry Sound. I checked their website and didn’t see it, so it remains a mystery.

Here’s a close up of the coin.

So what do you think? Good likeness or not? The eyes are kind of creepy but otherwise I don’t think it’s bad.

There you have this week’s Bobby Orr item from my collection. Please chime in on where you think this came from. I’ll be showing you what else I got in the coming weeks.

See you again next weekend with another vintage Bobby Orr collectible.

This weekend was the annual Boston Comic-Con. Some of you who know me know that besides collecting Bobby Orr memorabilia, I also am a comic collector. These two worlds don’t often collide, but they did for me this weekend.

One of the dealers who I regularly buy books from called me over to his table and said that he had something for me. I assumed it was book, but then he pulled this out from behind his table.

Here we have a drawing of Orr by Record American artist Bob Coyne. This happens to be printed on a little heavier than normal white paper and measures 8×10. However, it first was printed in the pages of the Record American on March 28, 1971 as seen here.

This was part of a series of sketches that featured the entire team. I’m not sure when the smaller printed versions came out, but my initial thought is that you could have purchased them directly from the Record American. If any of my fellow Orr collectors knows for sure the origins of these please let me know.

I was lucky in that the particular dealer had almost the entire team besides Orr. For the bargain price of $10, I made my first (but not last) purchase of the convention.

Just goes to show that Bobby Orr items can pop up and the most unusual places.

It’s been a long two days and I’m pretty exhausted, so that’s all for this week. Thanks as always for reading and be sure to come back next weekend for another Bobby Orr item.

Celebrities, whether they be movie stars or athletes, often have their image used to promote a product or an upcoming appearance at an event. Bobby Orr is no exception.

In fact, there are numerous Orr collectibles out there that fit into the promotional category. I’m going to start featuring some of these in the upcoming months. This week I’m going to show you four such ones, courtesy of my friend “The Iceman”, a long time Orr collector and frequent commenter on my posts.

Here we have a Master Card brochure for a celebrity hockey game that Orr took part in as an honorary coach. Also featured are Boston’s own Dennis Leary and Jason Priestly from Beverly Hills 90210. I know the woman pictured is a supermodel from the 80’s and 90’s, but I can’t remember her name. Someone please help me out.

Here is a store display poster for hockey cards that shows an image of Orr from his rookie year in 1966. As mentioned in previous posts, companies like Upper Deck have taken over the past decade to producing cards of retired players. Orr was at the top of the list.

These last two are for meet and greets with Orr himself. The left hand one is for Filene’s basement and the one on the right is for the now defunct BayBank, which Orr used to work for.

I think that I might have mentioned before that these types of Orr items are some of my favorite to collect and also some of the hardest to find because they weren’t mass produced unlike his standard merchandise.

That’s all for this week. As I said, more of this type of item will be featured in the months ahead. Thanks again to “The Iceman” for the pics. See you again next weekend.

First, Happy Easter to everyone! Second, no, not really a secret agent, but an agent nevertheless. If you haven’t already guessed, this week I’m going to show you something that deals with Bobby Orr’s life post hockey.

In 1996, Orr was part of an investment group that purchased Woolf Associates, which was founded by Bob Woolf, who in the mid 1960’s became one the first sports agents, representing many professional athletes.

The following item is a portfolio from 2002 that was used to promote the firm.

A logical choice for the cover was a photo of “The Goal”. That automatically would get people’s attention.

Here is one the inside pages, which talks about some of the athletes and products that the firm represents.

Also included with the portfolio were two separate sheets. One was from a Director of Marketing at the firm talking about how they could assist in providing athletes for events and signings. The other listed some of the clients that the firm represented at the time. Here is that sheet.

Some names of note the firm represented included Cam Neely, Phil Esposito, Doug Flutie, Bill Belichick and Carl Yastrzemski among others. I want to also note that the date on the first sheet (which is not shown) is January, 2002. In February, the firm’s name was changed to Orr Hockey Group, which it is still known as today.

I have one other item that comes from Orr’s agency.

This is a business card that was given to me by former Bruin goalie John Adams. I met him years ago when he was in town for a reunion of the 1970 Stanley Cup team. I believe he was working for the the firm as a scout. He was a very nice guy and I enjoyed talking hockey with him for awhile.

As far as Orr collectibles go, these would definitely be in the oddball category. Regardless, I’m happy to have them as part of my collection.

Thanks for reading this week. Once again Happy Easter. More Bobby Orr items coming your way next weekend.

Once in the fall and again in the spring, the Shriners Auditorium in Wilmington, Mass. is host to one of the larger sports card shows in the area. I make it a point to be in the door when it first opens on Friday at 12 pm. As always I’m looking for Bobby Orr items.

Too be honest, I really didn’t expect to find anything. It’s getting tougher and tougher to find vintage Orr items at shows anymore. Take into consideration that I already have alot of the common items and am looking for rare stuff, well it sometimes feels like I’m searching for a needle in a haystack.

Friday I found a needle. As I was walking up and down the aisles, something that I’ve been looking for for a long time caught my eye. I ended up buying it and one other piece.

Let’s start off with my find of the day.

This pin is something that I’ve wanted for a long time. I know two other Orr collectors who have it, but neither know its origins.

We are in agreement however that it was most likely not mass produced. It looks to be more of a give-away item by some local business, probably around 1970.

Oddball to say the least, it’s the kind of Orr item that I love finding. Well not spectacular in any way, it is unique and I’m very happy to add it to my collection.

Next up is a Boston Globe Sports Section.

I might have mention before that I love old newspapers. I have three Rubbermaid totes filled with Boston Globes, Heralds and Record Americans. Any major sporting events involving the Boston teams in the past 40 years I have the newspapers for them. That includes the 1970 and 1972 Stanley Cup editions of The Globe and Record American.

As you can see, Orr is in the top left hand corner as well as in this pic.

One of my favorite things about this paper is besides re-capping sports in the 1970’s, one writer makes predictions on what will happen in the 80’s. His prediction about Orr is that he will either coach, be the general manager or part owner of the Bruins in the 1980’s. No, no and no.

All in all, finding that one pin made it a very successful show for me.

That’s all for this week. Thanks for looking. See you again next weekend with another Bobby Orr piece of memorabilia.

I have a question for all you out there this week. What in your mind constitutes a Bobby Orr collectible?

Is is the mention of his name? His picture on something? An autograph? Where do you draw the line? I would seriously like to know your opinion. Even if you aren’t an Orr collector, please chime in.

For me, anything with his likeness is a collectible. Autographs are a little different for me. It really depends on what he signed. For instance, there’s a small sports and coin shop near where I work in Boston that I go into every few weeks or so to  see if they have any Orr items in. The owner showed me something that he just got. It was a Boston University hockey ticket stub that was signed by Bobby. It was only $25, but I passed on it. Just didn’t interest me. If it was on a Bruins ticket, I would have thought about it more.

Now, I have three items to show you this week that I consider collectibles. However, these items are not sold anywhere. You get them by purchasing (or winning as the case may be) another Orr item. You’ll see what I mean.

First up is something that many of you probably have. It’s a certificate of Authenticity from Orr’s company Great North Road. Any item that comes from there should have one of these with it. It passes my collectible test because there’s a picture of “The Goal” on it.

Next is what looks like a hockey card, but actually it’s the tag that comes attached to a series of t-shirts inspired by Orr. Here’s one of them.

The design of the tag is remarkably similar to his 1972 Topps hockey card.

Finally is this postcard.

This came from Classic Auctions in Canada. I’ve won a few Orr items from them over the years. You may remember that I won this item last month. When I received it in the mail, the postcard soliciting items for their next auction came with it. Once again, it passes my criteria because of the photo.

So now what do you think? Collectible or not? Looking forward to reading your comments on the subject.

As always, thanks for checking in this week. More Bobby Orr items coming your way next weekend.

As I’ve said in previous posts, there are Bobby Orr items that I’ve come across that I had no idea existed. When I do it’s kind of exciting. It’s even more so when that item is on Ebay rather than in a store. In a store I know I can just buy it, but on Ebay I have to hope I can outbid every other Orr collector who might want it.

This week I have something I won off of Ebay which I had never seen before. Luckily I outbid 3 others and now it is part of my ever growing collection.

At first glance you might think that this is a simple picture of Orr from the 1973-74 season.  The ESPN CLASSIC logo on the top right suggests otherwise. So what is this?

It’s a picture viewer. Most likely it was released in conjunction with ESPN’s series counting down the greatest athletes of the 20th century (Orr was #31).

I tend to think that this was more of a promotional item opposed to something that was widely released for sale. I say that because this was my first time seeing it and I would think that I would have seen it on Ebay or at shows before.

I ended up winning this for $37 and change. Whether it should have gone for more or less money I don’t know. That all depends on how many of these were made. All in all I’m comfortable with how much I won it for.

There’s your Orr item for this week. A little different from your average Orr item, but nevertheless a pretty cool piece of oddball Orr memorabilia if you ask me.

Thanks as always for reading and be sure to come back next weekend to check out another item from my Bobby Orr collection.

Bobby Orr number 4! Poetry. Bobby Orr #27! Not so much. Believe it of not, there was a very brief period of time when Orr wore number 27, during his rookie training camp in 1966.

The item I’m going to show this week lists Orr as number 27. If you haven’t already guessed what it is, it’s a program.

I won this from recently from Classic Auctions in Canada. Here is part of the description of it directly as it was listed.

“This rare four-page scorecard is from Bobby Orr’s second ever appearance in Boston as a Bruin, from a pre-season game against the Montreal Canadiens on October 16, 1966. Orr is listed in the program as #27, with veteran Al Langlois, soon to be cut, wearing the number 4 that Mr. Orr would soon make famous. Also included is a ticket from the game (how many of those could have survived!). Imagine – most fans at this game were seeing for the first time on ice perhaps the greatest player in NHL history.”

Pre-season programs from Orr’s rookie season are tough to find. I’m lucky enough to also own another one.

Here’s what the inside of the program looks like.

The left hand side contains the Bruins home and road games for the 1966-67 season.

As you can see, Orr is listed as number 27, which makes this program really special. Also pretty cool to me is that the Bruins were playing their long time rivals and defending Stanley Cup Champions Montreal Canadiens.

Lastly, here is the ticket stub to the game (which the Bruins won incidentally 3 – 0).

Needless to say, I can’t imagine that this program is seen too often. Having the ticket stub to go along with it is just gravy on top as far as I’m concerned. If you ever come across it, expect to shell out a few bucks. While it only cost 15 cents in 1966, I would put a value on it of between $400 – $600. Thankfully, I was able to outbid three others to win this program at a reasonable price less than what I think the value actually is.

That’s my Bobby Orr item for this week. See you again next Sunday with more vintage Orr memorabilia.