At long last - Maurice Richard Auto

There are somethings I think all serious collections need and in my case it was a Maurice Richard auto. I also plan on getting his rookie someday as part of my Parkhurst Project, but in the meantime his autos are a bit more affordable than his rookies. With that being said, because he is now playing hockey at the big rink in the sky, his autograph days are pretty much numbered and unless there is a sheet of his autographed stickers out there, no new cards will be out there. (it freaks me out that Bob Probert autos are still being released thanks to sticker technology)

His autographs do demand a pretty steep premium and are often in the 75-300 dollar range depending on the release. Signature rookies had a few releases with his autograph on them which are on the lower end of the range and I was lucky enough to trade a few items in and land this gem. 

I was actually after an auto for quite a while and a blogger out there was nice enough to offer me an uncertified one for a very fair price. However, I had a lot of bills at the time and didn't end up pulling the trigger and then a few months later I found this at the LCS and was able to trade some extra unwanted cards for this beauty.

1995 Signature Rookies Championship Series Maurice Richard Auto /1500

Those quick goal-scorer hands did get a little shaky as Maurice got older, but still a beautiful signature and much nicer than most kids are firing off day in the NHL. 1500 isn't exactly an exclusive release and Signature rookies isn't exactly the gold standard in cards but I feel this card has lots of the good elements I look for in an auto. 

Much like the front, here is a Maurice photo later in his career with an airbrushed jersey because of no NHL license. There is a hologram on the back for authenticity purposes but no "congratulations" write up which I also like. I would be curious to have seen what the Rocket would have done with a FULL modern NHL season in 44-45 when he scored 50 in 50. Could he have hit 80 goals that season?

Very happy to have added this one to my collection! It crosses off one of the greatest NHL players off my to-do list while costing me nothing out of pocket and I will try and do that whenever I can!