Hockey card collection turns into $50K ‘buried treasure’ for Windsor, Ont. man

The auctioning of several collectible hockey cards turned out to be “buried treasure” for an Ontario man who sold the cards for more than $50,000.

Organized by Miller & Miller Auctions Ltd. in New Hamburg, Ont., the set of cards was part of a much wider auction on Sunday of sports memorabilia from collections in Canada and the U.S.

But Ben Pernfuss, the auction house’s consignment director for sports, said the collection of hockey cards was a highlight.

He said this was, in part, due to the inclusion of the 51 1924-25 Champ’s Cigarettes hockey series cards.

“It was in one family for a hundred years,” Pernfuss told Global News in an interview on Monday.

According to Pernfuss, Windsor, Ont., man Donald Badder originally found the cards in his father’s cigar box in 1988 and asked if he could have them.

“That was a good move because they sold for over $50,000 in this sale combined,” Pernfuss said. “It was quite a find, and from 1988 until now, they were stored in a safety deposit box and he wanted to wait until the 100-year anniversary before letting them go.”

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Among the cards was one showcasing the Stanley Cup itself, which Pernfuss said was “the most valuable.”

“Card companies have been coming out with different Stanley Cup cards ever since 1924, but this was the first one,” Pernfuss said.

The Stanley Cup card sold for $27,000, well above the estimated $8,000 to $12,000 expected.

The second highest-selling card in the collection was one of Hockey Hall of Famer Hap Day, who played for both the Toronto Maple Leafs and New York Americans. The card sold for $18,000.

Badder’s father originally got the cards during a trade with a friend for the bird variation of the Champs cigarette cards, Pernfuss said. But unlike the hockey cards, the bird cards would likely trade in 2026 for about $5 per card.

“This is one of those moments that you kind of dream of, and it does feel like a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity to handle these cards and be a part of selling them,” Pernfuss said. “It’s a real-life treasure hunt out there, and this is one of those times where it seems like we found a buried treasure.”