Vintage Hockey Card Question - signed puck on 63-64 Parkhurst

**Geoff Noir** · 01-04-2023, 08:29 PM

Are there any Boss-level old-time hockey card gurus out there who might know the answer?

The 1963-64 Parkhurst set, their last before Topps took over, featured two series of Montreal Canadiens cards. Cards 21-40 were portrait-style shots, and 80-99 were the exact same players, this time with action-style photos with a signed puck on the bottom.

You might assume that the signature on the puck is the player's autograph. And you would be wrong. All 20 cards have the exact same signature.

To my eyes, it's indecipherable. Can anyone make it out? Doesn't appear to match any Canadiens player, manager, or executive.

And what's weirdest to me is that there's no mention of this anywhere. No card sites, no other forums I can find at least, no google search etc that contains any mention of this signature. It couldn't possibly be that in nearly sixty years since this set went out, nobody has noticed that the signature on the puck has no apparent connection to the player on the card?

Or it's something obvious that I'll feel stupid about when someone points it out.

For now, my hypothesis is that it's the artist's signature. They probably intended to use the players' autographs, the artist whipped up a draft version using their own signature as a 'dummy', they got the green light, but due to a production error, it went to press before they replaced the dummy signature.

Pictures attached:

Boom Boom Geoffrion, card #88, Parkhurst 1963-64
Same card, close-up of mystery signature on puck.

**ChuckNorrisFearsS** · 01-08-2023, 01:34 PM

GREAT question. Nice to see someone looking at vintage cards too. I'm doing the set myself and just chalked this up as a mystery so far but your hypothesis it pretty strong I'd think.

**Geoff Noir** · 01-20-2023, 03:39 PM

Thanks! I wonder if there's anyone still alive who worked at Parkhurst at the time and might know.

Originally Posted by ChuckNorrisFearsS View Post

GREAT question. Nice to see someone looking at vintage cards too. I'm doing the set myself and just chalked this up as a mystery so far but your hypothesis it pretty strong I'd think.

**piper1** · 01-20-2023, 05:02 PM

That is not artwork. Parkhurst used Black and White Photos and added the color to them. David Bier did all the Montreal Canadiens photography back then.

**Geoff Noir** · 01-25-2023, 01:11 PM

Originally Posted by piper1 View Post

That is not artwork. Parkhurst used Black and White Photos and added the color to them.

I know, yet there were live humans, presumably employed by Parkhurst, who created and executed the design of the cards, including adding the color to the original b/w photos. I wonder if any of them are still alive, and might be able to solve the mystery of that signature.

Originally Posted by piper1 View Post

David Bier did all the Montreal Canadiens photography back then.

Wait, could the first word in that signature be "Bier?" That's plausible, especially since the signature only appears on Canadiens cards. Thanks for the clue!