Now Up for Bids: A Bunch of Rare NHL Style Guides

Hello! After several weeks of selling of my old MLB and NFL style guides, this week we’re moving to the ice, with a selection of NHL guides. I’m selling these via silent auction, with a minimum bid for each item. (I’ll explain the bidding process at the end of the post.)

Here are the details and particulars for the two lots that are up for bids this week:

1. Set of Four NHL Style Guides: 1999-2000, 2000-01, 2001-02, and 2003-04

When I started doing Uni Watch in 1999, the NHL provided me with their then-current style guide. They continued to send me subsequent guides for the next three seasons.

The guides all measure 8-1/2 by 11 inches. The 1999-2000 edition has holes so it can be kept in a three-ring binder; the others do not. Here are the back cover designs:

These NHL guides are less detailed and elaborate than their MLB and NFL counterparts. Each team gets one page, which shows the club’s logos, front-view jersey designs, and shoulder patches. Here, for example, are the pages for all 30 then-current teams in the 2003-04 guide:

This same basic format is used in the other three guides.

Imperfections

These guides are in excellent shape (especially 2001-02 and 2002-03, which are absolutely like new), but there are some minor flaws, as follows:

• The 1999-2000 front cover has a few scuff marks, along with some minor creasing in the lower-left corner:

• Similarly, the 2000-01 cover also has minor scuffing and creasing on both the front and the back:

That’s it — the bindings are tight and the interior pages are pristine.

I’m selling all four of these as a single lot.

Minimum bid: $200 for the set of four

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2. Los Angeles Kings 2008 Brand Guide and Accompanying CD-ROMs

This guide was prepared to accompany a new marketing campaign that the Kings undertook in 2008, about half a year after former player Luc Robitaille was named the team’s President of Business Operations (the first page is a welcome note from him). It’s housed in a three-ring binder that measures 7-1/2 by 11-5/8 inches. Here are the spine and the back cover:

As you can see, the binder cover is in rough shape. That’s because I left it out on a table one night and Uni Watch boy mascot Waffles decided to use it as a scratching pad. Bad kitty!

Fortunately, the interior is in pristine shape, and the production values are excellent: The pages are coated cardstock, and are arranged in four tabbed sections: “Brand Foundation,” “Brand Platforms,” “Brand Elements” (the most interesting section, as it includes information on team logos, uniforms, colors, fonts, stationery, and even phone etiquette!),  and “Campaign Style Guide.” Here are some representative pages from each section:

At the back of the guide is a sleeve that contains four CD-ROMs. Each one is marked “Style Guide in PDF Format; Team Marks in .JPG and .EPS Formats”:

I no longer have a CD drive, so it’s not clear to me if the four CDs are identical or if the files are spread out across the four discs (or if the discs even work anymore).

Imperfections

As noted above, the cover has been Waffles-ized. Also, some of the pages have faint edge yellowing. Aside from that, the interior pages are absolutely mint. Obviously, the cover situation is unfortunate, but this is still a unique collector’s item for Kings fans!

Minimum bid: $75

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So those are this week’s items. Here’s how this will work:

• If you want to bid on one or more of these items, email your bid(s) to me by 5pm Eastern this Friday, May 16. Be sure your bid at least matches the minimum amount set for that item.
• If you submit a bid and then decide before the deadline that you want to increase it, that’s fine. Just email me with the revised bid amount.
• High bid wins (duh). In the event of a tie, I will offer the tied bidders the chance to increase their bids. If they both decline that option, I’ll flip a coin to determine the winner.
• I will contact the winning bidders to arrange payment and shipping. If a winning bidder does not follow through with payment, I will contact the next-highest bidder.
• I will provide free domestic shipping. If a winning bidder is not from the U.S., then they’ll have to cover the shipping costs.
• I’ve been careful over the years not to mark or deface these guides in any way. But if a winning bidder wants me to sign a guide on the cover or title page, I’m happy to do that.
• If you want any additional photos or information about an item before bidding on it, or if you have any other questions about all of this, feel free to contact me and I’ll respond as quickly as I’m able.
• Items that do not receive any bids will be put up for auction on eBay at a later date.

Looking back: Last week’s NFL guides did not receive any bids. That’s understandable, because the minimum bids I set were fairly pricey. I’ll put those guides aside for now and list them on eBay later on.

Looking ahead: Next week we’ll move to the NBA.

That’s it. Thanks for your consideration, and happy bidding!