“The Great One” Wayne Gretzky – from the Nathan Collection

 I have finally finished the homework on this Wayne Gretzky jersey after about 2 years.  I have concluded that, in fact it was worn by Gretzky during the 1981-82 season.  This is the second round of authenticating it as I owned it back in 1986 as well. 

The Wayne Gretzky #99 Sandow mesh, white home Edmonton Oilers jersey from the Tom Nathan collection, is to the best of my knowledge and 40+ years of experience as an authenticator, a game worn Wayne Gretzky jersey.

Speaking of Tom Nathan, he passed away in 2023 and had been a dear friend to me for 40 years, which now I am working with his family to sell his collection, which you will find all over this website.

The jersey Nathan Gretzky was purchased from a team official by me back in 1986, I then sold it to Tom Nathan the same year and he has had it ever since.

The jersey shows game use and has not been washed very often as it’s dirty in some places, which is common for the Oilers and his jerseys as well. His last game jersey that was sold by a auction house showed the general filth on the jersey and it matches Nathans

Below you can download a LOA and get some more detailed information about the jersey, my photomatches are on it. My matches are of things about the jersey and not black marks , but characteristics of the jersey itself. There has not been a third party photo match as of yet. We know that everything a player wears might not have been photographed.

Speaking of matches there has not been a 3rd party company to match it as of this time, two have tried. I have found that there may be reasons for this as some of the companies policy get in the way, it might be that a company doesn’t have the rights to the photograph so they don’t tell you it exists, and some companies use individuals with no jersey or hockey experience to try and find a match, to name a few, along with the fact that every jersey is not going to be photographed for every player, especially when this jersey was worn.

Not having a match doesn’t make the jersey any less authentic, again I found no reason why this jersey wasn’t worn by Gretzky when I say it was.

Remember the jersey speaks for itself and not hearsay or wives tales are telling you its game worn, the jersey is along with my 40+ years of experience.

Download the LOA