Once there was a fixed cost for obtaining the Stanley Cup.
In 1892, the trophy had a reported face value of 10 guineas, which translated to about $50 at the time.
That's the price Sir Frederick Arthur Stanley, Lord Stanley of Preston and son of the 14th Earl of Derby, paid for the original bowl-shaped trophy, which he planned to present to the "the champion hockey team in the Dominion of Canada." It was to be a reminder of his time as Canada's governor general.
Today the Stanley Cup, which turns 125 years old on Saturday, is considered priceless; its value is not measured through traditional currency units, but rather through the sacrifices of an ever-growing yet still exclusive fraternity of players who have claimed it.
As recent commercials have romanticized, the Stanley Cup, in its various shapes and sizes, is almost mystical in its aura. It brings smiles to the most stoic of men, tears to the sternest and renders mute even the most talkative.
