The Staggering Value of the Stanley Cup

Tim Thomas holding the Stanley Cup

The Staggering Value of the Stanley Cup

March 19, 2018 4140 view(s)

With the National Hockey League (NHL) playoffs quickly approaching, we wanted to focus in on the top prize - The Stanley Cup. The Stanley Cup is the most coveted trophy in hockey, and one of the most recognizable trophies in all of sports. And every year, professional hockey teams across the United States and Canada will battle it out in hopes of winning this stunning prize and become a part of history.

And while many people know and love everything that the Stanley Cup represents, not many people know the history of the cup’s creation and how it got to where it is today. Along with that, even fewer people know that the Stanley Cup not only has an intrinsic value, but an inherent one as well. That’s right - even though the trophy is considered priceless, there is a definite value attached to it.

The cup stands at 35¼ inches tall and weighs around 34 pounds. And, surprisingly, the Stanley Cup is made out of 459 troy ounces of pure silver. The metal content alone gives the Stanley Cup a lot of value, but it’s rich history and appeal to hockey fans the world over make that value skyrocket.

Stanley Cup 1893


The History of the The Stanley Cup


THe history The Stanley Cup was named after the Lord Stanley of Preston, who was appointed as the Governor General of Canada in 1888 by Queen Victoria. Once he and his family moved to Canada, he developed a passion for ice hockey and grew to champion the sport. But, it was really his sons that took hockey from a popular hobby to a proper sport.

Lord Stanley’s sons were instrumental in the formation of the sport of hockey. For instance, they collectively created one of the first hockey teams in Canada, established the Ontario Hockey Association, and started ice hockey in Great Britain. But, even they made so much progress for ice hockey, they felt that there was still something missing. There still wasn’t one, singular trophy that symbolized the budding sport that was quickly gaining international popularity. That’s where the Lord Stanley makes history.

Lord Stanley gave them an elaborately decorative bowl . He bought it for around $50.00, which would equal around $1,300 in today’s society. He had the words "Dominion Hockey Challenge Cup" engraved on one side of the outside rim, and "From Stanley of Preston" on the other side. And, even though he made one of the most important investments into the sport, Stanley never actually saw a Stanley Cup championship game, and he never had the opportunity to present the cup to a winning team.

But even after Stanley’s tenure as General Governor of Canada ended, his influence over hockey and the Stanley Cup remained. One of Lord Stanley's original conditions of the trophy was that each team could add a ring to the cup to commemorate their victory, and that’s a tradition that has followed in varying degrees to the present day. If you look closely at the trophy, you can see much of the journey that the Stanley Cup, and ultimately, the sport of hockey, has been through since the 1800s.


The Price of Silver Today and In the Future


Based on the current spot price of silver (at the moment, it’s around $16.40), the Stanley Cup would set you back around $7,500. But, according to the United States Gold Bureau, 2018 could be looking bright for the price of silver.

Stanley Cup

Silver has always been considered an interesting market to follow. It’s a smaller market compared to the vast gold market, and the smaller size of the silver market makes it more prone to manipulation. Along with that, the silver market can often inversely to the gold market. Meaning that if the price of gold soars, it’s likely that the price of silver will drop and vice versa.

2018 could mark a large rise in the price of silver. In their blog post, Precious Metals Price Predictions for 2018, the United States Gold Bureau proposed that the price of silver would sit “at between $20 and $21 on [their] most likely forecast level for gold and as high as $24-$25 should the price of gold hit [their] high level forecast.”

This means that silver prices are projected to creep up in the coming months, which could cause a boom in the silver market. The last time there was a boom in silver prices was in 2010 and 2011, when silver was $31 and $48 an ounce respectively. For perspective, the Stanley Cup was valued at $14,132.99 in 2010 and a whopping $20,885.19 in 2011!


The Value of the Stanley Cup


If the Stanley Cup was ever put up for sell just for its value in silver, But, the Stanley Cup’s value doesn’t just equal out to the sum of its parts. Along with its price in physical silver, the cup has an intrinsic value that can’t be measured. People spend their entire lives watching teams win the cup or even win the championship themselves. And that’s exactly why the value of the Stanley Cup is staggering.

Every year, the Stanley Cup stands proudly at the end of the line of the many hockey teams that compete for a chance to win it. And every year, you can watch history happen. Be sure to tune into the NHL Championship Playoffs, starting on early April, and cheer on your favorite team to victory and the Stanley Cup!