A game-issued hockey stick owned and signed by Toronto Maple Leafs legend Bill Barilko has sold for $60,000 at auction.

Miller and Miller Auctions, based out of New Hamburg, Ont., sold the “game-issued” wooden stick from the 1950-51 season on Sunday.

The auction house had put an estimate of between $3,000 and $5,000 on the stick, but Benjamin Pernfuss, consignment director in the sports category at Miller and Miller, said before the auction that the item was so rare, it was unclear how much it could go for.

“There’s not a lot of his memorabilia out there, and the stick was owned by Barilko and signed by him as well. So it’s a significant piece and a rare item in hockey history,” Pernfuss said before the auction.

On Monday, Pernfuss said seeing the stick go for $60,000 “just shows the significance of owning a piece of Toronto Maple Leafs history.”

“Bill Barilko is one of those names that sort of stands alone on the top of Toronto Maple Leafs history and history of hockey in Canada,” Pernfuss said.

Pernfuss was not able to share who bought the stick or where it’s going next.

Barilko, born in Timmins, Ont., played 252 games in the NHL, spending his five seasons with Toronto. The defenceman’s aggression on the ice earned him the nickname Bashin’ Bill.

For many, his Game 5 goal against the Montreal Canadiens on April 21, 1951, is one of hockey’s most celebrated. It helped captured the Maple Leafs’ fourth Cup in five years.

But it was also Barilko’s last goal.

In August the same year, he was on a fishing trip to James Bay when the plane he was in went down. The Leafs didn’t win another Cup until 1962. Six weeks later, the crash site and Barilko’s body were located.

His story inspired the Tragically Hip song Fifty-Mission Cap.

This photo from the Miller and Miller Auctions website shows Barilko on the ice and the details on the stick, including that it was stamped with the number five, which was Barilko's number in the 1950-51 season.

This photo from the Miller and Miller Auctions website shows Barilko on the ice and the details on the stick, including that it was stamped with the number five, which was Barilko’s number in the 1950-51 season. (Miller and Miller Auctions)

Stick appeared to have been used

The stick is taped for game use in a way that matches Barilko’s style, and puck marks and wear in the lower hand-grip area indicate the stick was likely used in a game, although Miller and Miller Auctions is unable to confirm that.

The stick was stamped “5” near the top, which indicated it was issued to Barilko as it was his number that season, the auction house says.

It’s stamped with the name Love & Bennett, which at the time supplied hockey sticks to the Maple Leafs.

LISTEN | Listen to the radio call from 1951 when Bill Barilko won the Leafs the Cup:

The stick was purportedly a gift to the owner of a northern Ontario cottage who hosted Leaf players in the off-season after their Stanley Cup win, Miller and Miller Auctions said on its website.

Pernfuss said the stick includes other “identifiable” signatures, including: Turk Broda, Ted Kennedy, Joe Klukay, Cal Gardner, Fleming Mackell, Ray Timgren, Howie Meeker, Harry Watson, Bill Juzda, Sid Smith, Max Bentley, Al Rollins and Tod Sloan, who were all on the 1951 team.