Dispute Brews over Rights to World's Oldest Hockey Stick

The Moffatt Stick is nearly two centuries old and could be worth as much as $2 million. Now its old owner wants a piece of the action.

The world's oldest hockey stick is up for sale, but a previous owner of the nearly 200-year-old piece of maple says he deserves a piece of the spoils. George Ferneough had the so-called "Moffatt stick" his Cape Breton barber shop until three years ago, when Mark Presley, a collector, bought it from him for $1,000. Ferneough had received the stick from the great-great-grandson of Willie Moffatt, a Nova Scotia man whose initials are engraved into the piece of maple. Presley wants to sell the stick, as it's believed it could fetch as much as $2 million, but Ferneough believes he deserves a finder's fee for selling it to Presley in the first place. Presley has yet to say if he'll give Ferneough any of his loot, and while we suppose it's his prerogative to do with the money as he sees fit, let us be the first to suggest that the two slug it out on a shinny pond to decide who gets the spoils. That, or just give the old man $20,000. Come on.