Sask. man says massive sports memorabilia collection stolen from locked storage unit

Thousands of items in an extensive sports memorabilia collection have been stolen from a storage unit in northern Saskatchewan, according to the collection's owner. 

Aron Gratias said he had been storing his collection in a 40-foot locked storage container near Shellbrook while he relocated to Emma Lake.

The memorabilia included a Wayne Gretzky rookie card along with signed, authenticated hockey jerseys. 

Gratias said the collection — focused almost entirely on Gretzky memorabilia — included thousands of hockey cards along with pictures, game tickets and hockey sticks, some signed by the Great One.

"My biggest fear is that it's going to end up in a trash can or a dumpster or a landfill somewhere." Gratias said. 

When Gratias's father-in-law went to check on the farm over the weekend, he noticed that the locks were broken on one of the storage units and the door was open.

Gratias, who was away working, asked his wife Tera to check and see what might be missing. 

"When she got there, she knew right away what they were after. Everything, every piece of the collection was gone," he said, adding that the thieves bypassed other, valuable household goods in favour of the sports memorabilia.

The couple reported the theft to local RCMP, which opened a file on the case Gratias said.

The RCMP did not respond to requests for an interview.

"Lots of people have asked me what I thought my collection was worth. To me it was priceless," Gratias said.

"A lot of these items won't ever be able to be replaced."

Jack Jensen, owner of West Edmonton Coin and Stamp, specializes in selling sports memorabilia.

He said a signed, authenticated Wayne Gretzky hockey jersey could sell for $2,000 and a stick could go for $1,000 to $2,000.

"Some of them