MONTREAL - The world's oldest ice hockey stick, a hickory shaft carved in the 1850s, sold for 1.9 million dollars US (2.2 million Canadian) here and will be displayed at the Hockey Hall of Fame.

An anonymous Canadian man made the winning bid in an internet auction purchase, according to 45-year-old seller Gord Sharpe, an Ontario man who has owned the family heirloom since he was nine.

David Romeo, chief executive of selling agency Auction Wire, said the stick is among the most important items in hockey.

"The buyer was a private individual, a Canadian, who wants to remain anonymous. He told us that he plans to have the stick over at Hockey Hall of Fame and to keep it there until he decides what he's going to do," Romeo said.

"For now he wants to keep it in Canada."