Historical Hockey and Sports Memorabilia Auction June 2023
This lot is closed for bidding. Bidding ended on 6/27/2023
A pair of classic late-1970s hockey offerings released by Canadian card company O-Pee-Chee, offered here is this lot consisting of a complete set of 1979-80 O-Pee-Chee as well as a near-complete assembly of their 1978-79 release as well. Housed comfortably in plastic nine slot binder pages, the 1979-80 contingent, featuring the iconic blue borders over the front and skate design on the reverse that the set is known for, is headlined by a freshly graded copy of Wayne Gretzky’s RC, the key card and most valuable one in the checklist of 396. Pictured over the front with his iconic Titan brand stick in hand, this copy of Wayne’s first-year cardboard has been assessed a mark of EX-MT 6 by the graders and displays with pleasing centering, vivid colours relative sharp corners and clean surfaces while not being able to avoid the rough cut edges that O-Pee-Chee releases are known for. For the rest of the cards, including the key cards of 1-Goal Leaders, 150-Howe, 185-Hull, 200-Lafleur, 230-Bossy, all are in the grade ranges of G to VG up to VG-EX to EX in our opinions after inspection with all of the notables on the higher end of that scale except for the Hull. For the checklists of the new teams, #’s 81-Winnipeg, 82-Edmonton and 163-Hartford, all are unmarked with the examples of Winnipeg and Hartford closer to the VG-EX to EX end of the scale listed above while the Edmonton checklist falls closer to the G to VG end of the spectrum. Lastly, all three main series checklist cards are unmarked and around the scope of VG to VG-EX while a couple of the team checklists are all unmarked except for Buffalo and Detroit which are both partially marked.
For the 1978-79 set, including 394 of the 396 cards that are found in the checklist, the group is missing cards #115 and #300, the key cards of Mike Bossy’s RC and Bobby Orr respectively. A mostly low-grade offering, most of the set’s notable and key cards have damage or creases or rounded corners and the set isn't as nice as the 1979-80 set listed above. For the checklist cards, #’s 24, 259 and 297, the middle of the three is partially marked while the other two are in the grade scopes of VG and EX to EX-MT respectively. The team checklists are all in a grade range consistent with the rest of the set with a couple of better examples present while the example of the St. Louis Blues has been partially marked.
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