The Case of the Resold OPC Case

Just imagine owning an O-Pee-Chee Wayne Gretzky rookie card, pack fresh and with four sharp corners. Now imagine owning 24 of them.

For one recent auction winner, that dream could become a reality. On December 5, Heritage Auctions sold a full case of 1979-80 O-Pee-Chee hockey cards for $2.52 million USD. A case has 16 boxes. A box has 48 packs. Each pack has 14 cards. If the entire case is opened, it could have anywhere from 24 to 28 Gretzky rookie cards inside. 

If this story sounds oddly familiar to you, it is because the exact same case of OPC cards was sold in February 2024 for $3.72 million – also by Heritage Auctions. We even talked about it in Episode #181 of the Puck Junk Podcast

But the winning bidder – probably feeling a giant case (pun intended!) of buyer’s remorse – did not pay and tried to get someone else to take it off his hands. He reached out to rapper and avid card collector Drake, Edmonton Oilers owner Daryl Katz, and even Gretzky himself. 

Ultimately, Heritage banned the bidder from participating in future auctions and put the case back up for bid. 

“When we put the case up for auction in February, our estimate was $2 million-plus,” says Chris Ivy, Director of Sports Auctions at Heritage. “We set a world record of $2.52 million. The first result [of $3.72 million] was pushed to a level by someone who didn’t have the ability to pay for it. So, that’s not a true result. This is the true result of what the market value is. We are very pleased, as is the consigner and their family.” 

Up until then, the most-expensive sealed case of sports cards ever sold was a case of 1986-87 Fleer Basketball that was sold for $1,789,717 in August of 2020. That set is famous for having Michael Jordan’s rookie card. 

To date, no other intact case of 1979-80 OPC hockey cards is known to exist. Likewise, it is not known if the new buyer will open the case to search for Gretzky rookie cards, or leave it sealed.

Note: This article is an updated version of an editorial that originally appeared in Volume 2 – Issue 50 of the Puck Junk Newsletter. For stories like these, plus news and updates about hockey cards and collectibles, subscribe to the newsletter here.

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Author: Sal Barry

Sal Barry is the editor and webmaster of Puck Junk. He is a freelance hockey writer, college professor and terrible hockey player. Follow him on Twitter @puckjunk View all posts by Sal Barry