Wayne Gretzky rookie card sells for $3.75 million

[Strange Brew]

Originally Posted by Newton

I sold a Wayne Gretzky rookie card for $100 around 1985. At the time it was something like winning the lotto.

That's funny. I had someone offer me $300 for all my cards back in the 90's. And I decided not to pull the trigger. Wonder if whoever bought your card has taken good care of it?

Hopefully my son passes them on to his kids and then they'll really be worth something. Or people will have come to their senses and no longer pay big money for cardboard.

I will say I love the look of the old cards from the 70's. The posed shots etc. My son has three boards of old cards with players like Orr, Esposito, Lafleur on display in his room. There's not much $ value there but looks great.

[troutman]

Originally Posted by GordonBlue

I cry when I think of the value of cards I used in the late 70s early 80s in the spokes of my bike to make the "motorbike" sound

My cousin and I did terrible things to a Borje Salming card (we hated the Leafs). Among other things, we soaked it in a pail full of frogs - later we burned it.

[Flacker]

I vividly remember taking a Wayne Gretzky rookie card straight from the pack and proceeding to burn his face with a magnifying glass in the sun. My dislike for all things Oilers was spawned early. I'm sure some ended up in the spokes of my bike, or getting ruined by throwing them against the wall at school (to compete to win others cards, which completed destroyed them typically, SMRT)

Thankfully lots of Mario rookies survived, and I still have a mint one, but sold a few for a fraction of what they'd be worth today.

[MoneyGuy]

I wonder what my Norm Ullman rookie card is worth.

[Boreal]

I have a Kurri Rookie and Messier sophomore card that I bought at a Garage sale for $10 15 years ago.

I should see what they’re worth. My plan was to burn them when McDavid leaves, but maybe it would be better to exploit some moronic Oiler fan.

[Jiri Hrdina]

Originally Posted by blankall

This is on par with similar sales in other sports. A Lebron rookie just sold for $5.2 million.

By the time Lebron came along people knew to save their cards
How are more recent ones like this commanding such a price? What’s driving the scarcity?

[Locke]

Originally Posted by troutman

My cousin and I did terrible things to a Borje Salming card (we hated the Leafs). Among other things, we soaked it in a pail full of frogs - later we burned it.

What happened to the Frogs?? Inquiring minds must know!!

[tvp2003]

Originally Posted by Jiri Hrdina

By the time Lebron came along people knew to save their cards
How are more recent ones like this commanding such a price? What’s driving the scarcity?

It wasn't just a standard issue card -- it was an Exquisite Autographed Rookie Patch card, which is limited to 99 copies and was released in an ultra-ultra high end set (at the time).

Is it worth 7 figures? Not in my mind, but it wasn't just a card you pulled from a pack from the local grocery store.

[speede5]

Originally Posted by Jiri Hrdina

By the time Lebron came along people knew to save their cards
How are more recent ones like this commanding such a price? What’s driving the scarcity?

The scarcity is built in now, base set cards are worthless and ultra rare inserts are where the money is. Buying cards used to be about making a set, now the packs are like scratch and wins, you open them hoping to get a golden ticket.

The hobby has been ruined for most average collectors, imo.

[tvp2003]

Originally Posted by speede5

The scarcity is built in now, base set cards are worthless and ultra rare inserts are where the money is. Buying cards used to be about making a set, now the packs are like scratch and wins, you open them hoping to get a golden ticket.

The hobby has been ruined for most average collectors, imo.

Agreed about the "scratch and win" sentiment. It's too bad because collecting cards should be fun -- something kids can access and enjoy. Not just a chase driven by scarcity and money.

P.S. Ultra rare doesn't even have any real meaning IMO -- there are "1 of 1" cards out there (meaning it's the only version of that card that exists), but when there a couple hundred different "1 of 1" cards from each set, is it really all that rare?

That's also why I think grading is just way to manufacture scarcity; instead of there being 100,000 copies in the world, there are only a few dozen or a few hundred graded "PSA 10". Sure, a mint condition card will always be worth more than a near-mint condition card, but to grade modern cards that are mostly 9s and 10s to start with is just trying to boost the value even though its the same card.

I will say it's been interesting to see the whole economics of it though -- it's been supply and demand working overtime. In my younger days I'd probably be way more interested in the investment side of things, but not anymore...

[Robbob]

This reminds me that I should go through my cards. I know I have a Emmitt Smith rookie card. Have a bunch of upper deck baseball cards from around then as well.

[jlemire]

Before everyone goes running to their basements lets take a look! PSA has graded a total of 6,632 Gretzky OPC Rookie cards and a total of 2 have come back with the PSA 10 label! (which is the card that sold) from there the drop is substantial PSA 9's are fetching $200,000 and then 8's are doing $23,000 and so on.

[Psytic]

Think the best one I have is Cliff Ronning (99 cents according to ebay). I got the same bucket of crappy late mid 80s early 90s cards half the block had. I feel like some of the old McDonald's promo junk might be worth something though. I got the Jim Carrey fry container from Batman Forever and the one from the Jurassic Park Meal some where.

[Shazam]

Best I ever had was the C3PO penor card.

[tvp2003]

Not quite worth $3.75M, but I’m happy to share that I’m now the proud owner of a 1973 Carl Yastrzemski card “with the big sideburns”:



Now I just need a headless Omar Vizquel to complete the set...

[dustygoon]

I have his Opeechee card from his second season, but I drew devil horns and angry eyebrows when I was little to enhance its value.