That one-of-a-kind 1979-80 O-Pee-Chee Hockey card case sold to a buyer who ultimately didn’t pay was resold Thursday night for $2,520,000–$1.2 million less than what Canadian real estate agent Jack Arshawsky had committed to pay last February before backing out.
The case of 16 boxes caused a stir last winter when it was revealed to have come out of a longtime collection in Saskatchewan that also included other vintage material purchased at the time of issue.
Heritage Auctions went to great pains to get the case across the border and have it authenticated. Arshawsky won a late night bidding war for the case.
The deal began to unravel when Arshawsky said he was looking to find a buyer to take the case off his hands and hadn’t paid for it. That didn’t happen and after storing the case in a vault, Heritage ultimately decided to move on and list it again in its Winter Sports Catalog Auction, the first segment of which ended Thursday night
At the time of issue, 1979-80 OPC packs cost 20 cents Canadian.
The case of 768 packs likely contains at least two dozen Wayne Gretzky rookie cards. High-grade examples of the card can sell for big bucks, but the set is plagued with centering and other issues that has resulted in a very low population of high-grade examples.
The sealed boxes were.removed from the case, authenticated and wrapped by BBCE prior to the original auction early this year.
It’s unlikely the new buyer, would open them, however. That person’s identity wasn’t immediately revealed.
No other cases of 1979-80 OPC hockey have been revealed in the eight months since the original auction, despite tremendous publicity in Canada and the United States.
Despite the drop in final sales price, the case is still the most expensive unopened sports card item ever sold.
Other lots that sold in the first segment of the auction Thursday night included:
- 1916 M101-5 Blank Back Sporting News Babe Ruth rookie card SGC EX 5 $552,000
- 1915 Cracker Jack Shoeless Joe Jackson SGC Mint 9 $504,000
- 1949 Bowman Jackie Robinson PSA Mint 9 $432,000
- 1952 Topps Mickey Mantle PSA NM+ 7.5 $432,000
