With NHL training camps less than three weeks away and the first hockey card set of the new season already on the market, it’s not a bad time for a new hockey card book. Brothers Darril and George Fosty fill the bill with their newly released Collectors Guide to O-Pee-Chee Hockey Cards, 1933 to 1995.
The duo’s 500+ page book chronicles the history of the Canadian company’s hockey sets and the sport itself.
There’s also a fair bit of hobby history, too. In 1987, the brothers opened a card business in British Columbia, shutting it down just before the hobby’s big boom a couple of years later. They chronicle what was happening at the time, discuss the infamous Canadian Postal Strike that impacted the hobby and take readers on a 62-year ride through the history of London, Ontario-based O-Pee-Chee, hockey card collecting and the NHL.
The O-Pee-Chee Gum Company was formed in 1911 in London, Ontario, Canada. Between 1933 and 1995, the company produced hockey cards distributed almost exclusively throughout Canada. Changes in sports card licensing, along with the sports card crash of the 1990s, resulted in the company’s bankruptcy in 1995.
The book covers O-Pee-Chee’s first card sets in the 1930s through the expansion era and into its final years as an individual entity.
The "Golden Age" of hockey cards.
From the new book "Collectors Guide to O-Pee-Chee Hockey, 1933-1995" #hockey #nhl #cards #hockeycards #baseball #topps #collectable #books #Canada #history #football #basketball pic.twitter.com/0IWbc7JUhR
— Darril Fosty (@SPECTREonX) August 30, 2024
Although there is some pricing in the book, Darril Fosty says “its primary purpose is to give collectors an amazing historical perspective into the world of professional ice hockey through the lens of card collecting specific to each hockey season and corresponding with each O-Pee-Chee set.”
The illustrated book is available via paperback and Kindle here.
Related Stories:
Dessert and Bubble Gum: Analyzing the 1968-69 Shirriff and O-Pee-Chee Hockey Sets
Hockey’s 10 Most Underrated Rookie Cards Of The 1980s
1978-79 O-Pee-Chee: Goodbye Bobby, Hello Mike
Stickers and More: The History of Early Hockey Inserts
Taking A Bow: 10 Key Final Cards of Hockey Legends
O-Pee-Chee Master Checklist Book Chronicles Canadian Cards
Galaxy Auction Offers Vintage Hockey, More in August Sale
Oh Boy, What a Find: 1949-50 Hockey Wrappers are Simple, But Rare
