In the days before the hobby boomed, there were plenty of hockey players who made it into just a single card set. More often than not, their names are often lost to history and modern collectors simply grab their vintage cardboard in order to fill a set without considering how they ended up with their pictures wrapped up in wax paper along with a slab of gum. Fred Sasakamoose … [Read more...]
1973-74 Topps Hockey Set Loaded With Hall Of Famers
The 1973-74 hockey season marked a changing of the guard in the NHL. The Philadelphia Flyers became the first team from the 1967 expansion class to win the Stanley Cup, stopping Boston in six games. Topps was also undergoing some changes in its hockey product, most notably expanding its set by 22 to an all-time high of 198 cards. That’s a good thing. Not only did a larger … [Read more...]
1962-63 Topps Hockey Tough To Find In High Grade
Hockey was a quirky product for Topps, ever since it debuted its first set for the 1954-55 season. But by the time the 1962-63 set was released, a pattern had emerged. Topps only had rights to produce teams from the United States, since Parkhurst held rights for the Montreal Canadiens and Toronto Maple Leafs. For the 1960-61 set, Topps lost the Detroit Red Wings to … [Read more...]
1989-90 O-Pee-Chee: Prelude to the Boom
For hockey card collectors, the 1989-90 O-Pee-Chee release was the end of the innocence as it marked the end of a 25-year stranglehold on the market. Less than a year later, there would be three more manufacturers entering the fray and the hobby boomed to a level previously unheard of. After four straight years of sets consisting of 264 cards, O-Pee-Chee decided to balloon … [Read more...]
Bad Rap? 1977-78 O-Pee-Chee Hockey Set Does Have Merit
The 1977-78 O-Pee-Chee set has a bit of a bad reputation with collectors thanks to a lack of big rookie cards and a somewhat unimaginative design. For decades, it has been relatively ignored and the reasons for that are certainly fair from an investment standpoint. For those that have come to love it, though, 1977-78 O-Pee-Chee can have some hidden beauty which perhaps … [Read more...]
Swamped: Collecting the 1982-83 New Jersey Devils
It was a big deal when 1982-83 as O-Pee-Chee featured players from the first New Jersey Devils squad in its annual hockey card set, but the franchise's roots were quite humble. The Devils had spent the last few seasons as the Colorado Rockies---known as one of hockey's hard-luck teams. It was the third move in less than ten years for the franchise that had started life … [Read more...]
5 Bargain Classic O-Pee-Chee Stanley Cup Final Cards
In the classic era of O-Pee-Chee hockey cards that ran from 1968-69 until 1992-93, the game's annual showdown for the Stanley Cup was only rarely given proper tribute on cardboard. Since O-Pee-Chee was often at the mercy of producers at Topps for card designs and the majority of their set content during this era, Canadian kids rarely got a rundown of the previous year's … [Read more...]
Don Lever’s Rookie Card – A Hobby Anomaly
Completing the 1972-73 O-Pee-Chee set is a monumental task for even the most savvy and patient of hockey card collectors. The first two series, comprising #1-209, is the easy part - even with cards of the day's biggest stars. Where the real challenge comes in is with the much scarcer third series and there is one card in it that has been quietly selling well above most … [Read more...]
1967-68 Topps Hockey Set Kept to Original 6
Expansion came to the National Hockey League in 1967--and in a big way. The league doubled in size from the longstanding "Original Six" franchises to a 12-team league that was now coast-to-coast. The move came too late to be reflected in the nickel wax packs of cards that arrived on candy counters that season. The 1967-68 Topps hockey checklist included only … [Read more...]
New Book: The O-Pee-Chee Hockey Card Story
Collectors who appreciate learning about the history of trading card companies and their products have a new book to consider. The O-Pee-Chee Hockey Card story offers 116 pages of information and background on the London, Ontario-based company that was a part of every Canadian kid’s childhood for many years, producing hockey and baseball gum cards. The book’s author … [Read more...]