(Courtesy of … 1. 1 priority back then.”. Richard Montañez has for years told a story of how he dreamed up Flamin’ Hot Cheetos while working as a Frito-Lay janitor. An industry boom that has occurred during the pandemic played a role as well. Get TMZ breaking news sent right to your browser! When people talk about the greatest athletes in sports, you often hear names like Babe Ruth, Muhammad Ali and Michael Jordan, but one could make a great argument that none of them dominated their sport the way Wayne Gretzky dominated hockey. Unclear who the buyer is ... but it's the latest example of the ridiculous boom in the card industry -- in the last few months, cards from all sports have gone for INSANE prices. At the old O-Pee-Chee’s bubblegum and trading card factory in the Canadian city of London, Ontario, the month of December was most employees’ favorite time of the year. Not even a special limited edition 1997 Michael Jordan card — a “holy grail card,” Ivy said, of which only 10 were made — cracked the million-dollar mark at Heritage’s auction this week. A rising rapper, an ill-fated Instagram post and a killing in the Hollywood Hills. 1990 Topps Team Scoring Leaders Tiffany #12 Wayne Gretzky: $1.77: 1990 Topps Tiffany #3 Wayne Gretzky: $9.79: 1990 Topps Tiffany #120 Wayne Gretzky: $24.19 The Kings reportedly are one of the teams interested in hosting outdoors games if fans could attend. In August 2016 the same card sold for a then-record of $465,000. Wayne Gretzky is still making history decades after his retirement. Wayne Gretzky has two official rookie cards - the 1979-1980 Topps #18 and 1979-1980 O-Pee-Cee (OPC) #18 cards. A 1979-80 O-Pee-Chee Wayne Gretzky Rookie Card sold for $1.29 million ($1.075 million before the buyer’s premium was added) in the first part of … Only 1 left in stock - order soon. You're looking at the most expensive hockey card that's EVER lived ... 'cause this Wayne Gretzky rookie from 1979 just fetched $1.29 MILLION at auction!!! A 1979 O-Pee-Chee rookie card of Gretzky with the Edmonton Oilers during the 1978-79 … Versions that are legitimately high-grade grab premiums. He believes it began partially as a reaction to the suspension of most sports in the U.S. and Canada, prompting fans to revisit nostalgic childhood habits such as card trading instead. (Reuters) - NHL superstar Wayne Gretzky added another record to his long resume on Friday when The Great One's collectable card from his rookie season fetched $1.29 million at auction, becoming the first hockey card to sell for more than $1 million. To that latter point, Ivy said sports memorabilia is increasingly viewed as an investment opportunity too. Wayne Gretzky's rookie trading card became the highest selling hockey card of all time when a mint condition version of his 1979 card fetched US$1.29 million in an online auction on Friday. “$1.2, 1.3 million is incredible. For example, the previous owner of the ’79 Gretzky card is an investor and entrepreneur by trade who bought it in 2016 for not even $500,000. 1979-80 Topps Hockey Complete 264 Card Set Wayne Gretzky Rookie Graded BGS 7 NRMT. Every card in the print run has one of these blemishes, so make sure you check for that first. Column: Ellen DeGeneres announced the end of her show. “A lot of people that were collecting as kids, going to shows when sports collecting was very popular in its heyday in the 1980s, those people are getting to points in their life where a lot of them are successful and have disposable income and are looking to diversify.”. The top Wayne Gretzky Rookie Cards #1 - The perfect 10. O-Pee-Chee Gretzky rookie had a few things that made the card very hard to find in good condition. The 1979 O-Pee-Chee Wayne Gretzky rookie card that sold for $1.29 million at auction last week. He also had 46 goals and 64 … The Topps version is the one distributed in the United States whereas OPC cards were distributed for sale throughout Canada. ALL RIGHTS RESERVED. © 2021 EHM PRODUCTIONS,INC. Top-Rated on eBay Pay attention, investors: you could’ve had an entire box of cards containing that Gretzky RC for 20 cents back in 1979. 1979-80 O-Pee-Chee OPC Card #18 WAYNE GRETZKY Rookie Card - KSA 4. Wayne Gretzky may have been an NHL rookie in 1979 but that was not his first season playing professional hockey. Ivy estimates that, even when they were brand new, only 10% of the O-Pee-Chee ’79 Gretzky cards would have qualified for “gem mint” status. Wayne Gretzky 1979 O-Pee-Chee rookie card. Kings among teams exploring the option. After that, they were packaged with a stick of bubblegum, loaded up on a delivery truck, and sold across the continent to wide-eyed kids and hard-core collectors alike. The value of these cards varies in price based on the condition of the card. Ivy explained several factors contributed to the staggering price tag, only the sixth known million-dollar sale of a sports card at auction. “It’s like an original Van Gogh or Banksy.”. What the talk show host said in Thursday’s exit interviews only prolonged the controversy around her, raising the question: What will she do next? Before becoming a staff writer with The Times, Harris interned at the paper. With the NHL making a number of changes in response to the COVID-19 pandemic, Kings coach Todd McLellan knows this season will be unlike any other. Here are 8 key lowrider moments in pop films and TV, according to Estevan Oriol. | Free shipping on many items! The archival record, former employees and Frito-Lay itself say otherwise. The man who didn’t invent Flamin’ Hot Cheetos. Then somehow, she made things worse. The clear winner of this not-so-prestigious title of second-most-seen fake card is the 1979-80 O-Pee-Chee Wayne Gretzky rookie. When word of the sale reached Ken McAvoy, a former O-Pee-Chee factory plant manager who spent 20 years with the company beginning in 1980, his jaw almost dropped. The 1979-80 O-Pee-Chee rookie card is Gretzky's TRUE rookie card. The death of Pop Smoke stunned the music world last year. And outside of perhaps Bobby Orr, Ivy isn’t sure many other hockey players’ trading cards could command close to seven digits. Nearly 4,000 of them have been graded by PSA over the years, but this is the only GEM MT 10. ‘The Great One’ as he is commonly referred is the NHL’s leading all time scorer, with more goals and assists than anyone in the history of the game. Wayne Gretzky rookie card is hockey’s other holy grail The 1979 O-Pee-Chee Wayne Gretzky rookie card that sold for $1.29 million at auction last week. The easily damaged blue borders and notoriously low tech cutting methods used by the company make this an extremely condition-sensitive card. FYI -- the price is WILD for a hockey piece ... no hockey card had ever even surpassed the $1 million mark!!! During most of the company’s history, that was when its eagerly anticipated packs of NHL player cards were manufactured — the crown jewel of its multi-sport product line. A look at the top 25 high school boys’ basketball teams in Southern California. Todd McLellan expecting the unexpected in his second season with Kings. And the best assets are those with the ever-valuable combination of recognition and rarity — the latter of which, in the case of the Gretzky card, has much to do with the original manufacturing process in the first place. This is one of the main marks to show that the card is authentic. New Listing 1979 Topps Hockey #18 Wayne Gretzky Oilers RC Rookie Card HOF PSA 4 Graded GOAT In 2011, the same card was sold for a little more than $94,000. A Wayne Gretzky 1979-80 O-Pee-Chee rookie card sold for a record price of $1.29M at auction Thursday night. First of all the cards normally were printed off-center. You will first notice that the original OPC Wayne Gretzky rookie has a yellow ink mark on his left shoulder. Only instead of starry nights or urban murals, it’s a fuzzy photo of a young Gretzky leaning on his stick that sent bidders into a frenzy this week. For the record, the Topps version also has a small yellow line in this area. The guys at HA say because of the way O-Pee-Chee (AKA the Canadian wing of Topps) cut the cards ... most of the Gretzky rookies produced over 40 years ago graded poorly. The Times’ boys’ basketball rankings: Sierra Canyon is No. From there, the sheets were fed by hand through two different industrial slicing machines in the basement of O-Pee-Chee’s old brick four-story factory, where sets of rotation knives sliced them first into rows, then into individual cutouts. “People were stuck at home and started getting back involved into their hobbies,” Ivy said. You Don't Like the Fam, Lose the Title!!! “The quality of the cards was, in my opinion, very good for what we were working with [at the time],” McAvoy said. At the time it was viewed as a common card in a fairly unremarkable set, and now, over forty years later, you could say it’s remarkable that so few exist in Mint grade. Notice I specified the O … Every weekend, caravans of lowriders and custom cars are cruising and hopping in a resurgent ritual. With L.A. in the yellow tier of COVID-19 reopening, restaurants are booming. As for why The Great One's RC did so well on the block ... for starters, he's the best player to ever lace up skates -- but, the story behind the card is the main reason. “But when it came to the production of these cards, quality was not the No. ALL RIGHTS RESERVED, Download the TMZ App on the Apple App Store, Download the TMZ App on the Google Play Store. Paul Pierce, Chris Bosh, Chris Webber among those selected for 2021 class for Basketball Hall of Fame. You're looking at the most expensive hockey card that's EVER lived... 'cause this Wayne Gretzky rookie from 1979 just fetched $1.29 MILLION at auction!!! “The fact that this one survived 40 years in gem mint condition,” Ivy said, “is a true condition rarity.”. Incredible, yes, but hardly surprising to those in the card trading business. Loaded with Stars Including Patrick Roy's Rookie Card, Mario Lemieux, Steve Yzerman, Wayne Gretzky, Ray Bourque, John Vanbiesbrouck, Mark Messier, Paul Coffey and Many Others. This card sold for an astounding $67,000 in 2005, and sets the new benchmark for Wayne Gretzky and other top graded cards that transcend sports. When it comes to sports cards, the 1979-80 Wayne Gretzky rookie card from O-Pee-Chee is one of the most revered and coveted. Of the hundreds of thousands of copies produced four decades earlier, it is one of only two to have received “gem mint” status from assessment firm Professional Sports Authenticator, the gold-standard condition in card trading. The reverse side of the 1979 O-Pee-Chee Wayne Gretzky rookie card. Yeah, time to call Mom and check that childhood closet ASAP!!! His work has been recognized by the Society of Professional Journalists and the Hearst Foundation. If you think that number sounds crazy, you’re not alone. NHL superstar Wayne Gretzky added another record to his long resume on Friday when The Great One's collectable card from his rookie season fetched $1.29 … Heritage Auctions says the card's perfect, Gem Mint 10 grade is so incredibly rare, there are only 2 with the rating in existence!! In 1979, the year Wayne Gretzky’s rookie card was manufactured, an entire box cost only 20 cents.On Thursday, a single copy of that very same Gretzky rookie card went to auction. This is the key rookie card of hockey's greatest player. Now, new details of the slaying and how detectives tracked his alleged killers have come to light. O-Pee-Chee reportedly used wire, not blade, to separate the cards ... and that created massive issues on corners that led to imperfect grades nearly across the board. A Wayne Gretzky rookie card, the O-Pee-Chee RC #18 (which we have featured previously on Gold Card Auctions), sold for $1.29 million. As good of a Gretzky rookie card as you will find, even with the OPC rough cut down the right side and a slight off centering to the left. Wayne Gretzky hasn’t played a professional game this century but he’s still finding ways to set new records. Get the best deal for Wayne Gretzky Rookie Ice Hockey Trading Cards from the largest online selection at eBay.com. | Browse our daily deals for even more savings! Once each player’s card was designed, films were used to print the image onto rectangular sheets of recycled cardboard large enough to fit 132 copies on each. This specific ’79 Gretzky rookie card is something of a unicorn within the industry. Outdoor NHL games? “People are starting to look at collectibles as more of an asset class,” said Ivy, whose auction house has repeatedly surpassed their projected sale prices all year, sometimes by almost twofold. 1979-80 O-Pee-Chee Wayne Gretzky Rookie Card- This is is one of the best Wayne Gretzky rookie cards. Hockey superstar Wayne Gretzky’s rookie card sold at auction Thursday for a record-breaking $1.29 million, becoming the most expensive hockey card ever sold, Forbes reported. Wayne was named to eight NHL All-Star First Teams and played in 18 NHL All-Star Games. Get the latest on L.A.'s teams in the daily Sports Report newsletter. Just incredible.”. Pre-Owned. 1986 / 1987 Topps Hockey Complete Near Mint Hand Collated 198 Card Set. High school boys’ and girls’ basketball: Saturday’s results, Basketball Hall of Fame 2021: Chris Bosh, Chris Webber, Paul Pierce among class. Jack Harris is a sports reporter at the Los Angeles Times. You may occasionally receive promotional content from the Los Angeles Times. “It’s the type of piece that doesn’t come up for auction very often,” said Chris Ivy, the director of sports at Dallas-based Heritage Auctions, which organized the bidding and sale of what is believed to be hockey’s first $1-million trading card. Statistics and Records of Wayne Gretzky, a hockey player and coach from Brantford, ONT born Jan 26 1961 who was active from 1975 to 1999. Wayne Gretzky finished his career with 894 regular season goals and 1,963 assists for 2,857 points in 1,487 games while posting a +518 plus/minus. Ivy said opinions as to why differ. Graded GEM MT 10 by PSA, this is the only known example of a perfect Gretzky rookie card. Somehow, though, this Gretzky card survived that process ... AND the ensuing 4 decades -- which made it the Holy Grail of hockey cardboard. The 59-year-old hockey legend’s rookie card was sold on Thursday for $1.29 million, which marked the … One of the most iconic hockey cards ever produced, Gretzky's most important rookie card is his 1979-80 O-Pee-Chee Hockey. “Nobody had it in the back of their minds these things were going to be worth a fortune,” McAvoy said during a Friday phone call, chuckling almost in disbelief. Others had fuzzy or discolored edges hardly distinguishable to the naked eye, but easily detected by expert collectors. In fact, Gretzky played in the rival World Hockey Association before he ever suited up in the NHL as he signed a seven-year contract with the Indianapolis Racers at just 17 years of age.. A Topps 1979 Gretzky rookie card using the identical picture and classified with the same “gem mint” designation also sold for $720,000 during the same Heritage auction. Its value begins with Gretzky himself, the former Kings and Edmonton Oilers star who won four Stanley Cups in what is considered the greatest NHL career of all time. The major differences between the Topps and OPC cards relates to the card stock used. The lowrider is back: The glorious return of cruising to the streets of L.A. Have you noticed? Joins Brooklyn March in Support of Palestinians, Hilariously Mocks Fauci Over Mask-Wearing, Gunning To Fight Jake Paul After Aaron Carter Bout, Famed Attorney Investigating Don Lewis' Disappearance, ©2021 EHM PRODUCTIONS,INC. Van Nuys Boulevard is one of the city’s oldest sites of this resilient SoCal obsession. The 1979-80 Topps (and corresponding O-Pee-Chee) Wayne Gretzky rookie card is one of the most iconic cards in the hobby. A Phoenix native, he has previously covered Arizona State athletics for 247Sports and has appeared in the Arizona Republic, Dallas Morning News and San Jose Mercury News. Join me as I go through my large collection of sports card collectibles and comic books. How hard would it be to pack a mint condition Wayne Gretzky rookie card? Many were printed off-center by a fraction of an inch. But now, in a world where trading cards that once came with candy are now bought and sold like mortgage-backed securities, quality is the only priority — the difference between a worthless old piece of cardboard and a million-dollar asset that will be transported via armed carrier to its newest buyer. “They’re hedging against inflation by buying hard assets.”. The Perfect Wayne Gretzky Rookie Card. Check out these outdoor dining options for sushi, ramen, tacos and more. 1979 O-Pee-Chee OPC Hockey #18 Wayne Gretzky RC Rookie HOF PSA 7 The process was largely manual. The final price make this the first hockey card to break the $1M price tag. The idea, however, remains a long-shot. “That was what they called the ‘O-Pee-Chee cut,’” McAvoy said, a result of card-making imperfections caused by dull knives, the lower-quality recycled cardboard and inevitable human error. . Surprisingly, card trading has exploded since the coronavirus halted much of society this spring, with prices at the top end of the market experiencing a particularly drastic spike. He may be The Great One, but Wayne Gretzky's rookie card brought in The Great Haul. “I think Gretzky is going to be safe as the record-holder for the highest-valued hockey card for a while,” Ivy said. Almost any unique Gretzky memorabilia can attract bidders on the open market (in 2015, for example, Heritage sold a youth tournament player certificate that Gretzky signed as a 13-year-old Peewee for more than $30,000). A Wayne Gretzky rookie card sold to a buyer for $1.29 million, making it the first hockey card in history to fetch more than $1 million. Cards # 1 - the 1979-1980 Topps # 18 cards “ but it. Rookie in 1979 but that was not his first season playing professional hockey may be Great. 'S most important rookie card is something of a perfect Gretzky rookie?... 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