Hockey: Gretzky rookie card brings record-breaking $1.29 million at auction
A mint condition 1979 O-PeeChee Wayne Gretzky rookie card became hockey’s first to cost more than $1 million (U.S.) when it fetched $1.29 million at auction.
“Gretzky is the greatest of all time,” said Chris Ivy of the Dallas-based Heritage Auctions, which handled the sale. “This is his rookie card, and then add onto all that it’s O-PeeChee, which is the Canadian version, and is highly sought after.”
The online auction house said the trading card is just one of two featuring No. 99 from OPee-Chee’s 1979 run to get a perfect “gem mint” score from the Professional Sports Authenticator grading service.
That’s out of the 5,711 Gretzky cards the PSA evaluated. By comparison, there are more than 300 Fleer Michael Jordan rookie cards with the same “gem mint” rating.
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. PSA has examined 6,048 Gretzky cards from that 1979 run, and again deemed only two worthy of its highest grade.
Ivy said although the Topps card is slightly more rare, OPee-Chee sits atop of the heap for collectors.
“O-Pee-Chee has always outperformed Topps in hockey simply because they’re the Canadian brand,” he said. “They’re the same cards, essentially, but hockey is the national sport of Canada.”
Gretzky retired from the NHL in 1999 with a record 894 goals, 1,963 assists and 2,857 points.
“Baseball has a much longer history and has a lion’s of the sports collectors market as a whole, but hockey has its place, and Gretzky definitely goes on the Mount Rushmore of greatest of all time,” Ivy said. “He’s right up there with Babe Ruth and Michael Jordan.”