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Unopened 1979 OPC hockey - question for BBCE
PMKAY
Posts: 1,372 ✭✭
I was going to tag this to the discussion on the 1986 cases but thought it might be better to start a new thread. Am wondering what the thoughts are as to how much unopened 1979 OPC hockey exists? I understand it's all speculation but if someone from BBCE (or anyone with similar experience in unopened product) could chime in and give me an idea it would be much appreciated. Not that I could ever afford any...
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edit...I should say more uncut sheets than unopened boxes, much less cases....
Another great question. While again, you could offer me lots of money, just to fly you somewhere to see one and I still couldn't take up your offer. I have a feeling it is a little more possible that a case or some may exist somewhere in Canada.
In 1986, from doing shows and being at a card shop all the time. Nobody "wanted" the 86/87 Fleer basketball. Yes, people bought it. True basketball people probably loved it. But still, very, very few people wanted it. It didn't retail good at $12.00 per box. It didn't retail good at $9.95 per set. We held a card show in Merrillville, Indiana and gave away boxes for door prizes. When we handed it to a customer, we kind of got a Chris Farley response, "Great. Grand. Wonderful." They told us to give it away to the next kid that walked in.
In 1986, people wanted baseball. Buying cases and putting them away was huge then. But it was all baseball. Very limited people wanted to even buy football as an investment. This is true because obviously, no one wanted it at $120 per case. That is why you see so much Topps football product with the black X on it. Tons of it got returned to Topps!! If so many people were buying football as an investment, then there wouldn't be x-out boxes. Instead, wholesalers couldn't sell it at wholesale, so they shipped it back to Topps to get a full refund. The reason Topps put that big ugly X on it was so that a retailer couldn't return it A Second Time and get the full first shipment prices on it. Topps then re-sold it to dealers like Steve Myland in Arizona by the pound, pallet or semi-load. If you find an old SCD you will see Steve Myland selling this garbage at $39.00, $49.00 or $59.00 per case SHIPPING INCLUDED for full 20-box cases of 1982 through 1986 Topps football wax. At those prices, with shipping included, you can imagine how cheap he got it from Topps!! Therefore, when someone says they bought football cases as an investment in the 1980's they either were VERY insightful or got VERY lucky! That's also why very few people can honestly say they bought Fleer basketball as an investment. And if they did, then they were a lot smarter than me (I had Topps baseball cases of 1986 as far as the eye could see).
HOWEVER, hockey was a little different. While Topps and OPC hockey also had blowout prices and not a real return on investment for decades (seemed to finally start moving in value and getting hot in the mid-late 80's) we know that hockey is religion in Canada. I think more people in Canada bought hockey only as it was the #1 sport of interest. I'm not saying it was the only sport of interest 100% of the time, but here in the states, we all loved baseball, football, basketball (and hockey to a smaller extent). And since there are far more collectors/dealers/hoarders in Canada that I will never know, I think it is more likely. Even by saying "more likely", I still wouldn't put a figure on it of more than a handful of cases. I will speak to some big dealers and collectors in Canada in time and ask them what they know (other than that they know a guy...........).
Thanks, Steve
Based on those numbers, I think the production of wax cases for Canadian customers may be quite smaller than the US.
Off to a strong start.
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In 1986, from doing shows and being at a card shop all the time. Nobody "wanted" the 86/87 Fleer basketball. Yes, people bought it. True basketball people probably loved it. But still, very, very few people wanted it. It didn't retail good at $12.00 per box. It didn't retail good at $9.95 per set. We held a card show in Merrillville, Indiana and gave away boxes for door prizes. When we handed it to a customer, we kind of got a Chris Farley response, "Great. Grand. Wonderful." They told us to give it away to the next kid that walked in.
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<sorry to hijack the thread but this input from Steve brought a tear to my eye>
Ah, if I were only 6 years younger in 1986, I would have been 13 and in my collecting prime scarfing up 1986 Fleer Basketball. At 13, I was building the 1980-81 set and thinking the Bird-J-Magic card was the most glorious card every produced. (still is IMHO) My Dad brought me up to shoot the orange ball, not throw the little white ball.
Instead, I was 19....chasing girls, minimum wage jobs, and hanging out with the boys at night.
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Ended up selling one set, trading the other for a 84 Donruss set and trading the rest for 89 Score football. If we all had hindsight no one would be poor in America!
<< <i>I remember reading something about a Canadian trucking strike having something to do with the dearth of '79 OPC relative to other late '70s OPC product. Assuming this was the case (haha, get it!) maybe less product got distributed? >>
Not sure about '79, but a 1980 production strike at the OPC factory led to limited production of 1980 OPC baseball.
Collecting 1970s Topps baseball wax, rack and cello packs, as well as PCGS graded Half Cents, Large Cents, Two Cent pieces and Three Cent Silver pieces.
<< <i>
<< <i>I remember reading something about a Canadian trucking strike having something to do with the dearth of '79 OPC relative to other late '70s OPC product. Assuming this was the case (haha, get it!) maybe less product got distributed? >>
Not sure about '79, but a 1980 production strike at the OPC factory led to limited production of 1980 OPC baseball. >>
Yeah, they divered all the cards except the Henderson Rookies!