Question about 1989 Topps/OPC Hockey grading
gregggyf
Posts: 6 ✭
**REVISION.
I am very sorry... all the information below does not represent the total amount of 1989 Topps/OPC cards submitted to PSA for grading. The information below only pertains to Joe Sakic,... I am very sorry for the confusion.
**Good Morning, My name is Greg and I have some questions about 1989 Topps/OPC Hockey cards.
Before I ask the questions, I have to list some PSA grading information.
1989 OPC – Total Graded Population (TGP) - 3,071
Graded 10 – 227 (7% of TGP)
Graded 9 – 1769 (57% of TGP)
Graded 8 - 969 (31% of TGP)
1989 Topps – Total Graded Population (TGP) – 1,033
Graded 10 – 16 (1.5% of TGP)
Graded 9 – 126 (12% of TGP)
Graded 8 - 610 (59% of TGP)
*** For the information above I did not list the number of cards that received a grade less than 8.
As we can see from looking at the grading information above,
a) 3 times as much OPC cards was submitted for grading as compared to Topps cards.
Looking at the Grade 10 only - If I take the number of Topps graded 10, which is 16 and times it by 3
the answer is 48. This number is nowhere near the amount of OPC graded 10, which is 227.
b) For Topps, only 13.5% of the cards submitted received a grade of 9 & 10.
For OPC, 64% of the cards submitted received a grade of 9 & 10.
What I would like to know is,
a) Why is a Topps Grade 10 much more difficult to get than an OPC Grade 10?
b) Was the paper stock used for card production by both companies the same or was there some difference in manufacturing between the two companies?
Any other additional information that you can give regarding 1989 Topps/OPC Hockey cards would be most appreciative.
Thank you very much for your replies.
Comments
O pee chee hockey cards are more popular than Topps, OPC cards were sold in Canada where there are more hockey fans so they sold more cards,Topps was sold in the United States and i don't think that they were that popular so there are less cards that were submitted,look at my Montreal Canadiens team sets and compare the population reports of the parallel cards,there are different printing processes between the two companies,boxes of 1989 Topps and O pee chee are available on line,O pee chee cards have more players in their sets and that would make them more popular,after i started making O pee chee Habs sets,i decided to make basic players sets of mostly hall of famers and guess what most Topps HOF players and commons were left unsold on Ebay there were no interest in them,a rundown of the comparison between the two companies is justified.
Usually Topps was produced in larger quantities then OPC. In 89 the opposite is true. I don’t recall the exact numbers I’ll dig a little later. If I recall correctly OPC actually had a second print run to keep up with demand. That may account for the population discrepancy but as for the quality issue I don’t know. Also I think OPC has over 100 more cards in their set.
Perhaps someone cracked a bunch of OPC wax relatively recently and so cards were pack fresh.
Kevin
Kevin
OPC printed a ridiculous amount of hockey cards in 1989. Absolutely insane. They printed in addition to regular pack distribution factory sets, cut card cases, and vending cases. They even printed cases of empty boxes that have ended up in dealers hands.
The OPC stock used was not as prone to chipping on the blue borders as their Topps counterpart. There was a test issue released by OPC called "tembec" stock, that was grey instead of cream, but that is just a side note.
1989 Topps hockey isn't rare, but gem mint cards are legitimately tougher to find and submit to PSA than OPC. To my knowledge Topps didn't do vending or factory sets of this product.
It's a good thing that Joe Sakic was a part of this set, or else it would be sidelined to oblivion forever except for those that lived through and collected that particular year.
I recall buying a box and getting excited about the 5 Kirk McLean, Cliff Ronning, and Trevor Linden rookies I pulled. That was a long time ago now...
I don’t recall the exact numbers I’ll dig a little later.
Hello Kevin, If you can find numbers... that would be very helpful.
The OPC stock used was not as prone to chipping on the blue borders as their Topps counterpart. There was a test issue released by OPC called "tembec" stock, that was grey instead of cream, but that is just a side note.
So technically... the stock used by both companies was not the same.
Thank you Electrode for your reply.
Thank you very much for your replies, I may come up with other questions later.
Greg
Card stock is not the same. OPC has a glossier finish, which chips less than Topps. The blue on Topps is super condition sensitive, making 10s from that issue very difficult. Plus, it is the one year where OPC is more plentiful and less valuable than Topps.
Thank you very much MrHockey for the verification.
i have sent in several sakic topps cards that i took straight out of the packs. i received several 9's but no 10's. i have no answer as to why because the centering on all was perfect/nearly perfect. i did get a 10 on lemieux. at the time it was a pop 1 that i sold for $300. the only answer is that the graders want to grade this particular issue extremely hard.
Hello olb31, Congrats on getting the first Lemieux 10, as you know there are now 18 of them.
Regarding the Sakic cards that you sent in, could you tell me if all of the corners were sharp?
Recently (over the past 3 months) 3 Topps PSA graded 10 Sakic's were sold on _the most famous auction site.
_ If you ever wanted to you could see the variation of centering for these 3 cards.
**the only answer is that the graders want to grade this particular issue extremely hard.
**
Keep in mind the information stated above,... the card stock differs from the Topps and OPC. The chipping issue for the Topps cards would detract from the category called Edges.
Thank you again for your comments.
Greg
Regarding the Sakic cards that you sent in, could you tell me if all of the corners were sharp?
They came from the same packs that I got the PSA 10 Lemieux. So I would assume, yes. All looked 10 quality and one in particular had near 50/50 centering. So, only the graders know why. If you examine alot of PSA 10's from 1989, they aren't always 50/50.
If you examine alot of PSA 10's from 1989, they aren't always 50/50.
PSA allows for 55/45 - 60/40 centering to qualify for a Gem Mint 10.
Thank you.