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Just purchased a 1971 Garvey OPC PSA 6 for $100 and then looked at the POP, the results are just...

crazy.

Topps total pop is exactly 3100. OPC total POP is 120. That's utterly amazing. A nearly 30 times difference is the total graded pop of each. And opc I purchased sold for barely above what a topps would sale for.
Topps OPC
PSA 10 2 0
PSA 9 37 1
PSA 8.5 34 1
PSA 8 575 12
PSA 7 843 30
PSA 6 599 36

Work hard and you will succeed!!

Comments

  • secretstashsecretstash Posts: 1,393 ✭✭✭✭
    edited May 31, 2023 9:56AM

    I remember seeing the same thing with the 1970 Munson RC. It is an extremely low pop in OPC compared to Topps. Check the pop report below:

  • jimqjimq Posts: 255 ✭✭✭

    i collect Clemente and it's the same. There are 68 Clemente graded OPC and 4000 topps. 58 times as many topps graded. But nowhere near the demand for OPC so if you like them and can find them be happy that you can get them.

  • johfrjohfr Posts: 91 ✭✭✭

    OPC cards from the 60's and 70's are extremely tough in any condition let alone high grade. 74's are practically non existent in high grade. I believe that OPC stuff will at some point be recognized for how scarce it is and we will see big increases in value.

    As an added plus there are some great differences between Topps and OPC cards. Love the backs of the 71 OPC.

  • BaltimoreYankeeBaltimoreYankee Posts: 2,894 ✭✭✭✭✭

    I think one of the reasons for OPCs being graded in so much less quantities than Topps (besides so many fewer OPC collectors in the US) is that the Canadians have KSA to grade their cards. I would be if one could find KSA stats, there would be more OPCs than Topps graded.
    1971 OPC baseball was also printed in much lower quantities than Topps. I have heard the print run may have been around 5% of Topps.

    Daniel
  • olb31olb31 Posts: 2,900 ✭✭✭✭✭

    Also, they were cut atrociously. Centering on just about all OPC from 1965 - 1991 is just not that good. Even worse than the topps cards and that's saying something.

    Nice pull on the Munson. I love stats like that.

    Work hard and you will succeed!!
  • BaltimoreYankeeBaltimoreYankee Posts: 2,894 ✭✭✭✭✭

    @olb31 said:
    Also, they were cut atrociously. Centering on just about all OPC from 1965 - 1991 is just not that good. Even worse than the topps cards and that's saying something.

    Nice pull on the Munson. I love stats like that.

    Absolutely about the centering! I've started to build a '71 OPC baseball set and I'm being much more lenient on centering than I would be with Topps. If it's showing some border on each side, it can go in the set.

    Daniel
  • RonSportscardsRonSportscards Posts: 775 ✭✭✭✭

    KSA 8.
    8? Really?


  • olb31olb31 Posts: 2,900 ✭✭✭✭✭

    PSA 8 MC or PSA 8 OC. myabe.

    Work hard and you will succeed!!
  • WillymacWillymac Posts: 204 ✭✭✭
    edited May 31, 2023 1:04PM

    Makes me regret selling my 2009 OPC buyback 1971 Garvey - to someone on the board ;-) - a couple years back - that had to be super rare

  • BaltimoreYankeeBaltimoreYankee Posts: 2,894 ✭✭✭✭✭

    @RonSportscards said:
    KSA 8.
    8? Really?


    According to KSA grading standards, an 8 should be 60/40 on the front and 90/10 on the back. No way that back is 90/10. More like 101/-1 :D

    Daniel
  • PaulMaulPaulMaul Posts: 4,680 ✭✭✭✭✭

    One of the things I collect (as my avatar makes obvious) is Wacky Packages. For the earlier series sets, the PSA 9 populations run from 2-5 for the less common ones up to 10-15 for the more common ones. The most common of these 9s would be one of the very toughest 9s in a contemporary Topps baseball set based on populations. Of course, the collecting base for Wacky Packages is relatively small. As it is for OPC set collecting.

  • RufussCkingstonRufussCkingston Posts: 1,463 ✭✭✭✭

    That's actually a KSA 10 (OC), but without the qualifier it's an 8 !!

  • reelinintheyearsreelinintheyears Posts: 240 ✭✭✭

    @johfr said:
    74's are practically non existent in high grade.

    Tell me about it! 74 OPC HOFers (+Rose and Munson) in as high grade as possible based upon availability and my budget has been my focus the past few years. As a 55 year old, I'll be lucky to complete this subset in my lifetime; my son may have to complete it for me. My best graded pickups so far have been Stargell and Sutton in PSA 9 (both pop 1 with no 10s). I've been outbid on some really nice PSA 8's on ebay, including Marichal (pop 1, none higher) which sold for about $1,500, Bench and Seaver. I have some really nice raw cards from this subset that I plan to grade at some point, including what I hope will be the first PSA 8NQ Fisk. Buying KSA graded cards is not an option for me; even if the centering is good who knows what flaws may exist that can't be detected on a computer screen.

  • 19541954 Posts: 2,866 ✭✭✭

    I have been working on all the OPC sets for about 4 years and I must say some of these years are very difficult to find. One of the problems that I have seen from 1974 OPC is that cards are completely miscut more so than any other years from OPC. I have found oversized/undersized cards left to right but not top to bottom. The quality control of these cards are for sure lacking compared to the other OPC sets. I would love to begin grading out some of these cards but the cost is too high right now. I hope PSA will have a vintage common special soon.

    Looking for high grade rookie cards and unopened boxes/cases
  • johfrjohfr Posts: 91 ✭✭✭

    1974 OPC, like most OPC, is horribly cut. Based on most estimates OPC cards in general were printed at a rate of 5-10% of what Topps were printed. There also seems to be a much lower print run of 1974 than other years. I have been told that there was some sort of strike at the factory that year that caused lower production than other years. Can anyone confirm if that is true?

  • mrmoparmrmopar Posts: 1,030 ✭✭✭✭

    @Willymac said:
    Makes me regret selling my 2009 OPC buyback 1971 Garvey - to someone on the board ;-) - a couple years back - that had to be super rare

    That was me. I won the card when you listed it on ebay and that thread you posted was a good detail of what happened before and after the sale. I still have the card of course, but it is nowhere near my best condition 71 OPC Garvey. I still wish they would have done better job to permanently ID their buyback cards, like Topps does with the foil stamp, but as I have seen online, even that is a split camp. Lots of people think the stamp ruins vintage cards. I happen to be one who disagrees with that and still say that there are piles and piles of original cards in all conditions, but the buybacks that get stamped are fairly limited and then become unique on their own as a different type of collectible. Take the Garvey in question. Assuming it was the only one they inserted into packs, and it did get stamped, it would be the only one like that. There are 100s if not 1000s of 71 OPC Garvey cards that are unaltered. Did the one stamped card ruin it? Again, I say no, it enhanced the value as it created a new unique card.

    In the end though, if/when I go to sell the Garvey buyback, I will have to hope someone believes that it is in fact the actual card the manufacturer inserted into a pack that came with the certificate.

    I collect Steve Garvey, Dodgers and signed cards. Collector since 1978.
  • mrmoparmrmopar Posts: 1,030 ✭✭✭✭

    Its funny, looking back through the Garvey OPC thread, the certificate that came with the card doesn't even identify the specific card it was paired with either. That cert could be paired with ANY OPC card.

    I collect Steve Garvey, Dodgers and signed cards. Collector since 1978.
  • waxman2745waxman2745 Posts: 717 ✭✭✭
    edited June 1, 2023 9:37AM

    @olb31 said:
    crazy.

    Topps total pop is exactly 3100. OPC total POP is 120. That's utterly amazing. A nearly 30 times difference is the total graded pop of each. And opc I purchased sold for barely above what a topps would sale for.
    Topps OPC
    PSA 10 2 0
    PSA 9 37 1
    PSA 8.5 34 1
    PSA 8 575 12
    PSA 7 843 30
    PSA 6 599 36

    @olb31 , nice pickup, especially for that price.

    Adam
    buying O-Pee-Chee (OPC) baseball
  • waxman2745waxman2745 Posts: 717 ✭✭✭

    @1954 said:
    I have been working on all the OPC sets for about 4 years and I must say some of these years are very difficult to find.

    @1954 I have noticed that too, for all of the 1960s and 1974.

    Adam
    buying O-Pee-Chee (OPC) baseball
  • RonSportscardsRonSportscards Posts: 775 ✭✭✭✭

    @waxman2745 said:

    @1954 said:
    I have been working on all the OPC sets for about 4 years and I must say some of these years are very difficult to find.

    @1954 I have noticed that too, for all of the 1960s and 1974.

    Are you guys talking about in higher grades, like 8 or better? In general, are 60s OPC in 7s desirable or are the OPC collectors really looking for 8 or better?

  • reelinintheyearsreelinintheyears Posts: 240 ✭✭✭

    @RonSportscards said:
    Are you guys talking about in higher grades, like 8 or better? In general, are 60s OPC in 7s desirable or are the OPC collectors really looking for 8 or better?

    It all depends upon the year and the player. In some cases, a grade less than 8 is the best available. In other cases, the highest graded example might be an 8 with an extremely low population, sometimes only one. In such cases, rather than searching for graded cards the alternative is to search for high end raw cards with the hope that they'll be worthy of grading once you get them in your hands. Although I've had mixed results buying raw cards online, in light of the really good ones I've acquired I'm glad that I took the risk and did so.

  • 1966CUDA1966CUDA Posts: 1,972 ✭✭✭✭

    Really?? This is a 1970...not 1971. Guess KSA messed that up!

  • RonSportscardsRonSportscards Posts: 775 ✭✭✭✭

    @1966CUDA said:
    Really?? This is a 1970...not 1971. Guess KSA messed that up!

    Oh crap. I was so focused on the centering, I didn't even notice that. Good catch.

  • BaltimoreYankeeBaltimoreYankee Posts: 2,894 ✭✭✭✭✭

    That photo of Munson looks very familiar to me :D

    Daniel
  • waxman2745waxman2745 Posts: 717 ✭✭✭

    @RonSportscards said:

    @waxman2745 said:

    @1954 said:
    I have been working on all the OPC sets for about 4 years and I must say some of these years are very difficult to find.

    @1954 I have noticed that too, for all of the 1960s and 1974.

    Are you guys talking about in higher grades, like 8 or better? In general, are 60s OPC in 7s desirable or are the OPC collectors really looking for 8 or better?

    Ron, I am only working on raw sets at this time, and I can't even find raw cards. The ones that i am finding most scarce are 1965 and 1967 and 1968. Sometimes Greg Morris does a set break but even then he is missing some of the cards from those sets.

    Adam
    buying O-Pee-Chee (OPC) baseball
  • PaulMaulPaulMaul Posts: 4,680 ✭✭✭✭✭

    @JoeBanzai said:

    People don't understand how few high grade OPC's are in existence.

    I think the few people that collect OPC do understand.

    What’s surprising to me is that even with star players, where there might be some “registry master set” appeal, demand is still so low. There are around 31 PSA 8 or better Topps Killebrews for every OPC. And yet the price of an OPC PSA 8 is only a bit higher than the Topps (around $275 vs. $200).

    Those that like OPC should be grateful that most of us are not interested, otherwise these would be very expensive and impossible to find! 😁

  • JoeBanzaiJoeBanzai Posts: 11,171 ✭✭✭✭✭

    ^ I don't "like" or "dislike" OPC and when I started collecting them, there was no registry.
    I just wanted all the Killebrew cards and spent a lot of time hunting for high grade ones.
    Of course people who focus on OPC's know they're hard to find.
    The point I was trying to make was, over 30 years ago, when there was zero demand for some of these cards, no one in Canada had them. I grew up in Minnesota and wasn't even aware that OPC even existed.
    I think this is one of the reasons people don't bother to collect them, they aren't there to collect.
    Sure is fun to find one though!

    2013,14 and 15 Certificate Award Winner Harmon Killebrew Master Set and Master Topps Set
  • BaltimoreYankeeBaltimoreYankee Posts: 2,894 ✭✭✭✭✭

    I just picked up this Dick Allen from Greg Morris (the black part is much richer in real life). Would love to see the PSA Garvey from the OP when received!


    Daniel
  • brad31brad31 Posts: 2,530 ✭✭✭✭✭

    Like and collect OPC, but not to the extent of many on here. For me it is a secondary focus to Topps and a much smaller part of my collection.

    For years people on here have predicted a huge OPC blow up based on the pops. It seems that the quantity demand ratio of Topps vs. OPC baseball back when they were made is still pretty much the quantity demand ratio today. More Topps were printed because more people collected them, the lower pops have little bearing on price because still more people collect Topps than OPC at pretty close to the same ratio.

    Will it change - I doubt it as it has been the same way for decades. Could it change - absolutely - populations are small enough that if collecting them EVER becomes popular the prices would move up rapidly.

    My experience is that over time my OPCs go up slower than their Topps counterparts. Honestly I hope it stays this way so I can afford to keep adding them as a fun niche in my collection.

    Love the ‘65 (no idea why maybe because they seem more readily available to thanother years), the ‘71s with the yellow back and the ‘77s with all the differences. Hope to keep adding over time without paying a huge premium.

  • olb31olb31 Posts: 2,900 ✭✭✭✭✭

    brad -- it's hit and miss. opc randy johnson, opc bonds, opc gwynn, opc sandberg's etc. are in much higher demand than their topps counterparts.

    the regular non-rookie cards are practically the same value, and in some case the topps card is a littler higher. the demand of certain cards over others doesn't really make a lot sense sometimes. 1977 and older opc ryan's in 8 or 9's are nearly non-existent to buy.

    overall as pops increase, the lack of supply of opc cards will probably make them more desirable but how much more is yet to be seen.

    Work hard and you will succeed!!
  • bumpskierbumpskier Posts: 64 ✭✭

    I collect the 1973 OPC baseball set which is probably the easiest OPC baseball set to collect from the late 60's to the late 70's OPC sets. Although there are some notably very difficult cards in this set. The Card #1 All Time HR leaders is a POP 0 in 9, POP 1 in eight and POP 1 in PSA 7 and only a POP 7 in PSA 6. The Aaaron is a POP 1 in PSA 9, A POP 1 in PSA 8 and a POP 7 in psa 7. I bought the 1973 Mays OPC in PSA 9 about six years ago and I paid about 1/2 what the 1973 Topps PSA 9 was selling for. Now the Mays is a bit more in OPC than in PSA. The Mays is probably the 1973 OPC with the highest Pop of the superstar cards especially in higher grade, except for the Schmidt which is fairly high POP because it is so highly sought after because it is his rookie card. Even with the Schmidt until about 2018 the OPC Schmidt sold for about 60% to 70% of the price of the Topps Schmidt. That has since changed and the OPC sells for a slight premium. There are still many miscut and OC 1973 OPC cards, but it is slightly better quality than the 1970. 1971. 1974 and 1975 OPC issues.

  • RonSportscardsRonSportscards Posts: 775 ✭✭✭✭

    @waxman2745 The ones that i am finding most scarce are 1965 and 1967 and 1968.

    @brad31 said:
    Love the ‘65 (no idea why maybe because they seem more readily available to than other years)

    Hmmm.....

  • reelinintheyearsreelinintheyears Posts: 240 ✭✭✭

    @PaulMaul said:
    What’s surprising to me is that even with star players, where there might be some “registry master set” appeal, demand is still so low.

    That may be true, but I have recently seen a bunch of low pop PSA 9 & 10 '75 OPC commons sell for much more than I expected. I'm puzzled by what people are willing to pay for commons since very few collectors seem to be working on registry sets these days. I have a PSA 10 '75 OPC McCarver (pop 1) that I picked up for $175 some years back that I'm very tempted to sell based upon the recent sale prices I've seen in order to fund other purchases I'd like to make.

  • waxman2745waxman2745 Posts: 717 ✭✭✭

    @RonSportscards said:

    @waxman2745 The ones that i am finding most scarce are 1965 and 1967 and 1968.

    @brad31 said:
    Love the ‘65 (no idea why maybe because they seem more readily available to than other years)

    Hmmm.....

    @RonSportscards nice catch! I guess I should be comparing notes with @brad31. My personal opinion, I think all of the pre-77 years of OPC are scarce.

    Adam
    buying O-Pee-Chee (OPC) baseball
  • olb31olb31 Posts: 2,900 ✭✭✭✭✭

    i have quite a few 1973 opc cards. Not anything of the charts though. About 4 PSA 10 commons, a few Bob Boone psa 9's and zisk psa 9. Seaver psa 8. ryan psa 6, but nicely centered. I might have a carew psa 9. Two Billiy W. Psa 8's.

    Work hard and you will succeed!!
  • stevegarveyfanstevegarveyfan Posts: 578 ✭✭✭✭✭

    I subbed this one, which ended up the sole 8.5 and for a while, the highest graded. However, there is now a PSA 9, and it's super nice. Mine wins on centering, but the 9 wins every other category.

  • brad31brad31 Posts: 2,530 ✭✭✭✭✭

    Your Garvey is stunning.

  • olb31olb31 Posts: 2,900 ✭✭✭✭✭

    awesome!!

    Work hard and you will succeed!!
  • olb31olb31 Posts: 2,900 ✭✭✭✭✭

    the brett is a piece of art. Now that's a keeper.

    Work hard and you will succeed!!
  • brad31brad31 Posts: 2,530 ✭✭✭✭✭
    edited June 8, 2023 8:28AM

    Love the Brett. Unfortunately a card were impossible to get a centered back. Never bought one because of that and wish I had. Beautiful card - congrats.

  • craig44craig44 Posts: 10,398 ✭✭✭✭✭

    @brad31 said:
    Love the Brett. Unfortunately a card where impossible to get a centered back. Never bought one because of that and wish 8 had. Beautiful card - congrats.

    this is true. all that i have seen have a not well-centered back.

    George Brett, Bobby Orr and Terry Bradshaw.

  • craig44craig44 Posts: 10,398 ✭✭✭✭✭

    @olb31 said:
    the brett is a piece of art. Now that's a keeper.

    thank you. It took me quite a while to find one that I liked. I am glad that I was able to acquire it before Covid and the pandemic pricing craziness

    George Brett, Bobby Orr and Terry Bradshaw.

  • secretstashsecretstash Posts: 1,393 ✭✭✭✭
    edited June 6, 2023 8:51AM

    @craig44 said:
    I have always loved how the colors on the 75 OPC Brett pop. So much more than on the topps. Terrible pic, but you get the idea.

    Beautiful card! Not sure if it's the change in coloration or the printing but I haven't noticed any puddles in Robin Yount as well.

  • craig44craig44 Posts: 10,398 ✭✭✭✭✭

    I have one Yount OPC rookie and it does not have the puddle. not sure if that is true across the board though

    George Brett, Bobby Orr and Terry Bradshaw.

  • olb31olb31 Posts: 2,900 ✭✭✭✭✭

    I bought an 8 Yount about a year ago. Hard to find a centered one.

    Work hard and you will succeed!!
  • DBesse27DBesse27 Posts: 3,016 ✭✭✭✭✭

    Come sale away
    Come sale away
    Come sale away with meeee….

    Yaz Master Set
    #1 Gino Cappelletti master set
    #1 John Hannah master set

    Also collecting Andre Tippett, Patriots Greats' RCs, 1964 Venezuelan Topps, 1974 Topps Red Sox

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