Prices and Scarcity of '60s & '70s OPC Hockey

ChasMan

Hello all,

I have been wondering about soemthing for a while now, and would like to get other collector's opinions on this.

When looking at prices of hockey cards from the '60s and '70s, I think we agree that O-Pee-Chee cards command more of a premium than its Topps counterparts. Granted hockey was (is?) Canada's game, as baseball is the USA's game. More hockey collectors resided in Canada then, and perhaps still do.

With this, I have to believe that (and this is perhaps where my postulate is wrong) there was more OPC card product produced, distributed and collected during that time than Topps product.

I also assume that since hockey was not real popular throughout the United States, and just in the Northeast for the most part, that a certain amount (perhaps large) of the Topps product went unsold and unopened. Thus, the merchants retruned the prodcut back to distrbutors and in turn to Topps. Topps probably destroyed the excess.

So, assuming that this scenario is true, wouldn't it stand to be a fact that there is more OPC product from the "vintage" era than Topps?

Does anyone have any thoughts or facts on this? I apologize if this has been discussed preior or if I am totally off base with my theory.

ChasMan

zsz70

Chasman,

1- 1960-1967 Topps hockey cards are actually o-pee-chee cards.
They were printed in London Ontario by o-pee-chee, but because
of licensing agreements had to have Topps on them, with a Printed in Canada on the back.

2- In 1968 this all changed. From 1968 onward you could find cards produced
by o-pee-chee London Ontario, and Topps Brooklyn NY/ Duryea PA.


3- The availability of these cards only rests in the knowledge of the buying habits
of the stores and dealers at that time. Here is some insight into that.

A. Most convience stores in the US were not buying wax boxes of OPC hockey cards.
B. Most convience stores in Canada were not buying boxes of Topps hockey cards.

In 1969, there were more people in NY, Chicago, and Boston then in the entire country
of Canada according to the census bureau.
However, the amount of product shipped to hockey markets in the US was small because
interest was not high. The amount of OPC shipped to the less populated Canada was
very high because of interest, but very low because of the amount of people in that country.
I believe these two factors cancel out each other.


4- The largest dealer in the states in the late 60's and early 70's was buying many
vending cases of OPC and Topps hockey cards. This is probably the most important
part of your equation.

This dealer/collector was making sets of hockey cards, however, his sets were part opc, and part topps.
In 1969 he bought hundreds of Topps hockey sets from #1-132. He also bought hundreds of
high series sets from OPC from #133-231. He did this for many years from 1968-1973.

There is no way to guage which is more or which has less in my opinion. There is a pretty good supply
of each brand. I think one would more easily find a needle in a haystack then figure
out which product is harder to find. It is a good question. I hope this helped a little.

ChasMan

"Z"
Thanks for taking the time to give me your thoughts and some great and interesting facts.

zsz70

Chasman,

There are some other things I

forgot to mention.

1973 Topps hockey seems to be the toughest to find in
high grade from 1968-1974. There is still plenty of nice
opc from those years available and ungraded by PSA.

There is plenty of 1970 and 1971 and 1972 topps hockey
available ungraded and in perfect condition.
Mastronet just sold a 1972 topps hockey set with roughly 40
PSA 10's in it. I can honestly tell you that about 20-50
more of those 1972 sets could find there way to an auction house.

In my opinion based on what I've seen over the years is
that the toughest set from 1968-1974 would have to be
1973 topps hockey. I'm not going to say that any set
from those years is difficult in comparison to o-pee-chee baseball from those years.
Also, keep in mind that THE TOUGHEST set in those years
is the 1969 o-pee-chee 4 in 1 subset...IMO.

What was weird about this USA dealer is that he ordered
100's of 1968 opc puck stickers, but didn't order any 1969
four in ones. This guy single handidly affected the current
supply and demand market.

I would not recommend using the POP reports as your
source of determining what is tough and what isn't.
They can be true, and they can lie.

For example, the 1969 opc hockey low series is without
a doubt the toughest to find in high grade from that era.
The POP reports truely reflect that.
However, the 1973 opc POP reports don't truely reflect
the amount of high grade material that is still out there in raw form.

It's a great question that has crossed the mind of many of us.
I think if Harvey from AJ and Gerry Chartrand chimed in, it
would give us an even better picture of this, but all in all
I truely think that no one can put a finger on it.

rvc

z- great insight!
thanks

bobby

NHLfightguy

I would say 1979 topps hockey is brutal to find in a 9. I see dsl has some sweet 73 topps on the bay right now. I love the action shots scattered in that set.