a 1979 OPC common hockey PSA 9 for $100?

rbdjr1

Take a look at the bidding action in the last few minutes, $33, $51, $99, $100, wow!

Nice looking item, but a hundred bucks? Oh my! 1979 opc LANNY McDONALD #153 PSA 9

rbd

P.S. Hockey guys, am I missing something? I figured $7, maybe ten bucks, but a hundred? Yikes!


edit: I did notice that mint examples for this series seem difficult to find, but are they worth 33, 51, 99, a hundred? hummmmmm?

SDSportsFan

Not a common at all...Lanny McDonald is in the Hockey Hall of Fame.


Steve

kingraider75

I agree, McDonald maybe isn't a super superstar, but he was an All-Star many times.

rbdjr1

Well, you guys may be right, as that was some aggressive "last minute bidding" for this item!

rbd

P.S. Maybe this set with less than 100 PSA 9s, is tuff!

yawie99

I think the winner's our own rvc. He's a big '79 hockey guy. His Topps set is finished at about 8.5 and I think he and the under bidder both have OPC near-sets in the 8 ballpark. I suppose there's still a fair amount of unopened stuff out there, but the O-Pee-Chee set yields very few 9's. Less than 100 total cards out of the 2,800+ that have been submitted.

Stingray

It was nice to see Lanny finally get his Stanley Cup in his last season with the Flames!


Stingray

WinPitcher

Lanny is a member of the 500 goal club

Hardly a common card.


SD

eyebone

Lanny is a HOFer but he is not among the really desireble stars of that era either; more of a semi-star by collecting standards, I would say. That price seems a bit inflated to me, but, having said that, it is a difficult set to find in mint condition.

Eyebone

RedHeart54

'79 OPC hockey represents one of the toughest cards to achieve in PSA 9 (let alone 8) in the last, well, 26 years. There have been a fair amount of 9s that have sold recently and the commons usually bring $40 apiece. $100 for Lanny doesn't surprise me. He was one of the greats of the '70s and played a huge in Calgary's success in the '80s.

MrUnc

I gotta tell you guys, this auction with the Lanny McDonald selling for over a hundred bucks is a scary indication that more collectors are catching on to the scarcity of high end hockey.

Over on the other board, there is a thread consisting of whether cards are "good investments."

-If you acquired most any hockey card from 1980 and before in psa 8 or higher condition in the past few years, chances are you've made a good buck. (please pardon the run-on sentence!)

-High end star cards ranging from Gordie Howe to Rocket Richard to Bobby Orr have seemingly gone up at least 20% per year for the past five years. That may be an extreme underestimation in many cases, especially Orr. In the case of all high end players, bidding wars have sparked record prices on cards that could've been bought at a fraction years ago.
Examples-
'71 Guy Lafleur RC PSA 9= sold for over $900 in past year
'69 OPC Bobby Orr PSA 9 sold for a number somewhere around $2K
'51 Parkhurst commons in PSA 8 used to sell for no more than $50-$75 about 3-4 years ago. Now, that number has risen from $175 on the low end to $300 on the high end. Stars are expensive. Mid range HOF's like Doug Harvey and Ted Lindsay were once semi-affordable. Now, they demand big bucks on big opening bids.

These are conservative and real examples.

Now, this story can be true for a number of different affinities within the sportscard world. However, hockey has probably outperformed the three other sports over the past five years. Growth in baseball has been fairly flat among anything post fifties for a while now. Mantle's and Aaron's are not growing like once before. When it comes to performance, they don't match up to their hockey counterparts Howe and Orr.

Football and basketball have had more sporadic growth. Action on stars is usually strong, but in my opinion hockey has again outpaced the other sports in growth through scarcity and rabid collectors.


Getting back to the Lanny McDonald that sold for a hundred bucks-
That price is almost panic driven. A price like that is paid by someone who fears there will never be another opportunity to pick up this card again. Not bad for 1979.

Frankly, I'm scared.

I'm scared that other people are going to drive up the prices of the sets which I've been working on for quite some time. Recently, I've been getting blown out of auctions like never before and I'm very frustrated. In my attempt to be a minor league "Davalillo of hockey", I'm working on too many sets at one time. From Gordie Howe's master set to almost every set from the 70's and many more, this venture is expensive and patience driven.

With auctions going off like the Lanny Mc Donald, you've gotta wonder if someone let the cat out of the bag. I always thought vintage hockey was a well kept secret. That's not the case anymore.

What do you think?

Best,
Matt


[My current sets]http://www.psacard.com/set_registry/listothersets.chtml?rsetid=33383[/L]

RedHeart54

There is not a lot of '79 OPC in PSA 9, alas, the price is sure to go up even if you have just two new collectors in the same set. I don't know if you should be "scared" about this. As with any set, people will send in their high-grade commons and stars if it appears the profit is big enough for the effort and eventually prices will stabilize. Heck, a PSA 9 Gordie Howe from this set recently was auctioned for $85! A year ago it was $185 and there are only approx. 5 or 6 of this card in PSA 9- not a large pop for any card.

That so many of these PSA 9s are 1 of 1s may indeed feed the illusion that "there will never be another opportunity to pick up this card again" but that usually is untrue. On the other hand, no, there probably is not a huge supply of mint raw cards (compared with Topps' hockey issues) and many of them may not see the light of day anyway as most are probably in Canada where PSA submission is more costly then here.

phreakydancin

<< <i>That so many of these PSA 9s are 1 of 1s may indeed feed the illusion that "there will never be another opportunity to pick up this card again" but that usually is untrue. On the other hand, no, there probably is not a huge supply of mint raw cards (compared with Topps' hockey issues) and many of them may not see the light of day anyway as most are probably in Canada where PSA submission is more costly then here. >>

Good observations. Hockey in general is way behind baseball in the evolution towards grading, and OPC hockey is especially so, as Canadians are less apt to send their cards across the border to be graded, meaning there is a much higher proportion of quality raw vs. graded out there. As more hockey collectors catch on to the set registry, those 1/1's will start to disappear. In the set I'm working on, 1981 Topps, there are still cards in the set without a single graded example.

phreakydancin

Matt, I've admired your sets on the Registry for a while now. It looks like you're a longtime lurker with few posts on these boards. Nice to get you input!

MrUnc

Mr. Phreaky,

I should post more often. Maybe it should be a New Year's Resolution?

I thoroughly enjoy the message boards here and congratulate all those who have made great strides in their collecting ventures this past year.

In addressing my statement of being "scared", I say this because I look forward to completing my sets sooner rather than later. With price increases and numerous new collectors getting in on the action, I hope it won't cost me an arm and a leg.

The question of the $100 Lanny McDonald comes down to simple laissez faire economics. It's the law of supply and demand.

If 5 new people start collecting each pre-1980 hockey set each year, prices will continue to rise steadily. This is after all, still the infancy of the PSA set registry program. New and existing collectors will likely discover these sets as they age gracefully. They are condition-challenging and have a very unique story.

Looking forward in 10 years.....

What's the better investment?
-Full set 79 OPC hockey in psa 8.5 or the beloved 65 topps baseball in the same grade???

I'm not sure. However, the prices on high end hockey still haven't been tested at a peak market place. The trend is definitely going higher.

There is very little raw stuff in great shape. If it exists, it's mostly locked up in Canada. On the flipside, if PSA made it more cost efficient for collectors up there to submit cards, the population would likely double over a 3 year period. Even with that population surge, these cards will still be very scarce in high grade. That combined with new submitters who start building sets based on their new PSA relationships, will continue to puch prices higher.

MP

RedHeart54

Making PSA submission more cost-effective for Canadians is a no-brainer but I wouldn't know how to go about it.

downgoesfrazier

OT: Has anybody actually SEEN Julius Erving and Jimi Hendrix in the room at the SAME time?

...back to the thread...


dgf

MrUnc

If Jimi had lived longer, it's quite possible Dr. J could've befriended him. Jimi could've been the savior of the ABA.

A pimp, a poet....and later...a point guard!

phreakydancin

<< <i>Making PSA submission more cost-effective for Canadians is a no-brainer but I wouldn't know how to go about it. >>

SGC has a PO box in Canada for Canadian submissions. Makes life MUCH easier for those of us north of the border.

rvc

steve, thanks for the intro. there are 93 psa 9's for this set in the pop report: 28 gretzky's , 5 howes and 5 hulls. that leaves 55 others. this set is 25 yrs old and i think it is way undervalued. the recent sales of psa 9's and even some 8's are going to do either 1 of 2 things: everyone that has been holding their mint ungraded cards from this set, for whatever reason , will get them graded and sell them or it will be apparent that there are no mint raw cards out there. i am going to go with the latter. i dont understand the lack of interest in the '79 opc set but if you have any raw mint cards,psa 9's, or psa 8's pm me. most of the stuff on ebay isnt submittable, at best you may get a psa 7. unopened packs sell for 150+ . try finding a box from a top notch guy. they are all buyers themselves b/c graded packs go for 200+. nobody is opening $200+ packs.
btw yeah lanny is in the hof, he was an all star many times, he has 500 goals and that was some sweet centering.
"'79 OPC hockey represents one of the toughest cards to achieve in PSA 9 (let alone 8) in the last, well, 26 years. There have been a fair amount of 9s that have sold recently and the commons usually bring $40 apiece. $100 for Lanny doesn't surprise me." so true, redheart, but i am not a new collector.

mrunc-"more collectors are catching on to the scarcity of high end hockey" so true, nice hendrix pic, now go and get moving on your 79opc set! good to finally know who you are. there was no panic on my part.

downgoesfrazier- thanks for the laugh!

helionaut

The 1979 Topps and OPC sets have been a topic of discussion a couple times here. It's a very nice set, checklist, design, scarcity, and condition challenge. But as the registry evolves and 1979 gets farther and farther away, people will discover that this set is more than Gretzky/Howe/Orr and get into it, and more cards will be graded. Auctions like this will help as it helps alert people to the profit possibilities.

MrUnc

RVC.

Good luck on your set. You're taking on a 10,000 pound gorilla. I honestly don't know if I'll ever really get going in the 79 OPC set. I've got a couple Gretzky's in 8 and Howe, Hull in 8...but not much else besides that.

Right now, I'm focusing on most of the other sets in the decade. Based on difficulty, I'll put up the 74 OPC against the 79 any day. That may spark a riot, but only 1 of 10 manufactured cards from that year is centered properly. A set in PSA 8 is nearly impossible. The same holds true for 79, but there is still some unopened wax out there that may be opened one day by aggressive buyers.

I know Gerry Chartrand confers with my opinion. He's told me his order of centering difficulty when it comes to OPC issues.
1. 1968
2. 1974
3. 1979

Now, they are all wonderful sets full of star and rookie power. Heck, even with recent price surges, they're still a good value. I wish I picked up 79's when I had the chance. Back in the early 90's I had the opportunity to buy a really nice box for $1100, but that was before financial independence. I instead opted to buy the nicest 75 and 76 OPC sets I'd ever seen. From those two sets, which I dropped about $400 at that time, I graded roughly 50% of both sets in psa 8 or higher. They are really clean sets for years that are both very difficult. I pulled several tens and a bunch of 1/1 psa 9's. Very lucky buy at the time.

Fast forwarding to late 2005, I've decided to take a spectator role in the 79 OPC race until I feel it's the right time to move. It would take an opportunity to buy a large lot of high grade cards to even get me in the game. Now, I've tried to get in the game, but to no avail.

Recently, I bid on a bunch of cards from Bobby Lins, but lost on every single one of them. It was embarrassing! I've tried bidding on nice copies of LaFleur and Dryden recently, and got suprisingly blown out. I just figure my time hasn't come yet for this set.

Instead, I've been picking up some higher end cards recently. I've focused on Gordie Howe Master Set and have started to try to complete some of my earlier sets like 62 Topps and 67 Topps.

RVC, I hope you finish the 79 set in 8, turn around and sell it at Mastro for $20K. That would certainly wake some people up.

Best,

Matt

rbdjr1

Just to highlight an 80-81 RC of a HOFer that sold tonite:

1980-81 OPC #289 Mark Messier RC PSA 9 "hammered" for $ 280.00

Under SMR?

Yep, some!

SMR: $ 410.00 for a PSA 9
SMR: $ 2400.00 for a 10!

Now that I think about it, a rookie card of Mark Messier, for $280.00? There are 64 PSA 9 examples so far graded by PSA. I guess some of our good friends to the north, are even getting cards graded by PSA, no? (...or are all 64 examples "south of the border"? LOL!)...

rbd

phreakydancin

I'd say this guy got a pretty good deal. PSA 8's for less than a buck a card.

renrutmd

Well I thought I should stop in as well to say Hi. I am along with RVC on the hunt to finish the 1979 opc set. This is truly a tough set and for a first timer like myself a very big challenge. I will say however that RVC has been very helpful in trading cards and sharing info. To me the friendly help given by competitor/fellow collectors is what has kept me going on this set. As for the mcdonald both RVC and myself see alot of value in this set and are directly responsible for Bobby Lins being able to retire 10 years early. To me $100.00 for the Mcdonald was still a great deal and RVC wont go wrong with it. I can also assure RVC he wont catch me with my pants down again (lol). Anyway the money is a big deal in these sets but the collecting for me is an even bigger deal because regardless of the cash if it aint fun why do it? See you all on the battlefield of ebay. Anyone with 79 psa opc cards please drop me a line.renrutm

MrUnc

Renrut,

I wish you luck as well on this set. There were a couple of interesting ebay finishes last night.

1. Denis Potvin 1974 OPC RC PSA 8 sold for $175, almost 4x SMR

2. Bobby Orr 1972 OPC Player Crest PSA 9 pop 1/2, $850

Big money! I bid $76 on the Potvin and got blown away quick.

MP

aro13

There are only 12 Potvin PSA 8 rookies right now. That is an extremely low number for a Hall of Fame rookie from the 70's. The other HOF rookies in that set are also extremely low pop making the SMR useless for these rookies. McDonald is a POP 11 in PSA 8, Gainey is a POP 7 and Salming is a POP 6. Larry Robinson, whose 73-74 rookie card in the SMR is significantly higher than all of those players has a POP of 121 in PSA 8.

renrutmd

Seems to me there is alot of money floating around out there and people that have the itch for a card regardless of the pop seem to spend whatever it takes to get it. I remember when the bottom fell out of the hockey card market in the late eighties early ninties. everything went for nothing. I remeber selling a psa 8 gretzky rookie for $1350.00 then it crashed and hasnt got back to that status yet. Im sure it will and will also go past that and just like the stock market they rise from the ashes to be stronger then ever. So in my opinion even if you end up spending more then SMR provided the pop report doesnt show a billion of the card at hi grade you still wont go wrong. You may just have to hold onto it abit longer then expected. To me that is also why building a high end 70's or later set is a smart investment because the chances of more then four or five others being able to do that in high grade condition is remote making your set one of the few and hopefully bringing the value up. Look at the 1971 opc set an awesome set also in my opinion. If one ever became available in high end psa 8+ condition I for one would pay a hell of alot more then SMR as I am sure others would as well.

SABR

Hey guys, first post here. Just wanted to share a scan of a card my friend recently submitted to PSA. Enjoy.

zef204

AWESOME! I actually just got that card in the mail today, but mine will be an 8 max. I also picked up about 100 commons that I haven't looked at yet and am hoping for a 70's special to send some in. That Howe is a beauty.

Boopotts

That Howe an OUTSTANDING card. Tell your friend congrats!

RedHeart54

That is a jackpot submission!

zef204

And it is a 1/1 out of 75 submitted. Good stuff.