Check your crystal balls, in 10-15 years whose RC will you wish you had???

[Sharky94]

This is a fact: After players retire, the prices of their cards go DOWN because they are no longer in the news and people spend money on what is hot. They may get a very slight uptick in interest right before they go in the Hall of Fame, but that is only because they are in the news again for a short time.

If you are looking to "invest" long term in cards (a very bad idea, but I know people do it), buy the very best PSA 10 rookie you can of the best all-time player you can afford. And by that I mean choose one of the top 3 players of all time (Gretzky, Howe, Orr), or at least one of the Most Popular (Mantle cards are expensive because he was the most popular player of his generation, not the best player). If you cant afford that, then move down the list a bit (Lemieux, Yzerman, etc). Unless Crosby/Ovechkin become unarguably referred to as one of the "best of all time" (and it certainly doesn't look like they will be unless things change) their cards will not be worth a whole lot more in 15 years than they are now.

The really outrageous increases in "value" always go with the Classics. In baseball, the '52 Mantle, etc. The hockey equivalent of the '52 Mantle is the 79-80 OPC Gretzky. You also have the T-206 Honus Wagner because that gets all the publicity. He wasn't the best player, and that card is not the rarest. But it gets all the publicity. (1-of-1s are TOO rare, and since values cannot be tracked in any reliable way, they will not increase in value as much.) The only way a modern card will ever get into the stratosphere of a Gretzky rookie will be if someone actually break his records. If Ovie plays long enough to score 900 goals, maybe his The Cup/99 RPA could approach those levels. But I doubt it since he'll probably never win a Cup and collectors will never forget he is Russian. There is no way Crosby stays healthy enough to earn 2,000 assists.

[mooneyes]

BOOM! The most valuable hockey card in the world!! Bobby Orr RC for only a quarter million$$$$!!!!!!!!!!

http://www.ebay.com/itm/BVG-BGS-10-1966-67-TOPPS-35-BOBBY-ORR-ROOKIE-CARD-PRISTINE-POP-1-RARE-/370753886522?pt=LH_DefaultDomain_2&hash=item5652a7 593a

Forgot about ole Bobby...why didn't I collect when I was a 1 year old? :(

[JoelCarry]

Well i would bet a large some that is a laser cut card from an uncut sheet. BGS/BGV will grade laser cut vintage cards where as PSA and i believe SGC would not.
From the list of qualifiers by PSA
UNGRADEABLE CARDS:
PSA will not grade cards that bear evidence of trimming, re-coloring, restoration, or any other forms of tampering, or are of questionable authenticity. In addition, PSA does not grade autographed cards dated earlier than 1998 or any cards manufactured by Star except Star Baseball and 1996 Star Topps (reprint) Basketball Cards; only factory imprint signatures can be graded.
Straight from the Beckett website
Beckett Grading Services uses an easy-to-understand 1 to 10-point grading scale, with descending increments of one-half point (for example 10, 9.5, 9, 8.5, etc.). Since you are provided with a detailed report on your card's key attributes, there are no confusing qualifiers to decipher.
There are no confusing qualifiers which means " we will grade any card for a fee regardless whether it has been trimmed , altered , laser cut , bleached , colored or any other form of tampering you care to do since we just want your money"

[RGM81]

David Desharnais.

[mooneyes]

David Desharnais.

Bahaha lol well played

[mooneyes]

Well i would bet a large some that is a laser cut card from an uncut sheet. BGS/BGV will grade laser cut vintage cards where as PSA and i believe SGC would not.
From the list of qualifiers by PSA
UNGRADEABLE CARDS:
PSA will not grade cards that bear evidence of trimming, re-coloring, restoration, or any other forms of tampering, or are of questionable authenticity. In addition, PSA does not grade autographed cards dated earlier than 1998 or any cards manufactured by Star except Star Baseball and 1996 Star Topps (reprint) Basketball Cards; only factory imprint signatures can be graded.
Straight from the Beckett website
Beckett Grading Services uses an easy-to-understand 1 to 10-point grading scale, with descending increments of one-half point (for example 10, 9.5, 9, 8.5, etc.). Since you are provided with a detailed report on your card's key attributes, there are no confusing qualifiers to decipher.
There are no confusing qualifiers which means " we will grade any card for a fee regardless whether it has been trimmed , altered , laser cut , bleached , colored or any other form of tampering you care to do since we just want your money"

Probably laser cut I guess. although maybe even more impressive the surface of a big sheet could go 4 decades perfectly protected! Maybe it was behind glass in a frame or something?? I know if I had owned it long ago it would have been rolled up in a tube at some point...

[rustyisin]

Bgs 9.5s are sheet cut so will just go down in value.

All oilers/canadians down since they are overpriced and overrated.
Crosby has not gone up for years.

The lack of scoring is not good for future stars long term.

Ovie, tavaras, stamkos, malkin still slightly undervalued..
No one will care about galchenyuk in 15 years. ...

smart comments...especially about the lack of scoring.
I still don't picture Toews as a future hall of famer even though it's certain to happen

[moosefan87]

smart comments...especially about the lack of scoring.
I still don't picture Toews as a future hall of famer even though it's certain to happen

Smart comments and KingKuba are 2 things I don't usually associate with each other but we will move on.

Toews will be a HOF and will be most deserving of the honor. My biggest regret was never grabbing up as many of his SPA + Ultimate Autos when I had the chance.

[Yzerfan]

I check my crystal balls daily, thank you very much.

[RGM81]

I check my crystal balls daily, thank you very much.

Aaaand there it is. Congrats guys, we made it 17 posts in! LOL

I agree about Toews - some of his cards can still be picked up relatively cheap, but he's one guy that I wish I had more of in the PC. Just a tremendous hockey player. Guaranteed HOF'er once his career is over...and he'll probably have even more rings by then too.