Stunning Sale Of Mint And Rare Bobby Orr Rookie For $204K Shows Bullish Hockey Card Market

[doniceage]

Over the weekend, Lelands auction house sold one of the world’s rarest modern era hockey cards and the highest graded example for $204,000.

The 1966-67 Bobby Orr Topps USA Test card, which belonged to a private collector, is the only mint PSA 9 (on a scale of one to ten).

]“It’s now the second most valuable hockey card ever sold at public auction, trailing only the PSA 10 1979-80 O-Pee-Chee Wayne Gretzky, which sold for $465,000 in 2016,” notes Rich Mueller, editor of Sports Collector Daily.

https://www.forbes.com/sites/davidse.../#7c3ec8423eeb

[Savard18]

I'd never spend that type of money on a card (even if I had the money to blow, well maybe if I had 10+ million just to blow).... I mean a card like that is hardly an investment, it's not a painting or anything - it's a card.. How many collectors out there have the money for a card like that? not many..

For 200k you could put one hell of a collection together that's for sure.

This type of reckless spending reminds me of those type of clueless wealthy people (think youtube stars, actors etc) that go out an blow a million bucks on a Ferrari, when instead they could have 15-20 really nice classic muscle cars..I'd take the muscle cars over the Ferrari any day.

But I suppose if you're going to have a complete master collection of Bobby Orr, you're going to need that one card.

[Stryfex]

I kind of disagree with your opinion on a card like that being an investment.

There's a class of collectors/investors out there that are only interested in rarest most high end collectibles. The comic book market is a good example where high grade issues of Action Comics #1 (first superman) or Detective Comics #27 (first batman) just continue to rise in true sale value to levels people would have laughed at only a few years ago. There was a time where people thought buyers were insane to pay 100K for an action comics #1 where a couple years ago a copy sold for well over $2million

Those types of collectibles will always have a market because the scarcity of them is on a whole other level

[creasecollector]

I think it's defintely an investment piece.

The Gretzky rookie mentioned above sold higher when it went to auction the second time, so I feel this Orr Test rookie could also see the same thing happen if or when it's put to auction once more, assuming no others in that condition hit the market of course.

And someone on another forum posted this link explaining how these test cards came to be out of California. It's a very interesting read:

http://toppsarchives.blogspot.com/20...en-ricker.html

[Savard18]

I kind of disagree with your opinion on a card like that being an investment.

There's a class of collectors/investors out there that are only interested in rarest most high end collectibles. The comic book market is a good example where high grade issues of Action Comics #1 (first superman) or Detective Comics #27 (first batman) just continue to rise in true sale value to levels people would have laughed at only a few years ago. There was a time where people thought buyers were insane to pay 100K for an action comics #1 where a couple years ago a copy sold for well over $2million

Those types of collectibles will always have a market because the scarcity of them is on a whole other level

That's the thing, there is a limited market for a card like this - an elite few who can afford it and at the end of the day a card is only worth as much as someone is willing to pay for it, and I'm sure there aren't that many high rollers in the hockey card market.. Sure, baseball has plenty of collectors that will dish out insane amounts of cash for rare cards, but hockey is a little different. And especially when it's a 1/1 card because there is really nothing to compare it to - it's in essence priceless.. I mean there are plenty of 1/1 cards out there that are as rare as this Orr, so what makes the Orr more special than say a Crosby 1/1 or a Gretzky 1/1 - in theory they're all the same if you want to view it from a commodity perspective.

I mean don't get me wrong I do understand why the card is so desired - it's a Bobby Orr rookie test card, the only one known to exist so if you're an Orr collector or a whale in the hobby it's a desired card, but how many hobby whales actually want it, or would pay more than 200k for the card? I mean it's not necessarily an appreciating asset - there is absolutely no logical reason the card will appreciate over time and the only idea that could make it appreciate in value over time is the growth of those who desire the card... I mean no doubt in 10 years the card could go to auction and fetch 350k, however at the same time it could just as easily fetch 100k and there are numerous factors that will determine that; economy, the state of the hobby, the finances of the bulls in the hobby -- and lets also not forget what happens if another Bobby Orr Rookie test card pops up out of nowhere, that will really screw with the value - and you know stuff like that happens all the time.. Every year there is a great find somewhere... I mean for example there is a guy on youtube that literally has hordes of 1952 Topps "Christmas Rack Packs" with stars literally showing on the front and back - major stars - he has packs with several Mantles showing and according to him he has a "freezer box" full of these rack packs (over 10,000 packs) and this guy rarely sells them... Imagine what's going to happen when those cards eventually hit the market? the price of 1952 Topps is going to plummet .....

I suppose my point is that investing in cards isn't a "sure thing investment" but no investment is a sure thing anyway and it's always good to have some of your money in investments, some invest in stocks, some invest in crypto, some invest in real estate or small businesses and apparently this guy invests in cards - that or he wants to have one kickass collection to show off..... Wonder where he would keep such a card anyway? it's not exactly the type of card you would put in your PC box - it's more like a card you put in a safety deposit box or a safe... It's definitely not a card you just pull out to admire for 5 minutes then put it back in the box until you feel the urge to admire it again 6 months later.

Also I wonder how Bobby Orr himself feels about this? at one point after the Eagleson fiasco he was literally broke, and here is one of his cards selling for a little less than he made during his entire career. And certainly more than he had when he retired.

[forceplay sport]

just as a side note, with in the last 3 - 5 years the regular Topps Orr rookie jumped $500 bucks, not bad considering this is the 4th sport .

[Savard18]

just as a side note, with in the last 3 - 5 years the regular Topps Orr rookie jumped $500 bucks, not bad considering this is the 4th sport .

I think that is about right.... Think about it - most Orr RC's - 99% of them have been accounted for in higher grade... I mean it's only a matter of time before all the "shoe box collections" are found and all the packs have been opened, so your odds of finding an Orr RC in a pack or in a collection are becoming few and far in between..

I suppose (or at least hope) that somewhere out there there is some kids collection that was stashed up in the attic long ago and they were protected from the elements.. It's been 55 years..

The card wen't up 500 because they've been dwindling out..