Rare case containing coveted Wayne Gretzky rookie cards sells for $3.7M US

[The Arrogant Worms]

https://www.sportsnet.ca/nhl/article/rare-case-containing-coveted-wayne-gretzky-rookie-cards-sells-for-3-7m/

 

 

[Coconuts]

Think the gum is still any good?

[Left Wing Nut]

5 minutes ago, Coconuts said:

Think the gum is still any good?

How could it get worse?

[gwarrior]

The guy that won that auction, has WAY too much money!!!! 

[cripplereh]

39 minutes ago, gwarrior said:

The guy that won that auction, has WAY too much money!!!! 

He has that much money he can pay Wayne to be there and sign it, then put it in a crystal case for safe keeping.

[gwarrior]

41 minutes ago, cripplereh said:

He has that much money he can pay Wayne to be there and sign it, then put it in a crystal case for safe keeping.

Yeah, no shit. Get Wayne to sign em all, then auction em off. Recoup the money, and then some. And of course keep 1.

[Mike Vanderhoek]

got out and sold all my cards years ago. Maybe should have partaken in the grading game first a little. Fun to see the old stuff still circulating.

[gwarrior]

Hell, I ordered a "blaster box" of cards today. Should be here tomorrow. What did I just get myself into?!!

[Elias Pettersson]

So, how many Wayne Gretzky rookie cards did they find?

[gwarrior]

50 minutes ago, Elias Pettersson said:

So, how many Wayne Gretzky rookie cards did they find?

Think they said there could be up to 27 of them in there. But that also means they gotta open all the packs up. Can you imagine if you spent $5 million canadian, and there isn't even 1 Gretzky rookie card in the lot?

[PuckYa]

I have a few...

[Elias Pettersson]

2 hours ago, gwarrior said:

Think they said there could be up to 27 of them in there. But that also means they gotta open all the packs up. Can you imagine if you spent $5 million canadian, and there isn't even 1 Gretzky rookie card in the lot?

 

The article says that the buyer will never open up the boxes.  I guess they believe the value is to keep them locked up so you have every card in mint condition.

 

It would be funny though if they somehow got the date wrong on the box and the cards are from 1978 and Gretzky isn't in there...   

[IBatch]

On 2/27/2024 at 12:04 AM, gwarrior said:

Think they said there could be up to 27 of them in there. But that also means they gotta open all the packs up. Can you imagine if you spent $5 million canadian, and there isn't even 1 Gretzky rookie card in the lot?

Considering they will be in as close to  gen mint condition as possible, and that the best one so far (even cards out of a pack, like a new comic on a shelf, to actually be gem mint, or pristine, it's got to be like brand new without anything wrong with it) sold for a couple million ...  It's a very good risk/reward sale.   Market will be flooded a bit, best way to deal with it, is sell the individual boxes at double what he paid for them.   And open 3-4 to acquire some cards himself.    That's a lot of cards, i'm sure he'd find a couple in each box.   And their condition, no fading at all in its own would be awfully special.   I'd also pay for some of that gum. 

Edited February 28 by IBatch

[Theo5789]

7 hours ago, Elias Pettersson said:

 

The article says that the buyer will never open up the boxes.  I guess they believe the value is to keep them locked up so you have every card in mint condition.

 

It would be funny though if they somehow got the date wrong on the box and the cards are from 1978 and Gretzky isn't in there...   

Well the allure has value. Also, wouldn't they devalue the more you "find" as it won't be as rare anymore?

[NewbieCanuckFan]

10 hours ago, gwarrior said:

Think they said there could be up to 27 of them in there. But that also means they gotta open all the packs up. Can you imagine if you spent $5 million canadian, and there isn't even 1 Gretzky rookie card in the lot?

There were 27 Gary Suter cards to take them out.

[gwarrior]

8 hours ago, IBatch said:

Considering they will be in as close to mint condition as possible, and that the best one so far (even cards out of a pack, like a new comic on a shelf, to actually be mint, it's got to be like brand new without anything wrong with it) sold for a couple million ...  It's a very good risk/reward sale.   Market will be flooded a bit, best way to deal with it, is sell the individual boxes at double what he paid for them.   And open 3-4 to acquire some cards himself.    That's a lot of cards, i'm sure he'd find a couple in each box.   And their condition, no fading at all in its own would be awfully special.   I'd also pay for some of that gum. 

When I think of cards that come with gum, I flash back to that Simpsons Halloween episode where Milhouse get Krusty trading cards and is dissappointed, and Bart says "at least you got the gum". And Milhouse bites it, it shatters and he yells "OW!!! I CUT MY CHEEK!!!!".

[Dumb Nuck]

Each box has 480 cards and the set has 396 card so should get 1.2/box or 19 for the whole case.

 

Getting a 10 rated card is extremely unlikely, hopefully they'll all be 9.0 and at $150,000 US each that's $2,850,000.

 

That's not to mention that adding another 16 mint Grezky RCs into the market will probably lower the price. IMHO a bad investment to open them, I'd sell individual packs at $10K a pop , lots of gamblers out there.

 

[gwarrior]

1 hour ago, Dumb Nuck said:

Each box has 480 cards and the set has 396 card so should get 1.2/box or 19 for the whole case.

 

Getting a 10 rated card is extremely unlikely, hopefully they'll all be 9.0 and at $150,000 US each that's $2,850,000.

 

That's not to mention that adding another 16 mint Grezky RCs into the market will probably lower the price. IMHO a bad investment to open them, I'd sell individual packs at $10K a pop , lots of gamblers out there.

 

That's actually not a bad strategy. If I was the one that bought it, I know damn well I would open it all up to see what's hiding inside. Hell, I had a box of 8 packs with 5 cards arrive today, and I opened em all. Got 2 different Makar cards among others.

[gwarrior]

16 hours ago, PuckYa said:

I have a few...

Do ya now?

[Salacious Crumb]

17 hours ago, IBatch said:

Considering they will be in as close to mint condition as possible, and that the best one so far (even cards out of a pack, like a new comic on a shelf, to actually be mint, it's got to be like brand new without anything wrong with it) sold for a couple million ...  It's a very good risk/reward sale.   Market will be flooded a bit, best way to deal with it, is sell the individual boxes at double what he paid for them.   And open 3-4 to acquire some cards himself.    That's a lot of cards, i'm sure he'd find a couple in each box.   And their condition, no fading at all in its own would be awfully special.   I'd also pay for some of that gum. 

The cards may grade well as far as surface, but printing, trimming and especially centering were as bad as my spelling is. No guarantee of a perfect specimen.

 

The value may lie in the rarity of an unopened case.

[PuckYa]

7 hours ago, gwarrior said:

Do ya now?

4

[IBatch]

9 hours ago, Salacious Crumb said:

The cards may grade well as far as surface, but printing, trimming and especially centering were as bad as my spelling is. No guarantee of a perfect specimen.

 

The value may lie in the rarity of an unopened case.

The find is considered the "greatest unopened find of the 21st century".   Up to 27 (depending on the source) pristine WG cards are supposedly in there.   Only two mint cards are in existence.   As soon as a card is out of a pack, and into the light, it begins to fade/oxidize.   Touching a card without clean or new gloves leaves oils.   As far as printing issues, that can often be a good thing.   It is in other collections, rare mis prints often are worth a lot more then how the card was supposed to be printed.    Because it's rare and different.   The value for sure could lie in the unopened boxes.    Sure that the owner, wouldn't have a problem flipping them in some

method, and making a tidy profit.  Or holding onto them for another decade or two.   The fact it was in a box and appears to never have been in direct sunlight is a huge boon.   Not sure about humidity issues, or if they opened a pack to see their condition.  

 

One thing is, if there is say 20 WG cards and say five are 10's (i'm sure most will be 9.6/7 or higher, they won't have any imperfections along the edges which is practically impossible once handled a few times, and no fading, which unless it's been from pack to case and stored away from the sun, also almost impossible to get from a card, the entire set has an excellent chance of every card being mint, and a lot pristine, or gem mint ).    9.5's are still worth a lot of money.  

 

Flooding the market is likely though.   But even at 500k each on average, that's over 10 most likely.   

 

Even the 10 that sold, some tiny visible, edge wear.    Collect cards myself.   Not an expert, at all, but do understand the process.  Given these are in a box, in boxes, the packs themselves haven't been handled,  it's pretty extraordinary.   Who wouldn't love to put on the white gloves, and open these.    

 

Other cards have some value in there too.   Have a few rookie cards, Lidstrom, Sundin, quite a few from that era.   A garage fine

too (circa 1987-1994).  They were opened, and in a couple boxes, all tight and in a row.   Most are NM or Mint, and they weren't stored at all like this.   

Edited February 28 by IBatch

[Kevin Biestra]

1 hour ago, IBatch said:

The find is considered the "greatest unopened find of the 21st century".   Up to 27 (depending on the source) pristine WG cards are supposedly in there.   Only two mint cards are in existence.   As soon as a card is out of a pack, and into the light, it begins to fade/oxidize.   Touching a card without clean or new gloves leaves oils.   As far as printing issues, that can often be a good thing.   It is in other collections, rare mis prints often are worth a lot more then how the card was supposed to be printed.    Because it's rare and different.   The value for sure could lie in the unopened boxes.    Sure that the owner, wouldn't have a problem flipping them in some

method, and making a tidy profit.  Or holding onto them for another decade or two.   The fact it was in a box and appears to never have been in direct sunlight is a huge boon.   Not sure about humidity issues, or if they opened a pack to see their condition.  

 

One thing is, if there is say 20 WG cards and say five are 10's (i'm sure most will be 9.6/7 or higher, they won't have any imperfections along the edges which is practically impossible once handled a few times, and no fading, which unless it's been from pack to case and stored away from the sun, also almost impossible to get from a card, the entire set has an excellent chance of every card being mint, and a lot pristine, or gem mint ).    9.5's are still worth a lot of money.  

 

Flooding the market is likely though.   But even at 500k each on average, that's over 10 most likely.   

 

Even the 10 that sold, some tiny visible, edge wear.    Collect cards myself.   Not an expert, at all, but do understand the process.  Given these are in a box, in boxes, the packs themselves haven't been handled,  it's pretty extraordinary.   Who wouldn't love to put on the white gloves, and open these.    

 

Other cards have some value in there too.   Have a few rookie cards, Lidstrom, Sundin, quite a few from that era.   A garage fine

too (circa 1987-1994).  They were opened, and in a couple boxes, all tight and in a row.   Most are NM or Mint, and they weren't stored at all like this.   

 

Heh I remember when dudes used to just set up a table in the mall with tubs of cards from the 70s and 80s and you could pick any five you wanted for a dollar.

[Rocket-68]

On 2/27/2024 at 2:10 PM, Dumb Nuck said:

Each box has 480 cards and the set has 396 card so should get 1.2/box or 19 for the whole case.

 

Getting a 10 rated card is extremely unlikely, hopefully they'll all be 9.0 and at $150,000 US each that's $2,850,000.

 

That's not to mention that adding another 16 mint Grezky RCs into the market will probably lower the price. IMHO a bad investment to open them, I'd sell individual packs at $10K a pop , lots of gamblers out there.

 

A near-mint Gretzky rookie card can sell from $7,000 to $8,000, where a mint condition card can fetch millions. In fact, the last mint condition Gretzky rookie card, sold by Heritage Auctions in 2021, fetched an eye-watering US$3.75 million (more than CA$5 million.

 

https://sports.ha.com/heritage-auctions-press-releases-and-news/wayne-gretzky-s-1979-rookie-card-skates-to-a-new-world-record-with-3.75-million-sale.s?releaseId=4200

 

Be interesting to see what that box set does to the Wayne rookie card prices.

Edited March 2 by Rocket-68

[Dumb Nuck]

1 hour ago, Rocket-68 said:

A near-mint Gretzky rookie card can sell from $7,000 to $8,000, where a mint condition card can fetch millions. In fact, the last mint condition Gretzky rookie card, sold by Heritage Auctions in 2021, fetched an eye-watering US$3.75 million (more than CA$5 million.

 

https://sports.ha.com/heritage-auctions-press-releases-and-news/wayne-gretzky-s-1979-rookie-card-skates-to-a-new-world-record-with-3.75-million-sale.s?releaseId=4200

 

Be interesting to see what that box set does to the Wayne rookie card prices.

That card was a PSA 10 which means it has to be perfect, only a handful of them exist. Problem was that the 1979 set seriously lacked quality control and cards were off center or had frayed edges. Odds of finding a PSA 10 in that one case are slim to none. I'd bet my slightly used wife on the fact that if they opened the case they'd end up losing money, heck, I'd even give 2:1 odds.