"This is probably the Holy Grail of any sport, '70 on up." - 1979-80 O-Pee-Chee Hockey Sealed Case

1979-80 O-Pee-Chee Hockey Wax Box Sealed Case (16 boxes/48 packs/BBCE Authentication) - Only Known Case from Gretzky's Rookie Season!
To see the full authentication process, unedited - click here - • RAW VIDEO: BBCE Authen...
Like 1986-87 Fleer Basketball, the 1979-80 O-Pee-Chee Hockey issue has been assured of hobby immortality by the rookie card of its sport's greatest figure. The pandemic era saw debut cards from Michael Jordan and Wayne Gretzky dominating national headlines as the former climbed past half a million dollars and the latter skyrocketing to an eye-popping $1.29 million price tag in Heritage Auctions' December 2020 sale. Heritage later brokered a sale for a Gem Mint 10 example of Gretzky's OPC rookie for a world record $3.75 million.We offer this information in the interest of providing a degree of perspective into just how profoundly rare and important the offered lot is within the post-war trading card community.
While there is no precise data for wax box populations, there are over 300 Jordan rookies assessed at a PSA Gem Mint 10 level. The population of Gem Mint 10 OPC Gretzky rookies? Two.But it's a virtual certainty that we find something twice as rare here, as no other unopened case of 1979-80 OPC has ever surfaced in the 21st century, and it's all but impossible to imagine another ever will. The experts at Baseball Card Exchange have confirmed that all sixteen wax boxes contained within are original to the case. With forty-eight packs per box and ten cards (and one sticker) per pack, that's 7,680 cards fresh off the factory floor (and 768 stickers).
When considering that there are 396 cards in the set, a perfectly random assortment would suggest that about twenty physically pristine Gretzky rookies are contained within this hefty brown cardboard case. And while wax boxes from a sealed case carry a significant premium, we can report that Heritage has auctioned a 1979-80 OPC wax box without "from a sealed case" provenance for over a quarter-million dollars.Remarkably, our consignor wasn't aware he owned this outrageous Holy Grail case until very recent accounting of a long-forgotten pile of boxes in his home in Saskatchewan, where deadstock cards from the late 1970's and early 1980's had been gathering dust since he had bought them directly from a wholesaler. We'll be presenting other cases and boxes from the collection in future auctions, but again we'll assure our bidding clientele that this case represents the entirety of unopened 1979-80 O-Pee-Chee Hockey in that collection.
The case itself presents with only the slightest evidence of handling and storage wear, indicative of a long and lonely existence of unmolested seclusion. By any metric of evaluation, it's a thrilling miracle of survival, and one of the greatest trading card lots that Heritage has ever had the privilege to offer. Authenticated and sealed by Steve Hart-Baseball Card Exchange (BBCE). Individual LOA from BBCE for each wax box as well.
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[@johnnydropkicks]

I would NOT be putting a $2 million+ box of ANYTHING in the back of a minivan. Just imagine if the minivan was rear-ended. I would put it in the middle seat, I’d buckle it in, and fill the entire minivan with bubble wrap. Or, I’d put the box into a large titanium safe filled with bubble wrap. Bubble wrap is some amazing stuff. 🙂

[@broth0076]

lmao

[@hortanokilli7608]

With BBCE authenticating and wrapping it, there are probably GI Joe cards inside.

[@pawpatrolnews]

Better then Barbie cards!

[@misguidedangel6550]

Why do u say that?

[@davelerner8461]

What a great video, I've been a collector of unopened since 1989 and have used BBCE for some material, what a stunning wax box case! If you want a good laugh, and this is a true story, in 1990 my father in law and I were at the San Francisco Moscone Center annual show and a dealer was selling an unopened case of 86-87 Fleer basketball together with a case of 87-88 and 88-89. All three for a total of $7K. We thought the price was too high and walked away! At the time from what I recall, a single pack of the 86 basketball went for about $5!!

[@fantasticvoyage262]

We all have regrets in life.

[@eltoroloco1936]

Also thank you for filming a part of hobby history,

[@eltoroloco1936]

At first I questioned your lack of armed security and then I saw the look on the guys face a 00:43 seconds. :)

[@michaeledwards1644]

awesome, once in a lifetime case

[@deelo2281]

That heat gun seems like a bad idea. Especially when they did the individual boxes

[@misguidedangel6550]

It's fine

[@kobiimpraim4838]

Don't know the process, but I was curious as to the effects of using a heat gun to seal the box again. Would applying heat like that affect the box, the wax wrapping of the cards, the gum inside, etc?

[@archstanton8126]

yeah I was wondering that too

[@djmoonchild01]

Yes, the gum is known to bleed thru worse than Topps gum, affecting several cards per pack so heat gun just melted em right into cards ruining any sort of well preservation that it had..

[@johnnydropkicks]

Shrink wrap only needs a very small amount of heat applied to it for it to shrink and seal tightly. It is not plastic wrap. Plastic wrap and shrink wrap are completely different. Shrink wrap stretches as you tear into it - while plastic wrap maintains it’s form and does not stretch. Also, the heat gun that is used to shrink wrap doesn’t get as hot as a heat gun that you would purchase at a hardware store. It’s basically a suped-up hair dryer. I doubt it would affect any of the contents of the boxes or the boxes themselves.

[@misguidedangel6550]

​ya they've been doing this for 35 years with the majority of their work verifying old wax with gum, they know what they're doing

[@bswhiten]

unreal...great video!

[@starblazer13]

Didn't even use gloves for these multilmillion dollars collection that's 40+ years... seriously?

[@HeritageAuctions]

Clean, dry hands are now preferred.

[@bennisles9521]

Why is that? The mint doesn’t even want oils on their metals but it’s okay on cards?

[@misguidedangel6550]

​@@bennisles9521they didn't touch any cards, just the box

[@ijksmom99]

I recently acquired a 1980 Wayne Gretzky OPC 2nd year - PSA 9 - but the back says printed by Topps. This is the first I ever seen like this. What are your thoughts on this?

[@acdatz6222]

Is the gum any good?

[@aaronlongbine3829]

Why in the name of God you would open it is mind boggling !! Might as wel just open all the packs too !!

[@walexander8378]

Good idea

[@ThoseBackPages]

LOVE IT!

[@YzerWings]

Drive by this place all the time. Cool

[@karlepaul6632]

The owner was initially told to open it a bit and see if the boxes were white...it would've been a moot point had it been packed upside down as the bottom of the 80/81 boxes were white...but I digress, awesome case 👍

[@drugstorecowboy6540]

Could the packs be ruined by the Cheap gum opc put in their packs..Melting through the cards???

[@fixitnowmike]

I don't think you should of opened the case

[@paledim25]

My thoughts exactly. The sealed case is the rare item here, not the individual boxes. Now there are no sealed cases.

[@FischerFan]

@@paledim25 Mine too. Busting the seal of the case probably reduced the value of all the cards by about 50 per cent, because wax cases of this series are virtually extinct.

[@brianmyers4444]

@@FischerFanthe Gretzky cards ain't losing value because the case is open.... auctioning each box will still bring in a ton of cash....

[@FischerFan]

@@brianmyers4444 Yes, I am aware of that. As long as the individual boxes remain open, then the seller has the proof that the packs have not been searched.

[@broth6]

how else would it be possible to verify that the sealed case itself is genuine?

[@crb4059]

Should be kept sealed. There's enough cards in the market.

[@misguidedangel6550]

​@whatever3749the rough cut on OpeeChee isn't supposed to effect the grade since they are all like this for the most part

[@misguidedangel6550]

@whatever3749 now that you mention it I do remember one of the Gretzky 10s having the rough cut on it. 81/82 OPC was really bad for rough cuts as well. Some years were worse then others it seems. Edit- interesting to know about the 60s comics as well, I wasn't aware of that.

[@jony6584]

Wow beautiful

[@standing0]

This is so awesome!

[@kellycook5314]

Hope that’s what you have inside. BBCE has a history of authenticity guarantee that wasn’t the Pokémon ( We’ve been duped ) misrepresentation.

[@mjphoto45]

Why open the case?

[@arthurtinsley6449]

Wow just Wow I'd be in all my glory having a box little on the whole case, squirtin over here LOL

[@Giantsdude]

Holy crap!!!

[@ErikShen2907]

What Would RICK HARRISON DO???

[@fantasticvoyage262]

Offer a small fraction of what they're worth.

[@misguidedangel6550]

@@fantasticvoyage262 just like any other dealer would do

[@fantasticvoyage262]

@@misguidedangel6550 That's how they stay in business.

[@patientmental875]

What if the gum ruined all the cards? Does the buyer get a refund or is it just the risk they take?

[@BoboMcBooboy]

Risk.

[@BoboMcBooboy]

Will CLEARLY be marked as "as is." - in theory, glue should only ruin a card or two if the packs broke. No reason to believe they would if wrapped from a pro company.

[@FischerFan]

That is where the element of 'buyer beware' comes into play. In those years, OPC's mission statement was selling bubblegum instead of quality sports cards. The enclosed bubblegum tends to more problematic in some series than in others. I know the series before this one, the 1978-79 set, is particularly bad for gum sticking to the last card in a pack.

[@AffectionateGrazingCows-et5jz]

O Pee Chee were not pro card makers. Their cards were usually cut off angle and the pictures were sometimes horrible. They cared more about the gum back in the days. The cards should be fine though. Congrats on the find.

[@misguidedangel6550]

​@@FischerFanGum sticks to the last card in the pack most of the time for all 70s and 80s Opeechee packs. Putting the card with the gum attached into a freezer for many hours and then gently removing or even hitting the frozen gum lightly with a hammer helps sometimes. If you try to remove the gum at room temperature off the card it usually takes a piece of the card with it

[@redscorpion-se4hr]

Id laugh if their the 1980 yello cards. I think its fishy that box for 1980 has no age..

[@misguidedangel6550]

Not really fishy at all. They were stored inside and not handled. There was an old Camaro Iroc-Z that was found, can't remember the year 1985-1987, somewhere around there, it was found in its original shipping crate. The car that never been driven, gem mint inside and out Edit-the Iroc-Z was inside a shipping trailer since 1985, it had 9 original miles only. Everything inside was still wrapped in plastic, cardboard, bubble wrap etc

[@jamesmoore1456]

Owner should have kept them .open them up burst your bubble .😂

[@jamiepike6909]

Hope they aren’t unicorn boxes inside.

[@djmoonchild01]

The gum is known to bleed thru worse than Topps gum, affecting several cards per pack so heat gun just melted em right into cards ruining any sort of well preservation that it had..

[@fantasticvoyage262]

I would think the store would have known that before heat sealing them.

[@djmoonchild01]

@@fantasticvoyage262 they didn't, Canadian gum is much worse than u.s. gum for this set.

[@fantasticvoyage262]

@@djmoonchild01 What is in the gum that makes it worse than the Topps gum?

[@djmoonchild01]

@@fantasticvoyage262 I don't know, I just know guys in the hobby who deal with these o-pee-chee packs from this era and they ruin a few cards per pack when opened now instead of back then.

[@fantasticvoyage262]

@@djmoonchild01 I wasn't aware of that. So Topps was a more desirable product?

[@rayxtwo]

How much are his "ICE CAPADES" rookie cards going for???? Biggest spoon fed player to ever play the game😡😡😡😡😡😡😡