- Written by Chloe Kim & Jessica Murphy
- BBC news
image source, heritage auction
An unopened case of ice hockey cards found in a basement office has been sold at auction to a Canadian family for US$3.1 million (CAD 4.2 million, £2.4 million).
Inside may be more than 20 “rookie cards” of Wayne Gretzky, one of the greatest players in the history of the sport.
An auction house spokesperson said the family who discovered the case hidden in their Saskatchewan office was “overjoyed” with the sale.
The winning bidder is a Canadian who wishes to remain anonymous.
A 20% premium will be added to the purchase price, bringing the final price paid by Canadian bidders to approximately $3.7 million.
Dallas-based Heritage Auctions calls the discovery of an unused 1979-1980 card from the now-defunct candy and trading card brand O-Pee-Chee “the greatest unopened find of the 21st century.” is.
Its characterization is based on the valuable trading cards it may contain, specifically Mr. Gretzky's rookie card. Rookie cards were the first to depict athletes as professional players, and many collectors pay a premium for them.
Individual Gretzky cards can cost anywhere from a few thousand dollars to hundreds of thousands of dollars. Three years ago, Heritage Auctions sold a 1979 O-Pee-Chee card for $3.75 million, a record.
Heritage Auctions says in the lot description that there are 396 cards in the set, so there could be approximately 27 physically unused Gretzky rookies inside the brown cardboard case. Stated.
“There are no guarantees, but it would be a pretty big statistical anomaly to deviate significantly from that number,” said Jason Simmons, a sports card expert at Heritage.
The family who discovered the incident “hosted a small viewing party with close friends to watch the bidding take place,” Simmons said.
Mr Simmons told the BBC that the dusty incident was discovered when the father, with the help of his son, was cleaning up his office in Regina.
Her father, an “old-school collector,” bought the case years ago with the intention of opening the envelopes and making a set of cards to sell, but he never got around to it. His family has requested anonymity.
These cases, which contain 16 boxes of 48 packs per box and 14 cards per pack, for a total of over 10,000 cards, were originally sold to big box stores; It was intended for stores to open and sell individual packs to customers.
All 16 wax boxes in the larger box were authenticated before being put up for auction.
