Wayne Gretzky 1979 NHL Rookie Card Case Sells for Record $2.52M at Auction

The only known sealed case of O-Pee-Chee Hockey wax boxes from Wayne Gretzky's rookie season sold on Thursday for a record $2.52 million at Heritage Auctions.

The sale set a record for the most expensive unopened trading cards package in auction history, according to The Athletic's Brooks Peck.

The box contains 10,752 trading cards from Gretzky's rookie season, according to Heritage. The auction house estimated that the case will contain 27 Gretzky rookie cards.

There have been 13,887 Gretzky rookie cards graded by PSA, according to CLLCT's Will Stern. Just two of those cards have received the highest possible rating, a Gem Mint 10.

Should a third mint condition card be discovered in the box, it could potentially set a new record for the most expensive NHL card ever sold. A 1979 OPC Gretzky rookie card graded at a Gem Mint 10 level by PSA set the current hockey card record in 2021 when Heritage sold it for $3.75 million.

A Gretzky rookie card in slightly less than mint condition would be significantly less valuable. There have been 95 Gretzky rookie cards graded a PSA 9, and one was most recently sold for $122,000, per Stern and Peck.

The OPC case fetched $1.2 million less than when it was last at auction. Heritage sold the case in February for a record $3.72 million to Ontario real estate agent Jack Arshawsky.

The case was put back on auction after Arshawsky did not complete his payments to Heritage. Because of the difference in sale prices, Arshawsky could potentially take legal action against the auction house, Peck reported.