If you’ve ever spent much time collecting, trading, or investing in NHL trading cards, there’s a good chance you will have heard the name ‘Bobby Orr’ before.
This legendary defensive player is considered to be the Boston Bruin’s greatest player of all time.
In fact, there are many who make the argument that Orr is the greatest hockey player in the history of the sport!
For these reasons, his NHL trading card is now worth a heck of a lot of money compared to most other players’.
Bobby Orr’s rookie card is said to be worth over $40,000 at auction. At least, this is the case for his 1966 Topps rookie card.
However, there are plenty of his other types of cards that have sold for even more or slightly less than this figure.
In this article, we’ll be taking a look at some of Bobby Orr’s most expensive trading cards. And help you understand what makes a card so valuable.
Most Expensive Bobby Orr Trading Card
Like we said before, the valuation of over $40,000 for a Bobby Orr rookie card is just an estimation of what it would sell for at an auction.
However, there’s every chance it could sell for way more than that…
1966 Topps Bobby Orr USA Test Card – $204,020.40
This is the most expensive Bobby Orr trading card that has ever been sold at auction.
Over a period of one month in 2019, the bidding went from just $5,000 all the way to over $200,000. With one private collector taking the card home for their collection.
The reason this particular rookie card was worth so much more than most was its rarity and condition.
The card was originally produced in 1966/67 so very few of them are still in circulation today.
Also, it was in impeccable condition when it was sold. The PSA scale is how trading cards are ranked for condition. And it works on a scale from 1 to 10.
This card was the only mint PSA 9 on the scale. One of the most flawless conditions for a trading card to be in.
To put this in some perspective, a PSA 2 card (which is still good condition) will cost around $1500. Which is still roughly three times its value in 2010.
A PSA 8 card, which is only one ranking below the PSA 9, will be worth an estimated $32,000.
This is way more than cards at the lower end of the scale. But way less than one just a single rank above it.
This just goes to show how important the condition is when it comes to investing and selling sports trading cards.
Most Expensive Hockey Trading Card
Incredibly, the sale of Bobby Orr’s rookie card for over $200,000 isn’t even the most expensive sale ever for a hockey trading card.
That title belongs to the 1979-80 O-Pee-Chee Wayne Gretzky card which sold in a 2016 auction for $456,000!
This price is more than double the second most expensive sale of all time.And it seems unlikely that any sale will ever come close to this figure again.
All hockey fans will be familiar with the name ‘Wayne Gretzky’. This legendary player often has the most sought-after cards on the market.
However, this one was particularly special because it was one of his rarest rookie cards. And it was graded as a PSA 10, meaning it was in the most perfect mint condition possible.
This remarkable sale just goes to show once again how important it is to keep your trading cards in good condition. Especially if you want to resell them in the future for a tidy profit.
What Makes A Hockey Trading Card Valuable?
Ok, now that we’ve taken a look at some of the biggest hockey card sales of all time. Let’s think about what it is that makes them so valuable.
Rarity
As we mentioned earlier, rarity is one of the big factors that come into play when determining the value of any sports trading card.
For example, sometimes there are hundreds of thousands of copies of a certain card circulating throughout the world. This will make it will be easier to get your hands on one for a cheaper price.
However, if there are only 10 in existence in the world, it will be much harder to get one because you’ll have to compete with others to buy it at an auction.
It works on the simple economic principle of supply and demand.
The demand for a popular player’s card will often always be the same. This is regardless of how many there are in existence. If the supply of this card is low, its price will drive up.
The Player
Of course, another important factor to consider is the player on the card themself.
Even if there’s only one card in existence for a player who never won a game in his life, nobody cares enough to pay a high price for him.
Again, this relates to the demand for a card. Players like Bobby Orr and Wayne Gretzky have a high demand for their cards, which increases their prices dramatically.
Condition
Finally, the most important thing to consider when valuing a hockey card is its condition.
We’ve already looked briefly at the PSA grading scale but this is considered the gospel when it comes to working out what condition an item is in.
The higher your card is on the PSA scale, the more likely it is that you can sell it for a higher price.
Conclusion
As you can tell, Bobby Orr’s rookie cards are worth a heck of a lot more money than the average person would think.
This is because of all the key factors we’ve looked at in this guide, combining to produce some very lucrative sales.
If you can get your hands on one of his cards cheaply, you might just have a fortune on your hands!
When I was just starting out with my card collection, I had lots of questions about authenticity, trading, and card conditions. But with not that much information available online, I felt quite alone in my queries. Some questions still haven’t been answered to this day.
This site aims to rectify this, and now, I am passing on my knowledge!
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