SSS Sports Card is a Detroit company that sells professionally graded issues of rookies and stars from sports such as basketball, football, and hockey. When it comes to NHL players, one of the key athletes that SSS Sports Card inventories is Wayne Gretzky.
Known as the “the Great One,” the perennial All-Star and leader of the Edmonton Oilers has the 1979-80 Topps #18 as his flagship rookie. This is accompanied by a Canadian O-Pee-Chee version that is identical in design, except that the back is printed in both French and English.
While both Gretzky cards are avidly collected, it is the O-Pee-Chee issue that brings the most money in auction, as it is nearly impossible to find in the highest grades. This has to do with the fact that the Canadian printer had lower quality paper stock and printing standards, which makes imperfections, particularly along the sides and corners, extremely common.
There have been a few select O-Pee-Chee examples graded PSA 10, with an auction in 2022 of such a specimen having a winning bid of $1.29 million. A PSA 3 O-Pee-Chee copy sold for $1,200 on eBay in March 2023, while a PSA 6 went for $2,726. By contrast, a Topps version of the Gretzky rookie graded a higher PSA 7 sold for $2,336.
Triple SSS Sports Cards 