The 1963-64 hockey card season was the last collectors would see of Parkhurst. The 1963-64 Topps series remains one of the most affordable of the pre O-Pee-Chee era. The interesting thing about the Topps cards is the generic action picture that takes up about a quarter of the front of the cards. The whole set becomes a collection of cardboard cameos, with three Hockey Hall of Fame stars standing out, in particular.
The front of the 1963-64 Topps cards are designed with a profile of the player in colour on the right side of the card and a blue hockey stick seperating the player from the black and white NHL action picture (see examples to understand my rambling). There isn’t a different action shot for each of the 66 cards, with the same picture appearing on several. The three that stood out to me were:
- Gordie Howe of the Detroit Red Wings (as appears on the sample Reg Fleming hockey card).
- Gump Worsley of the New York Rangers (as appears on the sample Doug Mohns hockey card).
- Glenn Hall of the Chicago Black Hawks (as appears on the sample Camille Henry hockey card).
Not only did Worsley make a cameo on several cards, but there is at least one other different picture of the sprawling Rangers goalie. What I found interesting about many of the pictures is that the players were often sprawled all over the ice – indicitive of the style of play in the 1960’s?
I’m a strong believer that cardboard cameo’s of star players should increase the value of a hockey card. However, only the Fleming card is worth
more than a common and only $5 more, at that.
As mentioned, the 1963-64 Topps series consisted of 66 cards. It would be the last year that Topps split the six NHL teams with Parkhurst. Topps featured players from the New York Rangers, Chicago Black Hawks and Boston Bruins while Parkhurst held the faces of the Toronto Maple Leafs, Detroit Red Wings and Montreal Canadiens.
Common cards are valued $10 by Beckett Hockey Monthly while a complete set can fetch $1000. The set included picture cards of each of the three teams and they are valued at $40 each. The top valued card in the set belongs to Bobby Hull. His number 33 card is valued at $250. The top rookie belongs to Ed Johnston of the Boston Bruins at $50. Simply not a great set for rookies, the series features the rookie cards of such greats as Ed Westfall, Ed Van Impe and Gilles Villemure.
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