1968-69 was the second season of the post-Original 6 era. The Montreal Canadiens were regular season champs and marched through the playoffs to sweep the St. Louis Blues in the Stanley Cup finals. Phil Esposito shattered the league record for points with 126 and Bobby Hull did the same with the goals record with 58. Of course, Esposito would make a mockery of both those numbers in 1970-71.
Find deals on 1968-69 O-Pee-Chee hockey cards at eBay!
Before 1968-69, O-Pee-Chee had last produced a series of hockey cards in 1940-41. World War II caused a hockey card hiatus after that and the hobby didn’t return until 1950-51. Parkhurst brought the hobby back to the mainstream in 1950-51 and continued to produce hockey cards until the 1963-64 season. Topps joined Parkhurst in 1954-55 and carried on until the ProSet era.
O-Pee-Chee re-entered the market in 1968-69, producing a set of 216 cards. The series was the same basic design as the Topps cards but O-Pee-Chee produced a 216 card set to the 132 Topps cards. Beckett values a complete set of 1968-69 O-Pee-Chee at $2500. A complete Topps set from the same season is valued at just $750.
The number one valued card of the 1968-69 O-Pee-Chee series is the third year card of Bobby Orr. The star defenseman from the Bruins was featured on card number 2 and valued at $350. There were two other Bobby Orr hockey cards in the series, number 200 (All-Star) valued at $150 and number 214 (Norris Trophy) also valued at $150.
The top rookie card in the set belonged to Bernie Parent of the Philadelphia Flyers. The Bernie Parent rookie card is valued at $250. Valued at an equal amount is Checklist #121. The only other non-checklist card to exceed $100 in value is that of Gordie Howe. The number 29 card of Howe is valued at $100.
Other rookie cards of note from the 1968-69 O-Pee-Chee series include Danny Grant ($20), Mickey Redmond ($70), Les Binkley ($20), Bob Plager ($25), Garry Unger ($30) and Keith McCreary ($40).
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Where might I find the ’68 O-Pee-Chee complete set for sale other than an auction?
Other than a card shop or card show, Kijiji…
Thanks for that info Tom.
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