What's the Scoop with Hockey Cards?

For the 1951-52 National Hockey League season, Parkhurst produced a set of hockey cards. It was significant because it marked the beginning of annual production after what had been a sporadic half century for collectors.

Hockey cards had been produced in the first half of the century by several companies, mostly manufacturers of cigarettes. However, there was no regularity and when World War II began, production ceased entirely.

Mostly all the hockey cards from the 1951-52 Parkhurst series were considered rookies cards, even though some players might have been in the NHL for close to a decade. The most cherished of the set is the Gordie Howe rookie card which is valued at up to $3000.

Parkhurst was the lone producer until the 1954-55 season when Topps entered the market. The long-time baseball card company entered the hockey card business and ran alongside Parkhurst until Parkhurst dropped off after the 1963-64 season. Typically, Parkhurst would feature players from the Toronto Maple Leafs, Montreal Canadiens and Detroit Red Wings while Topps would take the other three teams in the league, the Boston Bruins, New York Rangers and Chicago Black Hawks.

O-Pee-Chee, a Canadian company out of London, Ontario began regular production for the 1968-69 season. O-Pee-Chee had produced cards in the 1930’s and was making a return to the market nearly four decades later. O-Pee-Chee was generally similar to Topps, with one available in Canada and the other in the United States. O-Pee-Chee tended to have more variety and slightly different designs but were very much the same.

The whole hockey world, the hockey card market included, changed in 1979 when Wayne Gretzky played his first NHL game. Interest in hockey collectibles skyrocketed and along with it so did the values. Gretzky’s 1979-80 O-Pee-Chee rookie card is valued at $1500 and is thought by many to be the most sought after hockey card. However, the rookie cards of Gordie Howe, Bobby Hull and Bobby Orr are all valued at twice that. Cards from the pre-Parkhurst era can be valued at over $10000.

In 1990, a company named ProSet flooded the market with cards and a handful of other new companies also sprang up to inundate collectors with product. This is typically marked as the end of the vintage hockey card era. Where, once, a player might have a card for every year they played in the National Hockey League, today each player can have anywhere from 10 to close to a hundred.