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If you're the type of person who drops six figures on a tiny sports collectible, you're probably in Atlantic City this very moment to attend the National Sports Collectors Convention. But if you're in the market for a mint-condition Wayne Gretzky rookie card from 1979, I'm afraid that auction is over.
It sold Thursday at the convention to an anonymous bidder for $465,000, the highest price ever for a hockey trading card and the third-most-expensive for a trading card in any sport not named baseball.
According to Goldin Auctions chief executive Ken Goldin, the previous record for a hockey card was the same Gretzky O-Pee-Chee card, which sold for $94,162 in 2011. Only the famous T206 Honus Wagner card — ironically, a card once co-owned by Gretzky in the 1990s — and a 1914 card featuring Babe Ruth just after he signed with the Baltimore Orioles have sold for a higher amount than the Gem Mint 10-rated Gretzky card, according to TheRichest.com. According to Goldin, it's the only Gretzky rookie card at that exalted grade in existence.
"I was not surprised," Goldin told the CBC. "The Great One certainly has the number one hockey card of all time, and with all the millions of card collectors and hockey fans out there, they wanted bragging rights."