Wayne Gretzky has two official rookie cards – the 1979-1980 Topps #18 and 1979-1980 O-Pee-Cee (OPC) #18 cards. The Topps version is the one distributed in the United States whereas OPC cards were distributed for sale throughout Canada. The major differences between the Topps and OPC cards relates to the card stock used. The OPC cards use a much brighter card stock which is easily noticeable if comparing the backs of the cards. Under blacklight the OPC card will fluoresce many times brighter versus the Topps card. I tend to believe many collectors think Gretzky’s OPC rookie card is a lot rarer than his Topps rookie, but the facts are that the Topps rookie card has only been graded 1000 times more then the OPC version. Neither by any means are a rare card, maybe another misconception by collectors. Despite this plentiful availability, demand for Gretzky’s rookie card remains strong, and prices continue to rise.
See our profile of the Gretzky Rookie Card.
