Hockey's Highest Valued Hockey Card?

Honus Wagner's famous 1909 baseball card gets worldwide attention for its selling value that is in the millions. What is the top valued hockey card?

Baseball has Honus Wagner. The 1909 Honus Wagner baseball card produced by the Piedmont Cigarette Company is the most valuable in existence. There are believed to be only sixty of these cards in the world and they have sold for millions.

What is the most valuable hockey card in existence? Where the Wagner card gets international attention each time it’s sold, very few know what hockey card sells for the most. It doesn’t quite fetch the millions that the Honus Wagner card does, but valued at $20,000, it’s not too shabby for a thin piece of old cardboard.

Since the early 1990’s, a great amount of attention has been paid to O-Pee-Chee’s #18 in their 1979-80 set. Of course, this card is the Wayne Gretzky rookie card. The card is valued at $800.00 today but has risen well over $1,000 in the past. High quality reprints that have found their way onto the market have tainted the value of the original card.

Only about thirteen years before, a set was produced by Topps that contained the rookie card of the great Bobby Orr of the Boston Bruins. This card, with the front face looking like an old style television screen, was the 1966-67 Topps #35. The Bobby Orr rookie card is valued at $3,000 in mint condition.

The RCs of two other legends are also valued at $3,000. Chicago Blackhawks historical icon Bobby Hull had his first hockey card show up as the 1958-59 Topps #66. Seven years earlier, the 1951-52 Parkhurst #66 featured the rookie card of Detroit Red Wings legend Gordie Howe. This was the first year that hockey cards were produced on a regular yearly basis and was eleven years after the closest previous set, the 1940-41 O-Pee-Chee V301 collection.

In fact, the first known hockey cards were produced in 1910-11 by Imperial Tobacco and were considerably smaller than the standard card size that we see today. The following year, the Imperial Tobacco set featured the great Georges Vezina in his rookie season. George, of course, is the goaltender that the NHL’s Vezina Trophy is named after. Vezina’s rookie card is valued at a cool $6,000.

From Vezina’s card, we take a huge jump to the next highest valued card. Harry Oliver played 16 seasons in the NHL from 1926-27 to 1936-37 with the Boston Bruins and the New York Americans. Oliver was inducted into the Hockey Hall of Fame in 1967. His first card was produced in 1933-34 as part of the V129 set. Since this had been the first year in nine for hockey cards, Harry’s, like almost every other player’s, was a rookie card. Oliver’s was short printed. Because of this, the card is very rare today and is valued at $15,000.

Bert “Pig Iron” Corbeau is not a well-known name. Yet, Corbeau’s 1923-24 V145-1 #25 is the hockey card with the world’s highest book value. Corbeau had a ten year National Hockey League career with the Montreal Canadiens, Hamilton Tigers and Toronto St. Pats (predecessor to the Maple Leafs) from 1917-18 to 1926-27. He was part of the Montreal’s first Stanley Cup championship team, the first player to play for both Montreal and Toronto during his career and the first player to record 100 penalty minutes in one season. Corbeau’s rookie card from 1923-24 is valued at $20,000 but expect to pay much more if one can be found for sale.

NHL Hockey Trivia: Montreal Canadiens Nicknames

Colourful nicknames in professional sports have gone the way of the dodo. Just a few decades ago, most hockey players had unique monikers and not just the first syllable of their last name with an -s or an -sy attached at the end.

The Montreal Canadiens were on the high end of the unique scale, most likely due to the language duality of the players and fan base. Here’s your chance to test your trivia knowledge and possibly learn a few new nicknames.

Q. What historic Montreal Canadiens goaltender was known as “The Chicoutimi Cucumber”?

A. George Vezina played for the Canadiens from 1910-11 to 1925-26. He died in 1926 due to tuberculosis, after playing just one game in net for Canadiens in 1925-26. The nickname was derived from the fact the Georges was born in Chicoutimi, Quebec and that he was ‘cool as a cucumber’ in the net.

Vezina led the NHA / NHL with the best goals against average seven times over his career. The Vezina Trophy was introduced for the 1926-27 season to recognize the top goaltender in the NHL each season. Georges won Stanley Cup championships with the Canadiens in 1915-16 and 1923-24. He was part of the inaugural class of Hockey Hall of Fame inductees in 1945.

The Georges Vezina rookie card from 1911-12 is one of the most sought after hockey cards in the world. Book value on the 1911-12 Imperial Tobacco C55 card is $6,000. However, auction prices reach much higher value.

Q. What 1970’s NHL scoring champion was nicknamed “The Flower”?

A. A simple translation from French to English. Guy Lafleur or ‘the flower’ was the Art Ross Trophy winner as the NHL’s top scorer in three consecutive seasons, 1975-76, 1976-77 and 1977-78. Guy was the first overall pick by the Canadiens at the 1971 NHL Amateur Draft. He played in the NHL from 1971-72 to 1990-91 with the Habs, New York Rangers and Quebec Nordiques.

Before entering the National Hockey League, Lafleur played two legendary seasons of junior hockey in the QMJHL with the Quebec Remparts. In 1970-71, his 130 goals in just 62 games shattered any known Canadian Major Junior record. It still stands as the second highest total in QMJHL and CHL history, eclipsed by Mario Lemieux’s 133 in 1983-84 with Laval. However, Super Mario played eight more games than Lafleur.

Q. Which Montreal defenseman was nicknamed “Big Bird”?

A. Tall with a big beak and a shock of curly hair, Larry Robinson somewhat resembled the Sesame Street character as he skated around the ice. The long time Canadien and Hockey Hall of Fame member won two Norris Trophies as the NHL’s top defenseman.

Robinson played in the NHL from 1972-73 to 1991-92 with the Canadiens and Los Angeles Kings. Since, he has kept busy behind the bench in the NHL. He has served as head coach of the Kings and New Jersey Devils, as well as, assistant coach of the Kings, Devils and Sharks. Currently in 2013-14, he is associate coach with head coach Todd McLellan.

Q. Which Canadiens Hall of Fame forward was nicknamed “The Roadrunner”?

A. At just 5’7” and as fast as the cartoon character, Yvan Cournoyer fit the nickname well. Cournoyer was inducted into the Hockey Hall of Fame in 1982. After three years of junior with the Montreal Junior Canadiens of the OHA, Yvan joined the Habs full-time in 1964-65. He remained with Montreal throughout his career and retired after playing just 15 games in the 1978-79 season. In his final four years with Montreal, he served as team captain. In each of those four years, the Canadiens won the Stanley Cup championship.