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The Card Live Auctions Buy It Now Articles
1979 O-Pee-Chee #18 Wayne Gretzky rookie card, graded PSA 8 NM-MT (OC), certificate 103848611
Actual card pictured · PSA certificate 103848611
AT AUCTION NOW · THE ROOKIE CARD OF HOCKEY

1979 O-Pee-Chee #18
Wayne Gretzky Rookie

PSA 8 NM–MT (OC)
PSA 8 pop 859
Total PSA pop 15,892
US $4,995
current bid · auction on eBay
Place a bid on eBay
Sold through PSA’s official eBay store · 99.9% positive feedback · ships from the PSA Vault
Market check: the same card in the same grade — PSA 8 (OC) — sold on eBay July 15, 2026, with a best offer accepted against a C$19,775 ask (≈ US$14,300). This copy is at auction, with bidding at US$4,995.
(OC)
What the (OC) on the label means. PSA applies a qualifier when a card meets all the criteria for a grade but fails the standard in one area. Here that area is centering: this card earned the NM–MT 8 standard on its corners, edges and surface, with centering outside the range the 8 normally allows. Because qualified copies trade well below unqualified 8s, an (OC) is the affordable route into a genuinely high-grade example of hockey’s defining card. Read the full explainer →

Wayne Gretzky Rookie Cards for Sale Right Now

Where to buy the 1979 rookie — live auctions and fresh Buy It Now listings for the O-Pee-Chee #18 and Topps #18, at every grade.
Live Auctions
Gretzky rookies only · updated Nov 09, 15:07 UTC
PSA 8
1979 Topps #18
43 bids · ends 12h 5m
US $6,555
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PSA 6
1979 Topps #18
9 bids · ends 1d 11h
US $1,526
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PSA 4
1979 O-Pee-Chee #18
0 bids · ends 1d 12h
US $2,150
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PSA 7
1979 O-Pee-Chee #18
0 bids · ends 1d 13h
US $8,499
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PSA 4
1979 Topps #18
23 bids · ends 2d 10h
US $1,025
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PSA 3
1979 Topps #18
2 bids · ends 2d 11h
US $1,009
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PSA 1
1979 O-Pee-Chee #18
25 bids · ends 3d 10h
US $644
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PSA 5
1979 O-Pee-Chee #18
31 bids · ends 3d 11h
US $2,159
Buy Now on eBay
Recently Listed · Buy It Now
newest first · updated Nov 09, 15:07 UTC
PSA 3
1979 O-Pee-Chee #18
listed 11h ago · or best offer
US $2,113
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PSA 5
1979 Topps #18
listed 18h ago · or best offer
US $2,200
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SGC 1
1979 Topps #18
listed 21h ago
US $1,461
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PSA 8.5
1979 O-Pee-Chee #18
listed 2d ago
US $64,999
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PSA 1.5
1979 O-Pee-Chee #18
listed 2d ago · or best offer
US $1,203
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PSA 6
1979 Topps #18
listed 2d ago · or best offer
US $3,000
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PSA 4
1979 O-Pee-Chee #18
listed 2d ago · or best offer
US $2,831
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PSA 2.5
1979 O-Pee-Chee #18
listed 2d ago
US $1,499
Buy Now on eBay
Reading Room
Turn It Over: How to Read the Back of Card 18
The back credits Gretzky with 60 games in 1978-79; he played 80. What the back shows, how it tells O-Pee-Chee from Topps, and what to check before buying.
Read the article →
The Oiler Who Was Nearly a Racer
Gretzky turned pro at 17 in Indianapolis and was sold to Edmonton after eight games. No card was made of his WHA season, and the rookie card shows an Oiler only because of how he got there.
Read the article →
PSA 9 Gretzky Rookie: The Real Top of the Market
Two PSA 10s exist and rarely come up. For everyone else the 9 is the ceiling: about one for every nine 8s, and the step up from an 8 is the most expensive on the card.
Read the article →
The 1979-80 O-Pee-Chee Set: What Else Is in It Besides Gretzky
Card 18 has 395 neighbours: the last cards of Howe, Hull, Dryden and Mikita, four teams arriving from the WHA, and sixty rookie cards inside the same hard-to-grade blue border.
Read the article →
Do Blue Lines on a Gretzky Rookie Mean a First Print Run?
Some O-Pee-Chee rookies carry faint blue lines on the back, sold as a first print run. Nobody at O-Pee-Chee ever confirmed it, and the lines reportedly run down a whole column of the sheet.
Read the article →
Why Is Wayne Gretzky's Rookie Card Number 18?
The 1979-80 set gave its stars the round numbers. Gretzky went between Willie Huber and Ron Sedlbauer, and a year later Topps made him card 250.
Read the article →
How to Spot a Fake 1979 O-Pee-Chee Gretzky Rookie
One grader saw a single Topps fake in twenty-one years, while the OPC is among the most counterfeited cards ever printed. What to check on the front, the back, the edge and the slab.
Read the article →
The Yellow Dot on Gretzky's Shoulder Is Not Yellow Ink
The jersey is orange, which is yellow with red printed over it. A particle blocked the red in one spot. It is called a hickey, and it is no longer proof the card is real.
Read the article →
A Dull Blade in the Basement of a Gum Factory
O-Pee-Chee were a confectionery company and did not print the cards. A former plant manager describes a dull blade, no cutting clamp, and a cutting rig in the basement. The frayed edges are not damage.
Read the article →
Every Million Dollar Gretzky Rookie Sale
Four PSA 10 sales, from $94,000 in 2011 to $3.75 million in 2021. Both versions sold as adjacent lots on one night, 1.8 times apart. And in December 2024 the record holder was deactivated.
Read the article →
The Grade Ladder
Fifteen thousand graded copies, two perfect ones. How the population and the record sales stack up at every grade, from well-loved 1s to the $3.75 million card.
Read the article →
O-Pee-Chee vs. Topps: Two Rookies, One Photo
Same design, two printers, two countries. How to tell the cards apart at a glance, and why the Canadian printing has commanded the premium at every grade.
Read the article →
What the (OC) Qualifier Actually Means
PSA's qualifier system explained: what an off-center 8 is, what it isn't, and why the discount it carries can be the smartest entry into the hobby's biggest rookie card.
Read the article →
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