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Where vintage OPC baseball cards reign supreme...
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Where vintage OPC baseball cards reign supreme...
| About OPCC | OPC? What's that? | OPCC Directory | Year-by-year Wantlists | OPC Checklists | OPC Price Guide | Links |
What is OPCC?
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OPCC was mentioned in the May 2002 issue of Beckett Sport Collectibles Vintage - click here to check out the article.
Want to join OPCC?
Send an e-mail to Steve Rittenberg, describing your collecting interests. Please be sure to include your name! You must be actively working on pre-1980 OPC baseball sets to join.
"A Brief History Of O-Pee-Chee" by Grant Rainsley
O-Pee-Chee, also known as OPC, is today more or less regarded as the Canadian equivalent of Topps. The history of this gum and trading card producing company is quite different, and pre-dates Topps by many years. The company is based in London, Ontario, not too far from Toronto.
OPC’s first venture into the trading card market was in 1933, when they produced a set of hockey cards which have been catalogued V304A and B. These sets included stars such as Eddie Shore and Howie Morenz, and have a book value of around $15,000. Other hockey sets were produced until 1940.
In 1937 OPC produced their first baseball set (V300), which were numbered 101 through 140, and resembled a cross between 1934 Goudeys and Batter-Ups. Only American League players were featured, including Joe Dimaggio, which has a book value of $4,500. Was there supposed to be a National League set to follow? It was never produced.
OPC occasionally stayed in the game, issuing sets similar to Topps such as the 1960 Baseball Tattoos, but no cards. The tattoos were exactly the same as Topps with the exception of the wrapper showing the place of issue as London, Canada, and printed in Canada.
A return was made to baseball trading cards in 1965. Card fronts were identical to Topps, but they were printed on slightly different stock. This set paralleled cards #1- 283 of the Topps issue, and Printed in Canada appeared on the bottom of the back of the cards. Following years were similar- 1966 had #1-196, Ptd. In Canada,1967 had #1-196, Printed in Canada. For those of you who may have completed your Topps runs of these years, it is quite easy for an OPC to make it into the binder, as these cards are so similar. It is estimated that OPC cards from these early years were produced in a ratio of between 1% and 5% of Topps cards. If anyone is looking for a challenge, try starting a set from scratch in EX condition or better. Best of luck!
In 1970, OPC cards became bilingual, and card backs were in English and French. This was a legal requirement, as federal legislation demanded that items produced in Canada carry both languages. This applied to other items such as cereal boxes, etc. The 1971 OPC set had a radically different card back (yellow), and also featured 14 different card photos that weren’t in the Topps set. The 1972 issue featured a card of Gil Hodges, noting his death, which was not part of the Topps set. In 1974, the OPC issue did not have the Washington variations, as it was a later print run than Topps.
The year 1977 seemed to bring a radical change in Canadian content. Almost 1/3 of the set had different poses than their Topps counterparts, although the card format remained much the same. These took the form of airbrush work, different cropping of photos, etc. In the late ‘70’s, while many of the card fronts appeared similar, many of the OPC issues featured traded information, with a line across saying Now with Dodgers. This again was due to the lateness of the print run, which allowed for an update of the players status.
Through these years, OPC was also busy producing hockey and Canadian Football League cards. They had re-entered the hockey market in 1968, competing with Topps, and also actively entered the insert market with posters and stickers. Topps produced the majority of CFL issues between 1958 and 1965. OPC entered the CFL market in 1968.
OPC is still strong in the baseball and hockey market today, and has made the odd venture into non-sports cards.
| Name | Dan Austin | |
| Collecting Interests | Dan collects almost any 1948-1980 baseball cards. His strongest interest is in the regular Topps sets (from '51-'80), but also enjoys early Bowman, Fleer, Red Man, Post, T-205/T-206, OPC, etc. as well as other "oddball" sets like Topps' special sets (game, deckle, stand-ups, embossed, etc.), and regional and food issues such as Hostess, Kellogg's, Hires, Red Heart, Remar and other similar sets. In addition, Dan is interested in the major pre-1980 Football and Basketball sets (Topps, Philadelphia, Fleer, Bowman) as well. Dan also enjoys collecting comics and has many available to trade for sports cards. | |
 ID | iamdanaustin.com | |
| Wantlist | Click here for Dan's Wantlist |
| Name | Al Cummings | |
| Collecting Interests | ? | |
| ID | Alcattle | |
| Wantlist | Click here for Al's Wantlist |
| Name | Spike Glidden | |
| Collecting Interests | '50s Bowman, '55-'75 Topps, Steve Garvey, SpikeOwen, Jamie Quirk, David Segui, player autographs. | |
| ID | late_innings | |
| Wantlist | Click here for Spike's Wantlist |
| Name | Erik Greenwood | |
| Collecting Interests | Erik is attempting to complete 1951-1993 Topps sets, 1948-1955 Bowman sets (1955 autographed), 1977-1979 OPC sets, and various players which explains the non 1977-1979 OPC wants. | |
| ID | greenwood3 | |
| Wantlist | Click here for Erik's Wantlist |
| Name | Jim Hatch | |
| Collecting Interests | Jim's ultimate quest is the T212 Obak set. He also likes pre-WW1 type cards, Hostess sets, OPC's, cards of Dufy Lewis and Topps sets from the 60's and 70's. He doesn't care about condition...He'd rather have a hole in his card than a hole in his collection any day! | |
| ID | jrhatchjr | |
| Wantlist | Click here for Jim's Wantlist |
| Name | Ken Monks | |
| Collecting Interests | Ken collects 48-55 Bowman, 50's and 63-64 Topps, 65-68 OPC and a few oddball issues. He also collects Cardinal cards and like to pick the odd pre-war card for his type collection. Ken always tries to make equal value trades. | |
| ID | kmonks@seaside.net | |
| Wantlist | Click here for Ken's Wantlist |
| Name | Grant Rainsley | |
| Collecting Interests | Early '60s Topps, '65-'67 OPC, '63 Fleer, Post Canadian. | |
| ID | grains@dccnet.com | |
| Wantlist | Click here for Grant's Wantlist |
| Name | Mike Rich | |
| Collecting Interests | Mike collects all 4 sports, mainly 1948-1980, but also loves the oddball issues, such as Coke Caps, Salada Coins, RC Cola, OPC, Post, Topps Stamps, insert cards, variations, publications & schedules. | |
| ID | Mikesportsfan | |
| Wantlist | Click here for Mike's Wantlist |
| Name | Steve Rittenberg | |
| Collecting Interests | Steve loves building sets. He's finished putting together his Topps baseball sets from 1954-1979 plus many newer ones. He still needs help with OPC, Fleer, Leaf and Bowman sets. He doesn't really care for regional stuff or oddball stuff right now, though as he runs out of other stuff to look for, he will consider it. Because he likes building sets, he's expanded into older football, basketball and hockey as well. His dupes box currently has about 4,000 baseball cards including stars and hi numbers. Mainly, his collection (and his dupes) are vg and below. He is not fussy about the cards he receives, though he really doesn't like writing on the front. His main interest is getting the cards he needs to finish his sets. He doesn't mind sending more than he receives and, in fact, usually trys to. | |
| ID | srittenberg@broderick.org | |
| Wantlist | Click here for Steve's Wantlist |
| Name | Mark Talbot | |
| Collecting Interests | All major manufacturers Topps, Bowman and Fleer from 1948 to 1980. Mark particularly enjoys "oddball" issues - stamps, coins, stand ups, posters, giants, deckles, Post cereal, Hostess, Redman, etc. | |
| ID | talbot1@home.com | |
| Wantlist | Click here for Mark's Wantlist |
| Name | Neal Thomas | |
| Collecting Interests | Completing Topps sets from 1965, and 1969-1980, and has also started on 1958-1968 as well. In addition, Neal has started a 1960 Fleer set, and a 1959 Fleer Ted Williams set. Neal is mostly looking for at least VG and unmarked checklists, and has many 1965, and 1970-1980 baseball and football cards to trade for baseball cards of the same era. | |
| ID | nthomas | |
| Wantlist | Click here for Neal's Wantlist |
Wantlists
Year-by-year wantlists have been removed from the site and have been moved to the database located on the Yahoo! groups website. Click here to go there now!
Checklists
Price Lists (1999) [WARNING: each of these is a 400kb-500kb .jpg file]
Misc Links
Links to other baseball card trading groups
