Hockey Cards

With $500, Which Hockey Cards Would You Buy?

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In May 1995, Trading Cards Magazine ran a piece by Jim Stevens asking which hockey cards were worth buying with $500. I thought it’d be fun to see how John Moore’s picks have held up!

You can see that Moore recommended: One Ken Dryden 1971-72 OPC RC #45, $300; one Patrick Roy 1986-87 OPC RC #53, $140; two Dale Hawerchuk 1982-83 OPC RCs #380, $36; and four Paul Kariya 1992-93 UD RCs #586, $24. Total expense: $500.

Let’s assume he was talking about cards that would grade PSA 8s, which is a bit optimistic, but I need to compare against something.

It looks like Ken Dryden’s PSA 8 RC’s are ~$1475, Roy PSA 8 rookies are ~$330, Hawerchuk’s RC is ~$40 (times two is $80), and Paul Kariya’s UD RC is essentially worthless in a PSA 8 slab. So combined, that’s $1,885 from the original $500. But just a moment, the U.S Bureau of Labor Statistics CPI Inflation Calculator says that $500 in May 1995 has the same purchasing power as $1,043.60 in January 2025.

Not bad by Moore overall. But everyone probably should have stuck to Gretzky’s rookie cards, eh? 

Happy Collecting!

The Charlton Hockey Card Price Guide

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I love finding advertisements for items I have in the Hobby Library; here’s one such piece from Allan Kaye’s Sports Cards News & Price Guides April 1992 edition for the massive, 1000+ page Charlton Hockey Card Price Guide.

The advertisement mentioned the release of their third edition, but the photo is of the second, so I’m going to take that as “close enough.” Here’s the cover of my “hobby used” copy.

There certainly aren’t as many hockey guides as baseball ones in the hobby, so the fact that this one is so extensive makes it a must-have for collectors; look at the vastness of the table of contents.

A highlight for me is that the book contains more than sets; there are pieces related to card grading and counterfeits.

You also get a few nostalgic ads within the book; not much was “limited” in the early 90s concerning production.

Keeping the scans in numerical order, here’s an example of how they described counterfeits.

Of course, most of the book is the price guide; here’s how they showed those: the price movement chart was a nice touch.

The Charlton Hickey Card Price Guide also includes an excellent player checklist.

And here’s the back cover.