Hobbies And Interests
Significance
Collecting hockey cards has played a significant part in helping fans familiarize themselves with the sport. The backs of the cards contain a lot of information, from scoring statistics to which players are the best golfers. In the early years, hockey cards were not seen as collectors items, so one could have a Bobby Orr or Wayne Gretzky, card mixed in with the lesser known players.
Potential
A Wayne Gretzky rookie card can sell for up to $80,000, the Sidney Crosby autographed patch card can sell for $15,500 and goalie Georges Vezina's rookie card sells for $100,000. Cigarette pack cards are also very valuable because they date as far back as the early 1900s.
Geography
Hockey is most popular in the United States, Canada and Sweden, because these countries maintain professional leagues. Geographically, these are also affluent economic regions, making collecting hockey cards a potentially lucrative hobby.
History
In the 1910 to 1913, the first hockey cards were issued in cigarette packages. Champ's Cigarettes issued the final cigarette package set of hockey cards in 1925. The National Hockey League had a lockout during the 2004/2005 season, after which there was a major shift in the hockey card market where Upper Deck claimed exclusive rights to produce trading cards with NHL player's logos. While this established a monopoly in the trading card industry, this made cards before the lockout more valuable.
The Future of Hockey Cards
The future of hockey cards can be seen in the new NHL Ice Breaker card board game. These games are centered on the basic premise of a 52-game deck but with a hockey card collector theme.