Wax Stain Wednesdays are Back!

Check out Dirty Dangle, I am hoping to keep these posts going once again as the summer comes and my free time increases ever so slightly!

This week's posts is a TTM from Bobby Clarke!

Value Vintage Sets #1 - 82-83 OPC

The number one value vintage set in my opinion is the 82/83 OPC set. Of all the sets on my top 5, this is only the second OPC set to make the list and it is the largest. 396 vintage cards with players who never lasted more than a few games and players who are believed to be the greatest of all-time. The depth of this set is what sets it apart from others and the fact that it is dirt cheap just makes it that much better!

Redeeming Qualities:

Set Size and Player selection
Several Cards booking for over 20 bucks including 2 for 40 a piece (Fuhr and Gretzky).
Set can be had for well under 100 bucks and even then it only books for 100 bucks! That is like 25 cents a card for a set nearly 30 years old.
Do you like Gretzky? There are 8 Gretzky cards in this set.

The Front Side

Really cool shot on this card. The design is very meat and potatoes, but it isn't too hard to like them, but you may not LOVE them.


The Back Side

Some of the cards have a bit of a dating game feel to them as you find out which NHL stars are bachelors and which like long walks on the beach. The backs complement the front rather well with a simple design and good colour selection.

The Rookies:

Of all the sets on the list, 82/83 offers the most rookies and many of them are HOF'ers! In all, there are 63 rookie cards including some of the following:


Ron Francis Rookie
Grant Fuhr Rookie (HOF)

Dale Hawerchuk Rookie (HOF)

Plus rookies of other great former NHL'ers like Joe Mullen, Bobby Carpenter, Brent Sutter and Neal Broten just to name a few.

Other notable cards:

First off, there really isn't many cooler looking cards this this one of Mike Liut!

Wayne Gretzky 4th year card

Wayne Gretzky In Action

This set has an IA card for every team in the set and usually showcases their star player. I like this one as you see Wayne trying to dodge a hip-check.

More Random Wayne!

There you have it, my Top 5 Value Vintage...

1. 82/83 OPC
2. 78/79 Topps

3. 81/82 Topps

4. 84/85 Topps

5. 89/90 OPC

Even though I built this set from packs, I consider it a Value set because it books for a mere 100 bucks and I have seen them sell for 80 bucks on eBay. Part of the low value is because they printed OPC in both Canada and US so there are more of these than lets say 81/82 OPC ( I stand corrected, it has been pointed out to me that US did not receive this release). However, this set is really stacked with great cards, cool rookies and to me offers the best bang for your buck (with a limited budget).

So what are your thoughts? Is your top 5 similar or different? I would like to try a top five for under 500 bucks sometime as it would pull in some pretty cool sets, but this is what my top 5 for under 100 bucks would look like.

Guy Lafleur - TTM

Received three Lafleur autographs in the mail last week. Beautiful autograph, numbered and done with a blue sharpie. Best part was the 9 day turnaround!

Check out the rest of my post at Dirty Dangle.

Dave Semenko Autograph

When I started sending out autograph requests 2 months ago, I expected to have luck on maybe 1 in 5 requests. However, as it stands right now, I am seeing returns at a rate of about 1 in 2 which really could be higher as my first requests weren't sent out that long ago.

Dave Semenko was the last of the batch I received last week. Dave had two roles in the NHL

and a majority of fans certainly remember one of them, and that was to protect Wayne Gretzky. In addition to being an excellent enforcer, he could also find other ways to get on the scoresheet. He scored 37 goals in his final 68 Junior games and in the 83-84 playoffs (The first Cup of the Oilers dynasty) Dave scored 5 goals and 5 assists in 19 games.

This card is from the 82-83 OPC set. No need for a helmet with hair like that!

Dave's career was relatively brief. After winning two cups with the Oilers, he had played one season with Hartford and then his final season was with Toronto before retiring in 1988 at the age of 31. Dave is currently still with the Oilers organization as a member of their scouting staff. Looking at the current Oilers roster I would say he has done a pretty good job as the team is oozing with talent and potential. I don't think it will be many more seasons before there are some winning seasons in the "City of Champions"!