An autographed 1979 O-Pee-Chee Wayne Gretzky rookie card, graded a nine with a 10 autograph grade by card grader Professional Sports Authenticator (PSA), sold for $540,000 including buyer's premium in Fanatics Collect's May Premier Auction. It's the most ever spent on an autographed hockey card.
Gretzky's O-Pee-Chee rookie card is no stranger to large sums: Four different copies, all graded 10s by PSA, have sold for $720,000, $1.2 million, $1.29 million and $3.75 million since December 2020. None of those copies, however, were signed by The Great One.
"I played hockey growing up, I collect a lot of vintage, and I've never seen one of these before -- there's just one," Kevin Lenane, vice president of Fanatics Collect, told ESPN. "It doesn't seem like anyone could do what Gretzky did again either, I mean, he had more career assists than anyone else did points. As far as autographed hockey cards go, I don't see anything reaching this mountain."
In the same auction -- Lenane told ESPN this May has been Fanatics Collect's most successful month yet, at "north of $100 million" -- Josh Allen's 1-of-1 numbered 2025 Topps Chrome Honors MVP card sold for $1.35 million, shattering the previous high paid for an card of the Bills star quarterback ($288,000). Allen's 2025 season uniforms, as the previous season's MVP, featured golden NFL shields as part of Topps' programs for award winners.
"He's such an incredible quarterback, clearly one of the greats, so I don't totally understand [Allen being undervalued], but it's nice to see this total -- that's a lot of money for a non-rookie card," Lenane said. "It's truly a collector's card: An MVP-specific patch, on-card autograph, 1-of-1. It's hard to think of a card you'd want more than this one for Allen."
In the same auction, an autographed LeBron James superfractor from 2025 Topps Chrome also cleared the $1 million mark, fetching $1.26 million. It's the 27th known $1 million-plus sale of a card featuring James.
