A case of unopened hockey cards that could feature dozens of Wayne Gretzky rookies brought in a whopping $3.7 million at auction Saturday.
The case of sealed 1979-80 O-Pee-Chee Hockey cards was collecting dust in a Canadian family’s home until they discovered the extremely rare and valuable cards while sorting through a storage room.
Heritage Auctions, which listed the case, called the discovery “the greatest unopened find of the 21st century.”
The auction house estimated that the case of 48 packs — or 10,752 cards — contains about 27 rare and pristine Gretzky rookie cards from his first season with the Edmonton Oilers.
But the new owner — who has not been publicly named — will likely never know for sure how many cards feature the “Great One.”
A spokesperson for Heritage Auctions told the Associated Press that the winning bidder is not likely to open the sealed boxes and packs because they’re even rarer than the rookie cards.
The Regina family who found the cards will earn $3.1 million from the sale.
The father was an old-school collector who had initially planned to open the case which he bought years ago and build sets of cards to sell but — in what turned out to be incredibly lucky — he never got around to it, the BBC reported.
“Remarkably, our consignor wasn’t aware he owned this outrageous Holy Grail case until very recent accounting of a long-forgotten pile of boxes in his home in Saskatchewan, where deadstock cards from the late 1970’s and early 1980’s had been gathering dust since he had bought them directly from a wholesaler,” Heritage Auctions said.
The family, who has asked to remain anonymous, held a small viewing party to watch the bids come in, the company told the BBC, adding that they are “ecstatic” at the final bid.