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creasecollector

Beyond The Crease: A Hockey Card Blog
focused around Hockey, The hobby, and my Jhonas Enroth card collection (Among other things).

One of the pesky ones: O-Pee-Chee Blank Backs

7/7/2018

16 Comments

 
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My Jhonas Enroth O-Pee-Chee Retro Blank Back parallel cards from from 2010-2017.


​I really like player collecting. I really do. I like the hunt to chase down many different cards to try and shorten the wantlist and keep an eye out for those really elusive cards. The easy ones are 'expected' pickups, the rare stuff you'll need to wait and see if/when it surfaces, then there is that third category that really can bug every player collector..... the pesky ones.

You know the cards. They aren't particularly valuable, you can search and find a lot out there for a few notable players, but for whatever reason that hole continues to exists in your wantlist. Even when case upon case have been ripped open, nobody has seen that one card you'll been looking for, and it seems to happen every year around the same time like clockwork.  Inspired by a older Upper Deck article from May, I decided to write about a specific pesky card: The O-Pee-Chee Blank Backs...
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A first of many: Here's a look at a original Upper Deck Blank Back Parallel from 2008-2009 Upper Deck O-Pee-Chee Hockey. These cards were created with blank backs on purpose to pay homage to cards of the past.
If you've been collecting for any amount of time, especially dedicating that time collecting a certain player, you'll know that the yearly O-Pee-Chee Blank Backs can be brutal. Maybe I'm just over-exaggerating here, but I find these are some of the toughest parallels to consistently grab every year, simply because a lot of collectors just don't know that they have them in their possession. The lower end product gives the younger crowd a shot at hitting some of their favourite players without breaking their bank accounts, and at the end of the day that is fantastic for the overall health of this hobby in my opinion. However, on the flip side, this leaves a lot of cards sitting in boxes to never see the light of day.

Keep in mind, these O-Pee-Chee Blank Backs don't feature any kind of marking or stated print run at all. They are simply unannounced Easter Eggs that have popped up in OPC products for years. The print runs have been discussed to death, and depending on the year, I've heard an estimated number of just 5 to 15 copies exist for these blank back SP'd parallel cards. 

After making it's unannounced debut in the hobby inside packs of 2008-2009 Upper Deck O-Pee-Chee, these Blank Back parallels, created deliberately, pay a tribute to the older O-Pee-Chee sets many years ago, when cards of that time period were sometimes printed with a blank back by mistake, due to large-scale production errors. So when looking at these hockey card origin stories, it makes me appreciate these blank back cards that much more, even if they aren't that valuable. ​

But with all the low-end products out there, it makes these cards much more harder to obtain if it falls into a casual collectors hands. It doesn't look any different than the original retro, other than the backing, so at first glance one might not know what they pulled is so short printed. I love how it stays true to the original blank backs, but for a player collector it can be a long wait before one surfaces, and if one does and you miss out on it, who knows when another one pops up. 

​At the top of this blog post you'll notice I've shared all 6 Blank Back parallels I've been able to track down for my Jhonas Enroth card collection, but that wasn't without its difficulties. I've been lucky that either case breakers or collectors have known to look at the backs of their O-Pee-Chee cards to see what they had, otherwise I'd probably still be looking for all of these. I was lucky enough to snag 2 shortly after their respective product released, others I had to wait years to finally obtain them to cross them off the list. 

The backs may be blank, but these O-Pee-Chee Blank Backs parallels won't be ​missing from a show-and-tell when I'm sharing some of the neatest cards from my collection. They are a great tribute to the past and a look into hockey card history at the same time.

Have you found your blank backs yet? Or are you still looking to add them to your collections?

​Please leave a comment below.
​

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An original blank back card from 1968-69 O-Pee-Chee. These cards were not supposed to be made this way at the time and were considered Error Cards.
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An original blank backed card from 1968-69 O-Pee-Chee (Jean Beliveau).

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This blank backed error continued throughout OPC's history. Here's an Doug Gilmour 1987-88 O-Pee-Chee base card with a blank back.
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More 80's blank backed cards. These were error cards at the time and not done on purpose.
16 Comments
Jay
7/8/2018 09:49:50 pm

Thank-you for posting / writing this. The first one I came across I thought was an error card. If you search - O-pee-chee Blank Back - on Youtube you will see the foolish endeavor I have started. Cheers!

Reply
Aaron (creasecollector) link
7/8/2018 11:25:36 pm

Jay! Thanks for the comment, I appreciate it. I thought it would be a cool thing to highlight in my collection. I've always liked those random cards that have some sort of story to tell - OPC Blank Backs are a great example of that.

And I just found your YouTube video.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1fkTZXyL9TQ

Wow! What a collection! Great job so far.

Reply
Marko
11/15/2019 10:40:35 pm

I have an alex ovechkin blank back but i cant find a double anyware. Its a retro card 99 rookie year style. Can someone help me with this i been offered 300 should i have taken it.

creasecollector link
11/16/2019 01:49:46 pm

Marko, thanks for your comment!

That Ovechkin Blank Back sounds like a great card, very rare. I think an offer like $300 if a great offer that you should take. I beleive the card you're talking about was the 2008-09 OPC Blank Backs. That was the first year of Blank Backs and are probably the rarest of them all I'd think. Not many collectors knew about them that year as they were the first time these unannounced parallels were released.

Brett
7/13/2018 11:20:25 am

Great post! I know I've got a few "pesky ones" on my Linden list too. Really enjoying the blog. Keep it up!

Reply
Aaron (creasecollector)
7/13/2018 06:10:53 pm

Thanks, Brett! Your Linden collection is insane. Hoping you can snag a few of those pesky cards off the wantlist soon!

Reply
Mathieu Chasse link
7/2/2019 11:18:35 am

Nice stuff! I am looking for one of the blank backs as well, from the 2016-17 set #28 Mark Scheifele. I am collecting Scheifele. I am not sure if the 2011-12 Mark Scheifele rookie OPC retro card have a blank back parallel.

Cheers,

Mat

Reply
Aaron link
7/3/2019 06:01:44 pm

Hey Mat, thanks for your kind words. Best of luck tracking down those cards for your collection! Yes, 11-12 OPC did have blank backs for every player, including Mark Scheifele. So Scheifele does have a blank back for his 11-12 OPC card. I hope this helps!

Reply
Nathan
1/14/2021 08:58:09 pm

Is anyone looking for any I just recently inherited a bunch of cards and I found 3 blank back cards and one of the cards collector may want la kings guy they won the cup in 2012 year cards where printed!!!! There not graded but they are in mint shape, I'm thinking now this cards are getting graded after reading thisnpostnof 5-15 surfacing!!!!

Reply
creasecollector
1/14/2021 09:57:33 pm

Hi, Nathan! Thanks for the comment! Which players do you have? These are still wanted by many collectors. They are rare enough that you don't need to grade them. Great find!

Reply
BILL MULOIN
1/27/2021 06:23:08 pm

hi i was lucky enough to pull the 2008/09 retro gretzky blank back and the retro Team Canada card; i have been trying for years to find the print run for both cards; any idea on how many of each card was made; also wondering if it is worth grading either one;

Reply
creasecollector link
1/27/2021 10:13:47 pm

Hi Bill, thanks for your comment on my blog post!

The 08-09 Blank Blacks was there first year Upper Deck did these, and there are only about 5 Blank Back parallels for each player (estimated), so that Gretzky Blank Back is awesome. As for the SSP Shorted Printed Gretsky Team Canada card, those are really rare also. I do not know of the print run on those ones. But two very rare cards. They are worth a fair bit on their own without being graded - it's your choice.

Reply
BRIAN DUNN
2/27/2021 08:48:36 am

Just pulled an Artemi Panarin #234 2019-20 retro blank back. Had to look at pictures on ebay to know what card number it was, ha. Interesting to know it's a thing. Thanks for the write-up above.

Reply
creasecollector link
2/27/2021 12:09:30 pm

Hi, Brian! That Artemi Panarin Blank Back sounds awesome! Definitely a pretty big player to pull. Congrats on the rare card & thank you for the comment on my blog!

Reply
Nik
3/12/2022 04:44:17 pm

Hi, first I just wanna say great podcast. Thanks for the information in this blog post I heard about these blank back cards for years but never actually realized how insanely hard they are to get. And I never really thought that I would have any chance of pulling one. Today I bought four packs and I pulled an Austin Matthews blank back retro out of 21–22 OPC hockey.

Reply
creasecollector link
3/12/2022 11:24:52 pm

Thanks for your comment, Nik! Yeah, the OPC Blank Back parallels are very rare. Congrats on the big hit from just 4 packs! Well done.

Reply



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    Author - Aaron

    ​I've been collecting Hockey cards since the late 90's. Mainly the goalies since 2005. I also Co-Host a Hockey Card Podcast.
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