Rare Gretzky card case from Sask. back on the market after multimillion-dollar deal collapsed
CBC
A multimillion-dollar box of hockey cards is going back up for auction after a failed transaction.
Back in April, CBC confirmed that Ontario-based real estate agent Jack Arshawsky won the auction for a case containing thousands of unopened 1979-1980 O-Pee-Chee brand hockey cards — the set that contains Wayne Gretzky's rookie card — for $3.72 million US.
But Heritage Auctions, the Texas-based company that put the cards up for sale, said that money never came through and it is moving on after the botched deal.
In April, Arshawsky said he had not paid the full amount for the cards and wanted them to be safe at Heritage Auctions until he could find a good location for them.
In a phone call with CBC this week, Arshawsky said that he's not sure what happened, but mentioned that when wiring large amounts of money, it can "disappear in cyberspace" and take a long time to track down.
"I'm not sure what happened with it. Did it go to the right account [or] account number?" Arshawsky said. "The thing [about] an amount like that, [it's] pretty significant when it's being wired."
Chris Ivy, the director of sports category for Heritage Auctions, disputed Arshawsky's answer.
"As far as I'm aware, that doesn't sound like very much of that is accurate," Ivy said.
"All I could say is that he did not, he never sent any form of payment for the lot."
The box of unopened hockey cards was found in a Saskatchewan family's attic. Heritage Auctions estimated there could be as many as 25 to 27 Gretzky rookie cards in the case.
A single rookie Gretzky card has previously sold at auction for $3.75 million US.
Ivy said the auction house estimated the value of the case at about $3 million US. When it goes up for auction again on Saturday, the required starting bid will be $750,000 US.
Arshawsky said that he might end up bidding for the same case again.
Ivy shot that idea down.
