1973-74 O-Pee-Chee Pittsburgh Penguins #NNO Team Logo Pushout Insert 1st Series

Description

1973-74 O-Pee-Chee Pittsburgh Penguins #NNO Team Logo Pushout Insert 1st Series Before penguins became one of the most marketed franchises in world sport, the Pittsburgh Penguins were a quirky expansion club skating beneath the rising roof of the futuristic Civic Arena, and their skating penguin crest, scarf trailing and stick in hand against a yellow triangle, is one of the most charming and most collected logos of the expansion era. This 1973-74 O-Pee-Chee Pittsburgh Penguins #NNO Team Logo Pushout Insert 1st Series decal frames that penguin inside the classic circular badge with PITTSBURGH PENGUINS ringing the border in blue, the triangle nodding to the team's original colours even as the club drifted toward its famous blue and white future. Inserted one per pack in first series wax boxes of the 1973-74 O-Pee-Chee hockey issue, the decal carries its bilingual Canadian instructions on the front, PUNCH OUT, WET BACK AND PRESS ONTO ANY SURFACE FOR TEN SECONDS with the French ENLEVEZ EN POUSSANT, HUMECTEZ LE DOS ET COLLEZ SUR N'IMPORTE QUELLE SURFACE EN PRESSANT PENDANT DIX SECONDS beneath, confirming the O-Pee-Chee London Ontario printing that collectors prize over the plainer American logo inserts of the previous seasons. The 1973-74 season was the end of one chapter in Pittsburgh, the last campaign before the franchise's celebrated mid-decade turnaround, and decals like this preserve the look of the club exactly as it appeared when Syl Apps Jr. and Jean Pronovost were the names on the marquee and the Igloo was the strangest, most wonderful barn in hockey. The skating penguin design had already outlasted two roster rebuilds by 1973, and it remains one of the few expansion-era marks that collectors display as art in its own right, with original gum-backed examples like this one anchoring Pittsburgh collections from Squirrel Hill to Sewickley. the front displays bright white and blue with the circular badge well centred, the corners show light rounding consistent with careful storage, the edges carry a hint of wear at the top border but no chipping, and the die-cut circle is complete. The reverse is blank gum-backed cardboard with the circular die-cut line, evenly toned and clean, and we state explicitly that the card is the Canadian O-Pee-Chee version with bilingual instructions on the front and a plain adhesive back, not a puzzle back and not a bilingual back design. Balancing the strong front presentation against the modest corner rounding and the faint edge hint, the conservative raw estimate is EX 5, a solid and honest placement for a beloved expansion-era crest. Grade Estimate: EX 5