1972-73 O-Pee-Chee Team Logos New York Rangers NNO Vintage NHL Logo Sticker Insert

Description

1972-73 O-Pee-Chee Team Logos New York Rangers NNO Vintage NHL Logo Sticker Insert Step back to the golden age of Original Six hockey collecting with this 1972-73 O-Pee-Chee Team Logos New York Rangers NNO Vintage NHL Logo Sticker Insert, a scarce Canadian pack-issued insert that most collectors peeled and plastered onto binders and bedroom doors fifty years ago. O-Pee-Chee of London, Ontario slipped these unnumbered logo stickers one per pack into its 1972-73 third series wax packs, commemorating all sixteen NHL clubs plus the upstart WHA franchises in their debut winter. Survivors that were never peeled or applied are genuinely tough to source today, which makes an intact example like this one a smart pickup for Rangers team collectors and vintage insert specialists alike. The timing could not be more evocative. These stickers hit candy store shelves just months after the Rangers of Jean Ratelle, Rod Gilbert and Vic Hadfield, the famed GAG Line, carried New York to the 1972 Stanley Cup Final against Bobby Orr and the Boston Bruins. Hadfield had just become the first Ranger to score fifty goals in a season, and the iconic red, white and blue Rangers shield rendered here in bold period colors was riding as high as it had since 1940. As a Canadian O-Pee-Chee issue, this is the only mainstream logo insert of the era for the Blueshirts, and it displays beautifully alongside 1972-73 OPC singles of Ratelle, Gilbert, Park and Giacomin. the front shows strong, glossy color with a bright white field, a tiny fleck of surface loss in the red portion of the shield left of center, light corner rounding at all four tips, minor edge rub along the top border, and centering that pushes the logo slightly toward the upper left; the back is clean, unpeeled vintage stock with even age toning and no writing, stains or paper loss. Please note this insert carries a blank back rather than a bilingual printed back or puzzle back, which is correct for the issue, and the sticker has never been peeled or applied. Given the small surface fleck and gentle corner wear, we grade this conservatively rather than optimistically, because vintage sticker stock punishes handling and strict graders penalize any surface disturbance. An honest mid-grade example of a genuinely hard insert, it presents far better in hand than the technical grade suggests and would anchor any New York Rangers vintage collection with authentic 1972 character. Grade Estimate: EX 5