1969-70 O-Pee-Chee Ted Hampson #86 Masterton Trophy Stamp Back Raw (VG-EX 4)

Description

1969-70 O-Pee-Chee Ted Hampson #86 Masterton Trophy Stamp Back Raw (VG-EX 4) Card #86 in the 1969-70 O-Pee-Chee set honors Ted Hampson in the season immediately following his Masterton Trophy win, the NHL award given annually to the player who best exemplifies perseverance, sportsmanship, and dedication to hockey. The bilingual card back calls Hampson one of the league's most underrated players, noting he "finally got some recognition" with a career-best season and the Masterton win, high praise for a two-way center who also earned a reputation as a reliable penalty killer for the Oakland Seals. Like the Carol Vadnais card on this same sheet, this Hampson single carries the scarcer O-Pee-Chee "stamp back" variation, where the usual cartoon graphic is swapped for a "Place Ted Hampson Stamp Here" promotional design tied to a period O-Pee-Chee stamp album insert program. This variation is a genuine point of interest for advanced Canadian hockey card collectors, since it was produced in more limited numbers than the standard cartoon-back version and is often specifically searched out to complete stamp-back subsets. The front shows Hampson in his green Seals sweater against the familiar diagonal hockey-stick bordered design used across the entire 1969-70 O-Pee-Chee and Topps checklists, with the bilingual English and French biography text reflecting O-Pee-Chee's distinctly Canadian production for the domestic hobby market of the day. the front shows some light toning near the lower-left corner along with softened corner tips at both bottom corners, consistent with handling and light sun or storage exposure over more than five decades. Centering is reasonably balanced. No creases are present on the front. The stamp-back reverse shows similar light toning and corner wear but the text and stamp graphic remain fully legible and free of any writing or tape residue. Given the light corner softening and mild toning without any creasing, this card grades conservatively in the VG-EX range, a very presentable example of a genuinely scarcer O-Pee-Chee print variation featuring a Masterton Trophy winner. Grade Estimate: VG-EX 4