1973-74 O-Pee-Chee Marcel Dionne #17 Light Back Variation Hall of Fame Detroit Red Wings

Description

1973-74 O-Pee-Chee Marcel Dionne #17 Light Back Variation Hall of Fame Detroit Red Wings Chase the tougher variation of a Hall of Fame star with this 1973-74 O-Pee-Chee Marcel Dionne #17 in the coveted Light Back printing, a key set piece for collectors of one of the most prolific scorers the game has ever seen. Marcel Dionne arrived in the NHL as a record-breaking rookie, posting 77 points in 1971-72 to set the mark for first-year players that the back bio highlights, and he followed it with 40 goals and 50 assists for 90 points in 1972-73, the campaign captured on this card. The Drummondville, Quebec center would go on to author a first-ballot Hall of Fame career with 731 goals and better than 1,770 points, most of them with the Los Angeles Kings on the famed Triple Crown Line, and his early Red Wings cards are the foundation of any Dionne collection. What makes this copy especially desirable is the back variation, the 1973-74 O-Pee-Chee set exists in both a common Dark Back on grayish stock and a scarcer Light Back on the lighter tan cardboard from the earlier printing, and this is the harder-to-find Light Back that set registrars and variation collectors specifically hunt, typically commanding a premium over the dark version. The back cartoon notes Dionne ran a hockey school in his hometown during the off-season. The reverse is a Canadian O-Pee-Chee bilingual back, printed in Canada with English and French text, his 1972-73 season record, and the cartoon panel, rather than a puzzle back. On close inspection the front shows noticeable light surface speckling and print wear across the red sweater and blue background, giving it a slightly scuffed look, moderate corner rounding, and edges that show some light chipping on the red border, while centering is decent with a slight shift toward the upper right, and there is no hard crease. The light tan back is clean and free of writing with only mild edge wear. Because the front surface speckling and corner wear are more evident than on the darker-backed example, a conservative raw grade of VG-EX 4 is the honest estimate, with the card's rarity as a light back variation offsetting its lower technical grade. Grade Estimate: VG-EX 4