Woman Finds Marie-Philip Poulin Card Worth $50,000

The market for hockey cards has exploded since the pandemic. Collectors have been going crazy for old boxes containing some 45-year-old Wayne Gretzky rookie cards or, more recently, Connor Bedard Young Guns rookie cards. Therefore, it was just a matter of time before the same happened with women’s hockey.

Upper Deck released its long awaited first PWHL set last Wednesday. And the set has been received with great excitement so far by fans and collectors. Among other things, the price for PWHL hobby boxes have already increased in just a matter of days.

But the fun about all this is finding cards of your favorite player or unique cards of great value.

And a woman from Candiac, Quebec, Cassandra Melanson, has found what many consider the holy grail of women’s hockey cards: a Marie-Philip Poulin Young Guns Outburst Gold - one of one. Meaning, there’s only one copy of this card in the world. And it was found in Poulin’s home province, on the very first day the set got released.

What are the odds?

“I’ve been collecting Marie-Philip Poulin cards for years, so that was pretty incredible,” said Melanson in a phone interview. “It’s my birthday on the 28th so I decided to treat myself a little by buying a hobby box the day it got released. It was what I called a ‘God box’ as I got that card, a regular Marie-Philip Poulin Young Guns, as well as a Dazzlers version of her card!”

No time was wasted as the card can already be found on eBay for a lofty price of $50,398.25 CDN, plus taxes if you are buying from Canada. For now, the card is not at auction per se. Collectors can buy it at that price or make an offer, which is usually less than what the initial price is.

“Regarding the sale, we took the card on consignment to listen to the offers,” said Patrick Brisson, owner of Collect-Edition, the store in Candiac where the card was found, when contacted by The Hockey News. “Note that Cassandra is very interested in meeting with Marie-Philip Poulin in order to show her the card,” he added.

“I’m only selling it because it’s worth so much, otherwise, I would have kept it,” explained Melanson. “Marie-Philp is someone I really look up to for the player and the human being she is, but also for what she did for the feminist movement. I only met her once at a hockey training camp I attended years ago. I don’t plan on going crazy with the money, except for, perhaps, treating myself with another training camp where Marie-Philip will be at!”

Celebrating PWHL’s first season

Another similar card is also for sale on eBay and it’s also a Young Guns Outburst Gold 1/1, but this one is of Natalie Spooner, the league’s first MVP. Originally sold for $50,193.50, it has been reduced to a much more affordable price of $42,664.48, maybe, as the description of the card says, because “the bottom left corner came out with a minor ding.”

Still, anyone has saving bonds to sell?

For this first series, the cards show players with their old PWHL uniforms from the first season, as well as old names such as PWHL Montreal. Which brings a little uniqueness for fans as for example, Tereza Vanisova is with Montreal, not Ottawa. That also means no luck in finding a Sarah Fillier as she’s not in the set at all.

The only women’s hockey cards one could find before were international cards, mostly members of Team Canada. Tim Horton’s also printed some PWHPA cards last year.

More cards next year?

Out of the 70 cards, 20 are the popular Young Guns cards. One can find three or four per hobby boxes. A major difference between the PWHL and the NHL sets is that it’s not 70 different players. In the NHL series, Young Guns are reserved for rookies. For the PWHL set, Marie-Philip Poulin has two cards: one regular and a Young Guns. The same goes for every player with a Young Guns card.

With the early success of this first series, it wouldn’t be surprising for Upper Deck to release the 2024-25 set earlier, perhaps in conjunction with the start of the season, with more than 70 cards, and with rookies as Young Guns. But you've got to start somewhere and one has to admit, having a Poulin or a Spooner Young Guns is pretty cool. Especially if you have $50,000 to spend!