Heritage Auction Recap: $131K Batman, $100K O-Pee-Chee Luke — and the Reality Check Nobody Asked For

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This episode turned into a full-on Heritage auction post-mortem because the auction that ended yesterday had two of the biggest non-sports sales ever in popular culture. The headliners:

• 1966 Topps Batman PSA 9 — $131,250 (with buyer’s premium)
• 1977 O-Pee-Chee Luke Skywalker PSA 10 — $100,000 (with buyer’s premium)

And yes, Albert is snoring under my desk while I type this. He’s an equal partner in bad financial decisions.

1) The $100,000 O-Pee-Chee Luke PSA 10: “Bad News” That Isn’t Actually Bad News

Let’s start with Luke because… I do a lot of Star Wars content and I’m not pretending otherwise.

This 1977 O-Pee-Chee Luke Skywalker PSA 10 sold for $100,000 (buyer’s premium included). Naturally, the immediate reaction from people who own ‘77 cards is:

“Wait… didn’t the Topps Luke PSA 10 just do $268,000? Is the market down 60%?”

No. That card is not this card.

The Topps Luke PSA 10 that did the monster number is a Pop 9. This O-Pee-Chee is a Pop 2. And despite that scarcity, O-Pee-Chee is still a more niche lane than Topps. Scarce doesn’t automatically mean “most desired.”

No extended bidding. That matters.

This Luke had zero extended bidding. Translation: it ended at $100K and nobody decided they needed to fight to the death for it after normal bidding closed.

Why I think it “only” did $100K

I talked about this card before the auction and I’ll own it—I waffled. My original projection was around $125K, then I had a “maybe this goes to the moon” moment like everyone else watching the market.

But here’s why the $100K outcome actually makes sense:

• I’m not sure the card looks Gem Mint. You can see imperfections, especially down in the corners. To my eye, it looks closer to a 9 than a “slam dunk 10.”
• Old label on a six-figure card is… a choice. If you’re sitting on a card like this, spending the money to get it into a newer holder feels like the obvious move. The fact it wasn’t done can spook bidders.
• O-Pee-Chee appeal isn’t the same as Topps appeal. Rarity is not the same thing as demand. Some people set collect OPC, sure—but the pool of people who’ll drop $100K+ on OPC is smaller.

How to spot O-Pee-Chee Luke (the quick tell)

The easiest tell on this Luke: “Luke Skywalker” is printed in a smaller font than the Topps version. (Other cards in the OPC set often show bilingual English/French text, but Luke is basically the “small font” giveaway.)

Was the prior $268K Topps sale “weird”?

Look—people always want to connect dots. Shill bidding talk exists. Markets get dramatic. But I don’t think this result automatically rewrites history.

I think the simpler explanation wins: this was a niche card, in an old label, with eye issues that make people question the 10, and it didn’t trigger a bidding war.

Also: don’t get it twisted. $100,000 is real money. This is still (by my view) the second-highest public Star Wars card sale and only the second Star Wars card to hit six figures. If you’re disappointed, that says more about expectations than reality.

O-Pee-Chee Luke pop count (from the PSA report I showed)

For the 1977 O-Pee-Chee Luke, the pop count I pulled showed 140 total (including qualifiers/half grades), with:

• PSA 10: 2
• PSA 9: 3
• PSA 8: 8 (plus an 8.5 listed)

And yes, it’s still kind of weird to see two 10s out of ~140, while Topps has ~5,000 graded and 9 tens. Not “nefarious.” Just… weird.

2) The $131,250 Batman PSA 9: The Platinum Age Just Body-Slammed the Room

If you’re feeling gloomy about Luke, let’s swing over to the 1966 Topps Batman and immediately stop being gloomy.

The headline: 1966 Topps Batman PSA 9 sold for $131,250 with buyer’s premium.

The previous record I referenced was $45,000. That’s basically a triple. Massive sale.

I’ve said it before and I’ll keep saying it: I call pre-1977 non-sports the platinum age. And in my opinion, the two heavyweight champs are:

• 1966 Topps Batman
• 1941 Gum Superman

This Batman result is exactly what it looks like: the market flexing.

Batman pop report notes (the numbers I showed)

From the PSA pop report I referenced:

• 1526 graded without qualifiers
• ~1700 including half-grades
• ~1800 including qualifiers
• PSA 9: 13
• PSA 8: 65
• No PSA 10s

Important caveat: unlike ‘77 Star Wars, Batman has a meaningful number sitting in other slabs—especially SGC. I mentioned roughly 800–900 in SGC holders, which effectively inc