Winner of multimillion-dollar Gretzky card case says he's changed his mind

I think it’s an amazing items. It’s been called the Holy Grail of hockey card memorabilia. That Holy Grail is an unopened box of 1979 Opici hockey cards discovered recently by a Regina family while cleaning their home. It’s believed to contain as many as 25 Wayne Gretzky rookie cards. Toronto real estate agent Jack Arshawski was the winning bidder in a recent online auction for The Box. He agreed to pay more than 5 million Canadian dollars for it. I actually needed like 4 Red Bulls to keep me focused and sharp because every time a new bid that was entered, it would reset at 30 minutes in the extended period of time. So it was very possible that I almost missed winning the bid on this because it wrapped up like after 1:00 AM Toronto time. That was nearly two months ago. The cards remain in the vault at the auction house’s Texas facility, Arshowski said he’s paid most of the money, but not all, and now he’s not sure if he wants to keep the cards. I realized that I wasn’t so passionate about, you know, the hockey cards and that I realized that there are others out there that are much more passionate about this. And I I started a journey, I guess, to find, I think, what would be a better home for these cards. He sent messages to Wayne Gretzky, to Edmonton Oilers owner Daryl Katz, to poker pro Daniel Negrano, to Canadian rapper Drake and many others, he says none of them have responded. I just want to give these cards to somebody who will really appreciate it and they’ll get the most happiness from it. And I don’t want anything, you know, I don’t want anything additional for myself. Then what was the winning bid for these credit for these hockey cards? A Regina sports car dealer says this story keeps getting more interesting. He says it might be a case of buyer’s remorse. So it sounds like the there’s a bit of a financial crunch there and he’s looking to he bit off maybe more than he can chew and he’s looking to you know find a a well basically resell them in order to to fulfill the the purchase. AUS card expert says he’s never seen anything like this just a very unusual situation. You know, I’m, I’m not sure what the resolution will be, but I think the the buyer, you know, doesn’t sound like he wants it at this point. And I don’t think, you know, even though the auction house typically is very serious about collecting money, they don’t want this type of situation ever for any amount of money. Haney and Mueller say the box and Gretzky rookie cards like this one could increase in value in the coming years, but they’re unlikely to fetch a much higher price so soon after a major auction. They say the situation could be tricky for everyone involved. Jason Warwick, CBC News, Saskatoon.