The purpose of this blog is two-fold: 1, to meet my fellow collectors and trade a few cards, and 2, to brag about all of the amazing hardware I've been able to get my greedy little hands on.
Last year, when going a little crazy on my cardboard purchases, I had a bad habit of immediately throwing my good non-Penguins cards on Ebay to try and flip them, but looking back on it, there are some cards that I would like to have kept, especially considering how little I got in return. My most recent "reacquired" card was a Limited Trios card of Tyler Myers, Tyler Ennis, and Derek Roy from 2011-12 Panini Limited, numbered 18/25.
Now, I'm not a fan of the Buffalo Sabres, and am not a huge fan of any of the three players in particular, but I just think it's a great looking card. Of course, had this not been a card I had personally pulled from a pack, I'd have no interest in it. Now, this isn't the exact card I pulled, but it was the prime version, numbered to 25, so it's close enough for me. I just remember being disappointed with how little it originally sold for. Luckily, I was able to purchase this card at a similarly low price.
Along with that card, I also picked up two others from the same seller. The first one is a Matt Frattin Phenoms on-fabric auto from 2011-12 Limited, numbered 20/299. As a University of North Dakota alumnus, Frattin's cards are always welcome in my collection, especially an "on-fabric" signature like this one. While Frattin appears to be struggling early on with his new team, the Los Angeles Kings, hopefully he finds a way to pick up his game before too long.
Lastly, I also picked up an autographed Stanley Cup Winners card of Chris Pronger, numbered 52/99. The 2nd overall draft pick in 1993, Pronger went on to FAR exceed the
accomplishments of the man he was passed over for, Alexandre Daigle. In total, he had an 18-year NHL career, in which he won the Hart
Trophy (League MVP) and Norris Trophy (Best Defenseman) in 2000, Olympic
gold medals in 2002 and 2010, and the Stanley Cup in 2007 with the
Anaheim Ducks. While he, himself, has not officially announced his retirement, Pronger hasn't played a game since 2011, due to post-concussion syndrome, and just a couple of weeks ago, Philadelphia Flyers GM Paul Holmgren told the media that Pronger's playing career is over. Pronger will remain with the Flyers as a part-time scout for the remainder of his contract.
There are some cards that you pick up, not because they are of a favorite player, or a favorite team, you pick them up, well, just because. This is one of those cards. A recent Ebay purchase landed me a Showcase Swatches card of Corey Perry from 2012-13 Panini Prime, numbered 6/25.
Perry won the Hart Trophy and Richard Trophy in 2011, as well as a Stanley Cup in 2007, so he is certainly no slouch, but the affordability of this card is what drew me in. Well, that, and I'm sure there are some Anaheim Ducks collectors out there who wouldn't mind adding this to their collection via trade.
Last Friday, my family and I attended the USHL game between the Fargo Force and the USA National Team Development Program's Under 18 team. My wife and I took our 4-year-old and 2-year-old with, and when I wasn't busy on snack runs, potty breaks, and trying to get the younger one to just sit down, I was able to catch enough of the game to watch a 4-1 loss. The loss puts the defending USHL Western Conference champs at 7th place, with a 3-6-0 record.
During each game, the Force select one player for their "Player Spotlight," which gets him a feature in the program for that game and has videos playing on the board in between periods to help the Force fans get to know him. The player is also made available after the game to sign autographs for the fans. The player for this game was defenseman and alternate captain Chris Buchanan. He comes to Fargo all the way from San Jose, California and has picked up one assist in seven games so far this season. One fact I discovered about him from his player profile on fargoforce.com that is interesting to me, and probably no one else, is that his favorite Fargo-area restaurant is the Cork 'N Cleaver, which is where my dad proposed to my mom many years ago.
Over the past few years of collecting, one item I can finally scratch off of my bucket list is opening up a box of Upper Deck The Cup.
The 2012-13 release of Upper Deck's premier product just came out last week, and I barely had enough in my collecting budget to afford a box. My LCS owner was there when I stopped in, and was nice enough to chop a little off the price, which made it considerably cheaper than it is on-line. I guess what always kept me away from it in the past, was simply an unwillingness to take the risk. At five cards per box, that averages out to around $90 per card, one of those being a base card. After a successful collecting year so far, I felt like luck was far enough on my side, that I picked up a box, and hoped for the best.
Upper Deck has promised that this year's The Cup will have an autograph content that is focused more toward veterans and "legends" than in years past, and an effort was made to pick up autographs from players who either had never signed for The Cup, or hasn't in many years, like Peter Forsberg, Theo Fleury , Mats Sundin, and Pavel Bure. The Cup also has on-card autographs of players like Wayne Gretzky and Bobby Orr, who are signed to exclusive deals with Upper Deck.
This year only, Upper Deck included in The Cup a two-card bonus pack of Ultimate Collection, which is a high-end brand that they were forced to cancel to to lockout limitations. Each pack contains one base card, serial-numbered to 399, and one hit.
Here's a video of my box break, with scans and a review to follow:
From the Ultimate Collection bonus pack, my base card was of Zach Parise, numbered 268/399. The Ultimate Collection cards are on a slightly thicker than normal card stock, which definitely gives them a high-end feel. The bulk of the card design is on the bottom, where the player image sits on top of a black, silver, and blue design which houses all of the front-of-card player information. The player image is glossy, which makes him really stand out from the matte background.
The hit from my Ultimate Collection pack was a Debut Threads Patch card of Scott Glennie, numbered 26/100. The first thing that jumps out from this card, of course, is the size of the patch. They also do a good job of matching the color scheme of these to that of the base card, substituting gold foil for silver. While this was the one hit that I pulled from Ultimate Collection, there are also other favorites from the set making their return, like Rookie Patches, Legends Autographs, and Ultimate Signatures.
For my base card of The Cup, I pulled a Johan Franzen, numbered 58/249. One of the first things hat you notice when picking up the base cards is just how thick they are. Despite not containing any memorabilia pieces, the thickess is just the same as most patch cards, and it takes a 180-pt. toploader to store these. The actual design of the card is simple, and elegant, which I like. They put some foil on the left side, but they really don't over-do the design at all. For something this nice, I like a nice, simple, clean design, and Upper Deck did a great job of that.
I also pulled a Gold Spectrum parallel of Anze Koptar, numbered 22/25. Like most parallels, you have the same design as the base card, but just a different color foil. The base cards are already low-numbered to 249, but Gold Spectrum really drops that numbering, all the way to 25, making each one of these a rare find. These are referred to as "Gold Spectrum," instead of just "Gold," because the foil has a kind of rainbow effect, when light catches it.
Each box of the Cup contains one autographed patch rookie card, and I pulled Gabriel Dumont, numbered 158/249. The rookies are very similar to the base cards, which I like, but they still distinguish themselves apart, flipping the foil from the left side to the right, and placing a "ROOKIE" distinction on the bottom. The top third of the card is used for the player image, which can only hold a head shot, and is faded towards the bottom, to leave room for the signature. Beneath the signature is a square-ish cut-out for the patch. Even though these cards contain "hit content" they are actually part of the set, and are considered to be "base cards." Now, all I will say about this particular card, is that for the money spent on this product, it is a bit of a disappointment to pull a plain, one-colored patch as one of your big hits. Of course, not all of them are this way, but I'd expect better from a product of such high regard.
The rookie auto patches are one of the Product's biggest drawing points, as these are considered to be the top rookie card of each player every year. Unfortunately, due to lockout restrictions, the only rookies used are those who debuted late in the 2011-12 season, and did not receive any cards in those sets. The rookie crop may be weak, but the cards of Sven Baertschi, Chris Kreider, and Jaden Schwartz, numbered to a low 99 copies, are grabbing some MAJOR money on the secondary market.
I also pulled three inserts from the box, the first being a Cup Foundations quad jersey card of Patrice Bergeron, numbered 11/25. One of the things that sets The Cup apart from all other high-end hockey releases, is just how low their inserts are serial-numbered to. At just 25 copies, this Bergeron card features four jersey swatches, one white and three yellow, which surround a diamond-shaped center. The area in the middle features a white space with a faded team logo, which is used for a signature on other versions of this card. Now that I look at it, the color scheme of these cards come really close to the Ultimate Collection cards I pulled. It doesn't bother me at ll, it's just something I noticed.
There was one more Cup Foundations card, this one of Pittsburgh Penguins winger James Neal, featuring four patches, numbered 7/10. Now THIS is a patch card done right. Despite each piece not being massive in size, the swatches are all cut in a way that multiple colors are exposed. They are most likely from either the sleeve numbers or the word "DALLAS" on the front of the jersey, but each one has three or four visible colors, which is what a patch SHOULD be. While some may not care, you can't deny that this is a better card that one that would contain the same numbering, but four plain-colored patch pieces. This is the kind of card you would expect from a product like The Cup, and the fact that it's a Penguin makes it that much better for me.
Lastly, I pulled an Emblems of Endorsment autographed dual patch card of Pavel Bure, numbered 4/15. This is a fantastic-looking card of a hall-of-famer. The card is low-numbered, features an on-card autograph, and has two patch pieces. Now, I know that the bottom patch is one-colored, but it has an uncommon yellow color, and the top patch is so different, that it makes me over-look the one-colored patch entirely.
Now, that top patch had me curious. I'm somewhat familiar with the history of the various Canucks logos and uniforms, and this doesn't appear to come from any of them. The next logical step, would be to look at the different patches that may have been added to the front or shoulders of the jersey to commemorate special events or anniversaries. The one I discovered that matches this pattern perfectly was the NHL 75th anniversary logo.
The swatch on my card, if you flip it upside down, comes from the bottom left of this patch. It's always cool when you can identify an odd patch on your card, especially when it gives you some extra information on the jersey that the piece may have come from, but it gets cooler from there. These 75th Anniversary patches were worn during the 1991-92 season, which was Pavel Bure's rookie year!!!!! So not only do I have a great player, great signature, and great patch, but I have proof that the memorabilia comes from Bure's very first season in the NHL.
I knew I was taking a major risk when spending this kind of money on one single pack of cards, but in my opinion, that risk paid off. With The Cup, you really get the best of the best when it comes to hockey cards, and while a few of the cards you pull may or may not be duds, each box I've seen opened has had at lest one or two cards that make you stop and say, "Wow!" While the price point is very steep on this product, if you can afford to take the chance, I would definitely give it a shot.
Now, I'm not always a fan of Prizm, or Chrome, or whatever a particular card company calls their brand of it, but this is a case of it being done right. With 2013-14 Prizm, Panini produced a die-cut insert set called "Immortalized," which honors a player winning the Stanley Cup, and I was able to get my hands on Sidney Crosby's Immortalized card.
As you can see, the card is cut along the outline of the Stanley Cup, which the focus on the trophy, as much as the player. It also has the player image as the only non-silver element of the card, which makes it stand out right next to the Cup.
The back of the card features the same photo used on the front, as well as the short write-up on the player. This one in particular, focuses not so much on Crosby winning the Cup, but how he developed from a highly-touted prospect into a highly-decorated leader.
A couple weeks ago, I picked up what most people would see as an average card of a player with a short NHL career, but it was a little bit of a big deal for me. From 2003 Pacific Private Stock, I grabbed a Titanium Rookie of right winger Kile Wanvig, numbered 809/1475.
Wanvig spent parts of four seasons in the NHL with the Minnesota Wild and Tampa Bay Lightning, with his most significant season coming in 2005-06, where he spent the entire season with the Minnesota Wild, scoring four goals and eight assists in 51 games. His last game in the NHL came during the 2007-08 season, and he spent the next few years bouncing around the AHL and a couple European leagues, before announcing his retirement in 2011.
The reason I was so eager to get this otherwise inconsequential card, is because when Wanving was with The Houston Aeros of the AHL, he was signing autographs after a game, and I got a puck signed.
I've had the puck for years, and was looking for a way to display it, when I came across a plastic puck/card holder. Now, I have the holder, the puck, and the card, which makes it all complete!
While perusing the card aisle at Target a couple weeks ago, I came across what looked to be a hobby box of 2013 Rookies & Stars Longevity. It didn't have a price tag on it, but after finding a price checker on the other side of the store, I was surprised to find out that it was priced at just $49.95. With a promised four hits per box, and at half the price of most hobby boxes, I figured it was worth a shot.
As it turns out, I didn't have an actual hobby box. Longevity is a Target-exclusive product put out by Panini, but has all of the appearance and hit-content of a hobby box at half the price.
Anyway, here's what my box gave me:
Apart from the base cards, which are basically shiny versions of the regular Rookies & Stars release, each box also includes four red parallels. Mine were of Josh Freeman, Dwayne Bowe, Mike Gillislee, and Travis Kelce. Yikes.
The first of my four hits was a Freshman Orientation card of New Orleans Saints wide receiver Kenny Stills These jersey cards are designed with a "getting to know" theme, informing collectors of a player's origins. So far this season, stills has played in six games, but has only 10 receptions for 19 total yards, with one touchdown.
Next is a Dress for Success jersey card of Pittsburgh Steelers quarterback Landry Jones. Jones was named after legendary Dallas Cowboys head coach Tom Landry, but has yet to see any action in a regular-season NFL game.
I also got a Dress for Success jersey card of Buffalo Bills wide receiver Robert Woods.In seven games this season, Woods has caught 21 passes for 298 yards and 2 touchdowns.
For my last hit, I got an autographed jersey card of Tampa Bay Buccaneers quarterback Mike Glennon, numbered 13/99. The 2013 third-round draft pick has played in four games so far this year, starting three of them, and has completed 58.6% of his 181 pass attempts for 6 touchdowns, and has a quarterback rating of 78.0.
Rookies & Stars Longevity is definitely a low-risk/low-reward product. You aren't going to get anything phenomenal, although the Glennon card wasn't too bad of a pull, but for the price you pay, it's a fun break.
Here's a few cards I purchased from a single seller on Ebay. They came along with the James Neal Dominion Autographed Patch card and the Pekka Rinne Prime Signatures card, but I pulled all of these aside and grouped them together, because they cost me just a dollar each. So feast your eyes on what a dollar (plus shipping) will get you nowadays.
2012-13 Dominion Mason Raymond Autographed Patch 45/60
2010-11 Dominion Matt Taormina Autographed Rookie 128/199
2010-11 Dominion Philip Larsen Autographed Rookie 96/199
2009-10 Ultimate Jamie Benn Ultimate Debut Threads Jersey 4/200
2012-13 Panini Prime Jason Zucker Prime Time Rookie Jumbo Jersey 4/99
2012-13 Panini Innovation Ban Hansbrough Autograph
2012-13 Panini Brilliance Marks of Brilliance Dennis Scott Auto
(Okay, this one was actually $3.24, but since I really only got it in hopes that it would surpass the four-month waiting period, so I could get it replaced with a Penguins card, I didn't think it warranted an extra post.)
As you can see, you won't really get any megastars (although a rookie jersey of Jamie Benn ain't bad), but you can still get some really cool cards for what amounts to pocket change.
Every now and then, I come across a great card of a great player, and despite being completely outside the realm of any of my numerous collecting goals, I pick it up.That was certainly the case with this card, a Prime Signatures card of Pekka Rinne from 2011-12 Panini Prime, numbered 27/50.
Apart from defenseman Shea Weber, Rinne has been one of the only bright spots with the Nashville Predators through some pretty dark years recently. He made his NHL debut during the 2005-06 season, but would play in only three NHL games over the next three years. He earned a permanent spot on the roster for the 2008-09 season, after Nashville traded Chris Mason, due to their commitment to Dan Ellis. Of course, the Dan Ellis experiment didn't work, and Rinne became the team's starter. His breakout season came in 2010-11, when despite missing some time due to injury, Rinne finished with a 33-22-9 record, 2.12 GAA, and .930 save percentage, on their way to the Western Conference Semifinals. His individual performance was good enough for a top-three finish in voting for the Vezina Trophy, fourth in Hart Trophy voting, and was named a Second-Team All-Star. Not a bad beginning to a career for a guy selected 258th overall in the 2004 NHL Entry Draft.
Hey, just because James Neal is on the shelf, doesn't mean I can't pick up some fantastic cards of his. My latest acquisition of his is this autographed patch card of his from 2012-13 Dominion, numbered 22/60
Neal was brought to Pittsburgh during the 2010-11 season in a trade with the Dallas Stars, and did very little in the following 20 games, scoring just one goal and five assists. In 2011-12, he had his breakout season, scoring 40 goals and 41 assists in 80 games, and came close to matching that point-per-game average in 2012-13, with 21 goals and 15 assists in 40 games.
In February 2012, Neal signed a six-year contract extension worth an average of $5 million a year, and has found a permanent home on the Penguins' second line, playing left wing to Evgeni Malkin. Neal, unfortunately, has seen only three minutes of action during the 2013-14 season after aggravating a previous upper-body injury. Despite he and 2013 Norris Trophy finalist being on the shelf, the Penguins have shot out of the gate with a 7-1-0 record, so it's scary to think of how good they will be when those two return to action.
While I have been spending a lot of my funds on 2012-13 Panini Prime, a lot of that has gone to autographed rookie cards and a few other cool items from lesser, more affordable players. My problem, though, is that I'm a collector of Sidney Crosby, who is not a lesser player, nor is he affordable.
I did, however, manage to pick up this card at a pretty good price: 2012-13 Panini Prime "400A" Quad Prime/Patch 14/50.
Of the four swatches, the first two are prime jersey pieces with white and gold coloring along a jersey's seam, and the second two swatches are patch pieces, one from a home and one from an away jersey. The "400A" is in reference to Crosby picking up is 400th assist, which he did on February 13, 2013, becoming the fifth youngest player to accomplish the feat, falling short of Wayne Gretzky, Mario Lemieux, Peter Stastny, and Bobby Orr.
Now, it may be a little excessive to have two pictures of Crosby on the card, but I guess they were just trying to avoid having all that blank space on the upper half. Either way, I absolutely love this card. It's my favorite player, low-numbered, and the swatches are positioned so that each one shows multiple colors. Hard to beat that.
Here's a quick look at a trade I just got from Tom of The Angels, in Order. I owe him some cards, and I have a few in mind to send, but I was fortunate enough to receive a few cards from him that greatly help me out on some of my baseball set needs.
Here's a look at what he sent me:
2003 Gypsy Queen - 1 Card
2013 Allen & Ginter - 2 Cards
2007 Allen & Ginter - 24 Cards
I was definitely surprised to see so many cards from the 2007 set, as a lot of collectors "rediscovered" the hobby well after that year, but with my set needs as expansive as they are, it's very much appreciated, and completely unexpected.
My hall-of-famer relic card is a Gilbert Perreault jersey card from 2002-03 Upper Deck Piece of History. Perreault played for seventeen seasons with the Buffalo Sabres, and was inducted to the Hockey Hall of Fame in 1990. The red jersey swatch comes from the 2001 HOF Legends of Hockey Game, which is the jersey he is wearing on the front of the card.
As always, Doug also dug up a few card for some of the sets I am working on:
2011-12 Titanium - 21 cards
2010-11 Upper Deck - 1 card
Lastly, he also sent me the following Sidney Crosby cards:
2007-08 Trilogy
2006-07 MVP Clutch Performers
2011-12 SP Authentic
2008-09 Artifacts
2009-10 Champ's Red
2013-14 Score Season Highlights
I already had the Trilogy card, but the other five all are new, bringing my total to 279 unique Sidney Crosby cards.
Thanks for all the set-building and other collection help! I just got a card in the mail that I purchased off of Ebay, just to send to you. Hopefully, it'll get there soon and you like what you get in return.
Continuing on with my collection of 2011-12 Dominion Autographed Patch Rookie cards, I picked up this Zac Rinaldo, numbered 100/199. It may contain a single-colored patch, which is my biggest hobby-related pet peeve, but for just a buck plus shipping, I'll set my standards aside, just this once.
A sixth round draft pick in 2008, Rinaldo finally made his NHL debut in 2011, during the first round of the Stanley Cup Playoffs, and did so, despite having more suspensions (4) than goals (3) with his AHL team. While he still makes the occasional trip back down to the AHL, he spends the majority of his time with the Flyers, as the team's enforcer. His first full year in the NHL, Rinaldo picked up 232 penalty minutes in 66 games.
When I can't find a good enough deal on Pittsburgh Penguins cards, my eyes begin to wander over to my other areas of interest, like my UND Alumni Collection. My most recent addition is a 2011-12 Panini Prime Zach Parise Prime Signatures Holo Silver Parallel, numbered 3/25.
Parise began playing college hockey with the University of North Dakota for the 2002-03 season, where he recorded a hat trick in his very first game his freshman year. By the end of the season, he led all NCAA rookies in scoring with 26 goals and 35 assists, and finished eighth in the national scoring race. He was also the only freshman finalist for the Hobey Baker Award, and the first UND freshman finalist ever. He was drafted that summer by the New Jersey Devils with the 17th overall draft pick, but returned to UND for his sophomore season, where his team won the McNaughton Cup as the WCHA Regular Season Champion. He also was named a First Team All-American, and was in the top 3 for the Hobey Baker Award, losing out to Junior Lessard.
After a couple of months waiting for my redemption, I finally opened up my mailbox to find my freshly redeemed Evgeni Malkin autographed Monikers card, numbered 26/99.
This particular card comes from 2012-13 Panini Limited and features an "on-fabric" signature, right next to an embroidered team logo. Since the 2010-11 release, Panini has been producing a similar card for the rookies in Limited called "Phenoms," but this is the first year they included veterans with this type of card. I've always liked them, simply because it was something different, and they look fantastic.
I know that redemptions are one of the most hated aspects of the hobby today, but if the inclusion of a redemption means I have this card in my hands, versus it never existing at all, I'll go ahead and take the redemption.
Well, I purchased a box of Panini Prizm hockey last month, and I'd say I made out pretty well. After watching some other box breaks of this product, though, I soon came to realize that I was VERY lucky with what I opened, and knew there was no way my luck would return, if I opened another. So, I did what any other less-than-rationally thinking card collector would do: I joined a group break.
For about half the price of one box, I picked up five teams for the three boxes that would be opened. My teams were the Colorado Avalanche, Minnesota Wild, Winnipeg Jets, Florida Panthers, and, of course, the Pittsburgh Penguins. I ended up spending about half of what a hobby box would be, so I figured, as long as I got half a box worth of hits (1 autograph) I'd be happy.
Here's a look at what I got. I'm not going to show every card of every team, just the highlights.
The Colorado Avalanche gave me my only non-autographed insert out of the break, with a, Immortalized die-cut card of Joe Sakic. These cards feature a player who has won the Stanley Cup in the past next to an image of the Cup, with the card die-cut on the right. The silver of the cup next to the silver of the card, makes these some of the coolest inserts of any line so far this year.
One thing I'll have to keep in mind when joining group breaks this year, is to pick the Panthers. Despite just being an early release, I got FIVE Panthers rookies, including Calder Trophy winner Jonathan Huberdeau and University of Minnesota standout Nick Bjugstad.
With the Wild, I got a few of the newer residents of the "State of Hockey," like Zach Parise, Ryan Suter, and Jason Pominville, as well as rookie Mikael Granlund.
For the Penguins, I did pretty well, falling just one James Neal short of a team set. I was also short both rookies, Beau Bennett and Eric Hartzell, but I'm pretty sure I got Neal and Bennett out of the box I opened myself.
Lastly, there was the Winnipeg Jets. Nothing exciting, so here are the two rookies, Eddie Pasquale and Anthony Peluso.
Lastly, the hits. In picking up 1/6 of the NHL teams available, I was hoping, at least, to get 1/6 of the hits, which would be one autograph. Luckily, I ended up with two! The first one is Beau Bennett, which I am happy to add to my collection, and is my second one of his, after the Upper Deck Trilogy auto I purchased a month or two ago. The Drew Shore is a Prizm Parallel, which is numbered 33/35.
While group breaks can be risky, they are also quite a lot of fun, and you can get some really cool cards in the process. I lucked out here, for sure, and I now have plenty of cool cards to add to my collection, without having to pay full price on a full box.
