2012-13 The Cup James Neal Cup Foundations Quad Patch 3/10

Like the Pavel Bure card from 2012-13 The Cup, the James Neal quad patch card I pulled also soon departed my possession when we needed some extra money for plane tickets this past winter. It was a great card, but sacrifices needed to be made, and it was one of the first cards to go, but it was still a card that I missed. Luckily for me, despite the rarity of it, I was recently able to get my hands on another copy of the same card.

This one is numbered 3/10 and comes from the Cup Foundations insert set, and features four patch pieces of his Dallas Stars jersey, who he last played for in 2010-11. I absolutely love this card, but the only thing that would make it better would be that bottom left swatch. With so many colors and seams in the other three, that one just seems out of place. Not only that, but I sold my original card for around $45, and purchased this one for $30, which tells me that either I had good timing, or something like a single-colored patch instead of a multi-colored one dropped the price of the card by 33%. That's a great deal if you're a buyer, but as a seller, it's a bit discouraging when a card you have has an automatic value reduction, just because the card company couldn't take the time to make sure a card is done in a proper way. Let's hope that this issue is addressed as part of the "added value" we will supposedly get with an exclusive hockey card licensee. Let's get on this, Upper Deck!