The Great Zo
Verified Trader,
Spring is here, and the NHL playoffs are on, and I'm finally working on another mail post!
Mail Post #2 for 2016
-------------------------------------------------------
15-16 Upper Deck National Hockey Card Day Canada John Tavares (x2)
15-16 Upper Deck National Hockey Card Day Canada Carey Price
15-16 Upper Deck National Hockey Card Day Canada Taylor Hall (x2)
15-16 Upper Deck National Hockey Card Day Canada Andrew Ladd
15-16 Upper Deck National Hockey Card Day Canada Sean Monahan
15-16 Upper Deck National Hockey Card Day Canada Connor McDavid
15-16 Upper Deck National Hockey Card Day Canada Sam Bennett
15-16 Upper Deck National Hockey Card Day Canada Robby Fabbri (x2)
15-16 Upper Deck National Hockey Card Day Canada Max Domi
15-16 Upper Deck National Hockey Card Day Canada Nicolas Petan
15-16 Upper Deck National Hockey Card Day Canada Wayne Gretzky
15-16 Upper Deck National Hockey Card Day Canada Bobby Orr (x3)
15-16 Upper Deck National Hockey Card Day Canada Lanny McDonald (x2)
15-16 Upper Deck National Hockey Card Day Canada Glenn Anderson
15-16 Upper Deck National Hockey Card Day Canada Doug Gilmour
I will begin with a big lot I received as a gift from Norm (trekrun). Norm's a generous guy who has made several contributions to my mail posts in the past, and I'm really happy to share another one!
First up is a big batch of cards from the National Hockey Card Day release. I can't access the Canadian version directly here in the US, but now I've got an entire set, plus a few extras!
-------------------------------------------------------
15-16 Upper Deck National Hockey Card Day Canada Connor McDavid (Memorable Moments)
15-16 Upper Deck National Hockey Card Day Canada Header/Checklist (x2)
Here are the final cards from the National Hockey Card Day set, including the shortprint #16 of Connor McDavid. Yes, these are my first cards of the 2015 #1 overall pick.
-------------------------------------------------------
15-16 Upper Deck Series Two base cards (Blue Jackets / Lightning)
Next up from Norm is a batch of base cards from 15-16 UD2. These cards feature players from my favorite teams.
-------------------------------------------------------
15-16 Upper Deck Joel Vermin RC (SP)
15-16 Upper Deck Markus Hannikainen RC (SP)
I also received two Young Guns RCs -- Joel Vermin and Markus Hannikainen. I'm glad that these two guys got into the Upper Deck set. They aren't high-end prospects, but they're both the type of young player I appreciate.
-------------------------------------------------------
15-16 Upper Deck UD Portraits P-87 Josh Anderson
15-16 Upper Deck UD Portraits P-91 Slater Koekkoek
15-16 Upper Deck UD Canvas C194 Ryan Callahan
15-16 Upper Deck Overtime Luminary Legends LL-10 Steven Stamkos
Here are a few CBJ/TBL insert cards, including an extremely shiny Stamkos insert from UD Overtime.
-------------------------------------------------------
15-16 Upper Deck Overtime Cam Atkinson
15-16 Upper Deck Overtime Ryan Callahan
15-16 Upper Deck Overtime Tyler Johnson
15-16 Upper Deck Overtime Autographs 139 Cam Atkinson
15-16 Upper Deck Series One Signature Sensations SS-AK Alex Killorn
The last batch of cards from Norm is actually my favorite -- two autographs! Atkinson and Killorn are great complementary wingers for the Blue Jackets and Lightning, respectively. Killorn has already scored a couple big goals in the 2016 playoffs.
Thank you very much for the cards, Norm!
-------------------------------------------------------
13-14 SeReal KHL DON-008 Clay Wilson
13-14 SeReal KHL BAR-005 Mike Lundin
Here are two KHL cards I received as extras from a transaction with a Russian ebay user. I'm not sure if these two cards were chosen randomly by the seller, but by good fortune, they'll both find a home in my collection -- Wilson was a Jacket, and Lundin was a Bolt. In fact, the first Blue Jackets game I ever attended was the game in which Clay Wilson scored his first NHL goal.
-------------------------------------------------------
15-16 KHL Ak Bars Kazan Team Set Evgeny Konstantinov
This card was the real purpose for the Russian transaction, and it's a very strange one -- it's Evgeny Konstantinov's first trading card in nine years.
Konstantinov was a decent goaltending prospect when he came to North America to play for the Detroit Vipers in 2000-01. However, before even reaching the age of 20, he was thrust into a losing culture in the Lightning organization. He eventually appeared in two games for Tampa Bay, but never found sustained success, even at the AHL/ECHL levels. He returned to Russia and appeared sparingly in various leagues from 2004 to 2009.
Then, suddenly, he re-appeared. At age 35, he apparently joined with his hometown Kazan Ak Bars team for the 2015-16 season. I can find no stats regarding his appearances with Kazan, and while he's listed on the team's stats on KHL.ru, he's noted with zero games played. Did he ever actually appear in a contest?
From information supplied by the ebay seller, these cards were released by the team, and were sold in the official team store during games. The cards were available as singles or in a full set. Based on this, and based on the copyright information on the card, I do believe that this card is legitimate (and not a basement creation). The card measures roughly 4.00" long by 2.75" wide. Whether or not Konstantinov played any games last season, I'm glad to add this strange card to my collection.
-------------------------------------------------------
15-16 German DEL Basic Series 499 Steve Walker
15-16 German DEL Premium Series 499 Steve Walker
Here are two new German cards of Steve Walker -- former captain of both the Detroit Vipers and the Berlin Polar Bears. He's now an assistant coach with the Mannheim Eagles (Adler Mannheim) of the DEL.
These cards come from two parallel sets, and are almost identical. The Basic Series card has a flat finish, and the Premium Series card has a glossy finish. The cards are the same in thickness. In addition, the Basic Series card has a marking with the words "BASIC SET" near the bottom left on the card. It's hard to see, because Steve Walker's suit jacket almost masks it out. Since the designs are otherwise identical, I flipped the Premium Series card over to the back.
These cards arrived from Rico Jacob, one of my long-time trading partners in Germany. According to him, there are no further parallels to these two cards, though I think there may be press plate versions.
-------------------------------------------------------
13-14 National Treasures Press Plates (1/1)
-- 10-11 Playoff Contenders 22 Tim Thomas (Yellow Plate)
Oh, speaking of press plates, how about two more of these stupid and insanely-inexpensive National Treasures plates of Tim Thomas?
-------------------------------------------------------
13-14 National Treasures Press Plates (1/1)
-- 11-12 Panini Contenders 105 Tim Thomas (Black Plate)
Sure, why not? Here's the second of the two. That brings my total count on Tim Thomas National Treasures plates up to 40 out of a possible 104 that I believe exist.
This shifts the post toward my player collections, and there is an interesting connection between the next two cards.
-------------------------------------------------------
13-14 Panini Contenders Autographs Sixes C6-USG
-- Ryan Miller / Tim Thomas / Jimmy Howard
-- Cory Schneider / Jack Campbell / John Gibson
This card is, to the best of my knowledge, the first six-autograph card in my collection. That's impressive, but does it make the card a good one by default? I'm not sure that it does. The design is horrendously boring, with no foil, and no set name. The card stock is very thin, and makes this should-be-high-end card feel very cheap. I also really don't like the cracks in the background design near the side edges of the card -- they look like creases in pictures.
Yeah, maybe I should just stick with the "my first six-autograph card" part.
-------------------------------------------------------
12-13 Panini Certified Fabric of the Game Mirror Gold Tim Thomas (10/25)
This card is a nice one from the parallel-heavy Panini Certified product. The prime jersey swatch contains a thick seam, with yellow and black jersey sections.
There are seven versions of this card, and I have all but the toughest two.
* Fabric of the Game Base #/299
* Fabric of the Game Mirror Red #/150
* Fabric of the Game Mirror Hot Box #/75
* Fabric of the Game Mirror Blue #/25
* Fabric of the Game Mirror Gold #/25
* Fabric of the Game Mirror Emerald #/5 (not owned)
* Fabric of the Game Mirror Black #/1 (not owned)
So, what is the connection between the last two cards? In late November 2015, I won both cards from ebay user zetterbergfan40. The seller was a deadbeat, with a feedback profile that ended up flooded out with negatives. The cards never arrived. Ebay refunded my purchase.
By some stroke of luck, I was able to purchase different copies of both cards again, in completely separate deals over the next few months. Now, both cards are in my possession -- even if it took two tries.
-------------------------------------------------------
11-12 ITG Ultimate Memorabilia 11th Edition
-- Goalie Auto/Memorabilia Silver Tim Thomas (09/19)
I'm not a huge fan of this un-exciting card, but it's still a rare card with an autograph and a memorabilia piece. Also, it was inexpensive, and that's always an important consideration! This card features a white piece of a Tim Thomas goalie pad. There is also a Gold 1/1 version, but I don't have it.
-------------------------------------------------------
2012 ITG Spring Expo Between The Pipes Patch BTPR-90 Tim Thomas (/10)
Here's a different ITG card that I'm more a fan of.
In 2012, ITG released some very large promo sets for the Spring Expo and National card shows. These sets highlighted the 10-year anniversary of Between The Pipes, containing a large array of different memorabilia swatches. My favorite part about this set is that the swatches are large, and often quite nice. This patch card contains a seven-layer swatch (all in one piece, despite the two windows). I detect the following: yellow jersey, black patch, white patch, black patch, white patch, black patch, and yellow jersey.
Tim Thomas had nine different cards between the two promo sets. I own eight of the nine.
* 2012 Spring Expo BTPR-89 Jersey (/10)
* 2012 Spring Expo BTPR-90 Patch (/10)
* 2012 Spring Expo BTPR-91 Glove (/10)
* 2012 Spring Expo BTPR-92 Pad (/10) (not owned)
* 2012 Spring Expo BTPR-93 Glove/Pad (/10)
* 2012 The National BTPR-60 Jersey (/10)
* 2012 The National BTPR-61 Glove (/10)
* 2012 The National BTPR-62 Pad (/10)
* 2012 The National BTPR-63 Glove/Pad (/10)
-------------------------------------------------------
10-11 Panini Luxury Suite Jersey Stick Gold Tim Thomas (06/10)
Tim Thomas had five different memorabilia variations in 10-11 Luxury Suite. I have all of the base versions (varying print runs from 599 to 20), and I now have four of the five gold #/10 parallels -- missing only the Prime / Patch card.
This one contains a yellow jersey swatch and a white painted stick swatch.
-------------------------------------------------------
12-13 Panini Luxury Suite (Rookie Anthology) Autographs Gold 43 Tim Thomas (Game-Used Stick) (03/10)
Here's another Luxury Suite card with a white painted stick swatch! What I think is most interesting about this card is that it's one of the few with Tim Thomas listed as a member of the New York Islanders.
This card is numbered as a parallel to the base set card. What sets this one apart is the sticker autograph and gold foil -- in addition to the much shorter print run. There's also a Black 1/1 parallel, which I believe I've seen on ebay, but I did not purchase.
-------------------------------------------------------
12-13 UD Artifacts Tundra Tandems Dual Fight Strap TT-TR Tuukka Rask / Tim Thomas (05/12)
I've always been a critic of Artifacts, but I thought the memorabilia program in the 12-13 was much more coherent than in years prior. This dual fight strap card features a standard pairing -- Thomas and Rask -- but the low print run makes the card a good one. I've seen several copies of this card over the past few years, but I finally picked this one up for a good price.
-------------------------------------------------------
12-13 Titanium Metallic Marks (Silver) 81 Tim Thomas (SP)
The final Tim Thomas card in this mail post is my favorite of all of them. Why? Doesn't this just look like a standard-issue Panini sticker autograph card?
Not so.
The 2012-13 Panini Titanium Metallic Marks insert set was released in 2012-13 Panini Rookie Anthology. The set contained a total of 88 cards, though the checklist was set up as if 100 cards were originally intended. The cards were split across four tiers -- bronze, silver, gold, and platinum. It would make sense that the platinum cards would be the most scarce, but that wasn't necessarily the case. According to a document released by Panini, the platinum cards were limited to 10 copies, and the gold cards were limited to 25 copies. However, what's more interesting is the four silver cards listed as SSP -- including Tim Thomas.
So, how many copies of this Tim Thomas card exist? Let me make it crystal clear: the product has been out for three years, and this is the only copy I've ever seen.
Yup, I had to get it, and it wasn't even as expensive as I was expecting! Has anyone else ever seen one of the silver SSP cards from this set?
-------------------------------------------------------
07-08 SP Game Used Authentic Fabrics Dual Patch AF2-SH (17/25)
-- Martin Havlat (white patch / black patch)
-- Sergei Samsonov (black patch / yellow patch / black patch / white jersey)
I have three Sergei Samsonov cards to close out this post, and I'll start with a dual patch from Samsonov's brief stay in Chicago. Yes, I'm listing a layer of white jersey on the far edge of the Samsonov swatch -- it's barely visible when looking at the card from an angle.
I already own the Dual Jersey version of this card, but the patch version is much nicer. Unfortunately, I'm a long way from being done with 07-08 SP Game Used -- Samsonov also appears on 3-player, 4-player, and 5-player memorabilia cards.
In classic UD tradition, neither swatch on this card is from a Blackhawks jersey -- as listed on the card back, Havlat's is from Ottawa, and Samsonov's is from Boston.
-------------------------------------------------------
02-03 Pacific Heads-Up Purple Sergei Samsonov (03/30)
It's an exciting day when I can pick off an old, limited Samsonov parallel! This card finally completes my run of 02-03 Pacific Heads-Up parallel cards, with four total versions: base, blue (/240), red (/80), and purple (/30). Not only that, but it finishes out every Pacific base-set parallel card from the 2002-03 product year!
-------------------------------------------------------
01-02 UD Challenge For The Cup Unstoppable Combos UC-ST (22/25)
-- Sergei Samsonov (White Jersey) / Joe Thornton (Yellow Jersey)
This card might not look very special in 2016, but for when it was released in 01-02, it was high-end! Two jersey swatches, two autographs, and two of the most talented offensive players in the NHL? There was no way I'd ever have been able to acquire it back then, but demand for the Samsonov / Thornton pairing has softened with time. Over the last 14 years, I've seen only a few copies of this card, but always held by sellers who vastly inflated its value -- perhaps thinking it was still 2002. I was finally able to find a copy for a price that made sense, and I was quick to make the purchase.
It may seem strange, but this was the only Samsonov card in the Challenge For The Cup product. He wasn't in the base set, and he wasn't in any other insert sets.
There are a couple of very small creases near the Thornton swatch, but it's not really enough to affect the integrity of the card.
So, here you go! While everyone else is posting Connor McDavid RCs and the latest and greatest from UD -- whose recent products I've barely kept up with at all -- I present what might have been a "card of the year" candidate in 2002 ... just 14 years too late.
Oh, and maybe Samsonov's done, but Thornton is -- as I finish writing this post -- on the ice right now "challenging for the cup."
-----------------
News and notes:
** I was in attendance for Game 3 of the Lightning / Red Wings series, which was also the only Bolts loss in their five-game series victory. Just bad luck that I got to see their only atrocious game of the series in person, and surrounded by an awful sea of red!
** By the way, enjoy your $5-pizzas-I-wouldn't-eat-if-you-paid-me arena!
** I'm sitting on a boatload of new cards from the Czech league that I can't wait to share in the future. Yet another European market that is producing some pretty nice cardboard.
That'll be it. Thanks everyone!
--Andy
http://www.thegreatzo.com/cards/
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Mail Post #2 for 2016
-------------------------------------------------------
15-16 Upper Deck National Hockey Card Day Canada John Tavares (x2)
15-16 Upper Deck National Hockey Card Day Canada Carey Price
15-16 Upper Deck National Hockey Card Day Canada Taylor Hall (x2)
15-16 Upper Deck National Hockey Card Day Canada Andrew Ladd
15-16 Upper Deck National Hockey Card Day Canada Sean Monahan
15-16 Upper Deck National Hockey Card Day Canada Connor McDavid
15-16 Upper Deck National Hockey Card Day Canada Sam Bennett
15-16 Upper Deck National Hockey Card Day Canada Robby Fabbri (x2)
15-16 Upper Deck National Hockey Card Day Canada Max Domi
15-16 Upper Deck National Hockey Card Day Canada Nicolas Petan
15-16 Upper Deck National Hockey Card Day Canada Wayne Gretzky
15-16 Upper Deck National Hockey Card Day Canada Bobby Orr (x3)
15-16 Upper Deck National Hockey Card Day Canada Lanny McDonald (x2)
15-16 Upper Deck National Hockey Card Day Canada Glenn Anderson
15-16 Upper Deck National Hockey Card Day Canada Doug Gilmour
I will begin with a big lot I received as a gift from Norm (trekrun). Norm's a generous guy who has made several contributions to my mail posts in the past, and I'm really happy to share another one!
First up is a big batch of cards from the National Hockey Card Day release. I can't access the Canadian version directly here in the US, but now I've got an entire set, plus a few extras!
-------------------------------------------------------
15-16 Upper Deck National Hockey Card Day Canada Connor McDavid (Memorable Moments)
15-16 Upper Deck National Hockey Card Day Canada Header/Checklist (x2)
Here are the final cards from the National Hockey Card Day set, including the shortprint #16 of Connor McDavid. Yes, these are my first cards of the 2015 #1 overall pick.
-------------------------------------------------------
15-16 Upper Deck Series Two base cards (Blue Jackets / Lightning)
Next up from Norm is a batch of base cards from 15-16 UD2. These cards feature players from my favorite teams.
-------------------------------------------------------
15-16 Upper Deck Joel Vermin RC (SP)
15-16 Upper Deck Markus Hannikainen RC (SP)
I also received two Young Guns RCs -- Joel Vermin and Markus Hannikainen. I'm glad that these two guys got into the Upper Deck set. They aren't high-end prospects, but they're both the type of young player I appreciate.
-------------------------------------------------------
15-16 Upper Deck UD Portraits P-87 Josh Anderson
15-16 Upper Deck UD Portraits P-91 Slater Koekkoek
15-16 Upper Deck UD Canvas C194 Ryan Callahan
15-16 Upper Deck Overtime Luminary Legends LL-10 Steven Stamkos
Here are a few CBJ/TBL insert cards, including an extremely shiny Stamkos insert from UD Overtime.
-------------------------------------------------------
15-16 Upper Deck Overtime Cam Atkinson
15-16 Upper Deck Overtime Ryan Callahan
15-16 Upper Deck Overtime Tyler Johnson
15-16 Upper Deck Overtime Autographs 139 Cam Atkinson
15-16 Upper Deck Series One Signature Sensations SS-AK Alex Killorn
The last batch of cards from Norm is actually my favorite -- two autographs! Atkinson and Killorn are great complementary wingers for the Blue Jackets and Lightning, respectively. Killorn has already scored a couple big goals in the 2016 playoffs.
Thank you very much for the cards, Norm!
-------------------------------------------------------
13-14 SeReal KHL DON-008 Clay Wilson
13-14 SeReal KHL BAR-005 Mike Lundin
Here are two KHL cards I received as extras from a transaction with a Russian ebay user. I'm not sure if these two cards were chosen randomly by the seller, but by good fortune, they'll both find a home in my collection -- Wilson was a Jacket, and Lundin was a Bolt. In fact, the first Blue Jackets game I ever attended was the game in which Clay Wilson scored his first NHL goal.
-------------------------------------------------------
15-16 KHL Ak Bars Kazan Team Set Evgeny Konstantinov
This card was the real purpose for the Russian transaction, and it's a very strange one -- it's Evgeny Konstantinov's first trading card in nine years.
Konstantinov was a decent goaltending prospect when he came to North America to play for the Detroit Vipers in 2000-01. However, before even reaching the age of 20, he was thrust into a losing culture in the Lightning organization. He eventually appeared in two games for Tampa Bay, but never found sustained success, even at the AHL/ECHL levels. He returned to Russia and appeared sparingly in various leagues from 2004 to 2009.
Then, suddenly, he re-appeared. At age 35, he apparently joined with his hometown Kazan Ak Bars team for the 2015-16 season. I can find no stats regarding his appearances with Kazan, and while he's listed on the team's stats on KHL.ru, he's noted with zero games played. Did he ever actually appear in a contest?
From information supplied by the ebay seller, these cards were released by the team, and were sold in the official team store during games. The cards were available as singles or in a full set. Based on this, and based on the copyright information on the card, I do believe that this card is legitimate (and not a basement creation). The card measures roughly 4.00" long by 2.75" wide. Whether or not Konstantinov played any games last season, I'm glad to add this strange card to my collection.
-------------------------------------------------------
15-16 German DEL Basic Series 499 Steve Walker
15-16 German DEL Premium Series 499 Steve Walker
Here are two new German cards of Steve Walker -- former captain of both the Detroit Vipers and the Berlin Polar Bears. He's now an assistant coach with the Mannheim Eagles (Adler Mannheim) of the DEL.
These cards come from two parallel sets, and are almost identical. The Basic Series card has a flat finish, and the Premium Series card has a glossy finish. The cards are the same in thickness. In addition, the Basic Series card has a marking with the words "BASIC SET" near the bottom left on the card. It's hard to see, because Steve Walker's suit jacket almost masks it out. Since the designs are otherwise identical, I flipped the Premium Series card over to the back.
These cards arrived from Rico Jacob, one of my long-time trading partners in Germany. According to him, there are no further parallels to these two cards, though I think there may be press plate versions.
-------------------------------------------------------
13-14 National Treasures Press Plates (1/1)
-- 10-11 Playoff Contenders 22 Tim Thomas (Yellow Plate)
Oh, speaking of press plates, how about two more of these stupid and insanely-inexpensive National Treasures plates of Tim Thomas?
-------------------------------------------------------
13-14 National Treasures Press Plates (1/1)
-- 11-12 Panini Contenders 105 Tim Thomas (Black Plate)
Sure, why not? Here's the second of the two. That brings my total count on Tim Thomas National Treasures plates up to 40 out of a possible 104 that I believe exist.
This shifts the post toward my player collections, and there is an interesting connection between the next two cards.
-------------------------------------------------------
13-14 Panini Contenders Autographs Sixes C6-USG
-- Ryan Miller / Tim Thomas / Jimmy Howard
-- Cory Schneider / Jack Campbell / John Gibson
This card is, to the best of my knowledge, the first six-autograph card in my collection. That's impressive, but does it make the card a good one by default? I'm not sure that it does. The design is horrendously boring, with no foil, and no set name. The card stock is very thin, and makes this should-be-high-end card feel very cheap. I also really don't like the cracks in the background design near the side edges of the card -- they look like creases in pictures.
Yeah, maybe I should just stick with the "my first six-autograph card" part.
-------------------------------------------------------
12-13 Panini Certified Fabric of the Game Mirror Gold Tim Thomas (10/25)
This card is a nice one from the parallel-heavy Panini Certified product. The prime jersey swatch contains a thick seam, with yellow and black jersey sections.
There are seven versions of this card, and I have all but the toughest two.
* Fabric of the Game Base #/299
* Fabric of the Game Mirror Red #/150
* Fabric of the Game Mirror Hot Box #/75
* Fabric of the Game Mirror Blue #/25
* Fabric of the Game Mirror Gold #/25
* Fabric of the Game Mirror Emerald #/5 (not owned)
* Fabric of the Game Mirror Black #/1 (not owned)
So, what is the connection between the last two cards? In late November 2015, I won both cards from ebay user zetterbergfan40. The seller was a deadbeat, with a feedback profile that ended up flooded out with negatives. The cards never arrived. Ebay refunded my purchase.
By some stroke of luck, I was able to purchase different copies of both cards again, in completely separate deals over the next few months. Now, both cards are in my possession -- even if it took two tries.
-------------------------------------------------------
11-12 ITG Ultimate Memorabilia 11th Edition
-- Goalie Auto/Memorabilia Silver Tim Thomas (09/19)
I'm not a huge fan of this un-exciting card, but it's still a rare card with an autograph and a memorabilia piece. Also, it was inexpensive, and that's always an important consideration! This card features a white piece of a Tim Thomas goalie pad. There is also a Gold 1/1 version, but I don't have it.
-------------------------------------------------------
2012 ITG Spring Expo Between The Pipes Patch BTPR-90 Tim Thomas (/10)
Here's a different ITG card that I'm more a fan of.
In 2012, ITG released some very large promo sets for the Spring Expo and National card shows. These sets highlighted the 10-year anniversary of Between The Pipes, containing a large array of different memorabilia swatches. My favorite part about this set is that the swatches are large, and often quite nice. This patch card contains a seven-layer swatch (all in one piece, despite the two windows). I detect the following: yellow jersey, black patch, white patch, black patch, white patch, black patch, and yellow jersey.
Tim Thomas had nine different cards between the two promo sets. I own eight of the nine.
* 2012 Spring Expo BTPR-89 Jersey (/10)
* 2012 Spring Expo BTPR-90 Patch (/10)
* 2012 Spring Expo BTPR-91 Glove (/10)
* 2012 Spring Expo BTPR-92 Pad (/10) (not owned)
* 2012 Spring Expo BTPR-93 Glove/Pad (/10)
* 2012 The National BTPR-60 Jersey (/10)
* 2012 The National BTPR-61 Glove (/10)
* 2012 The National BTPR-62 Pad (/10)
* 2012 The National BTPR-63 Glove/Pad (/10)
-------------------------------------------------------
10-11 Panini Luxury Suite Jersey Stick Gold Tim Thomas (06/10)
Tim Thomas had five different memorabilia variations in 10-11 Luxury Suite. I have all of the base versions (varying print runs from 599 to 20), and I now have four of the five gold #/10 parallels -- missing only the Prime / Patch card.
This one contains a yellow jersey swatch and a white painted stick swatch.
-------------------------------------------------------
12-13 Panini Luxury Suite (Rookie Anthology) Autographs Gold 43 Tim Thomas (Game-Used Stick) (03/10)
Here's another Luxury Suite card with a white painted stick swatch! What I think is most interesting about this card is that it's one of the few with Tim Thomas listed as a member of the New York Islanders.
This card is numbered as a parallel to the base set card. What sets this one apart is the sticker autograph and gold foil -- in addition to the much shorter print run. There's also a Black 1/1 parallel, which I believe I've seen on ebay, but I did not purchase.
-------------------------------------------------------
12-13 UD Artifacts Tundra Tandems Dual Fight Strap TT-TR Tuukka Rask / Tim Thomas (05/12)
I've always been a critic of Artifacts, but I thought the memorabilia program in the 12-13 was much more coherent than in years prior. This dual fight strap card features a standard pairing -- Thomas and Rask -- but the low print run makes the card a good one. I've seen several copies of this card over the past few years, but I finally picked this one up for a good price.
-------------------------------------------------------
12-13 Titanium Metallic Marks (Silver) 81 Tim Thomas (SP)
The final Tim Thomas card in this mail post is my favorite of all of them. Why? Doesn't this just look like a standard-issue Panini sticker autograph card?
Not so.
The 2012-13 Panini Titanium Metallic Marks insert set was released in 2012-13 Panini Rookie Anthology. The set contained a total of 88 cards, though the checklist was set up as if 100 cards were originally intended. The cards were split across four tiers -- bronze, silver, gold, and platinum. It would make sense that the platinum cards would be the most scarce, but that wasn't necessarily the case. According to a document released by Panini, the platinum cards were limited to 10 copies, and the gold cards were limited to 25 copies. However, what's more interesting is the four silver cards listed as SSP -- including Tim Thomas.
So, how many copies of this Tim Thomas card exist? Let me make it crystal clear: the product has been out for three years, and this is the only copy I've ever seen.
Yup, I had to get it, and it wasn't even as expensive as I was expecting! Has anyone else ever seen one of the silver SSP cards from this set?
-------------------------------------------------------
07-08 SP Game Used Authentic Fabrics Dual Patch AF2-SH (17/25)
-- Martin Havlat (white patch / black patch)
-- Sergei Samsonov (black patch / yellow patch / black patch / white jersey)
I have three Sergei Samsonov cards to close out this post, and I'll start with a dual patch from Samsonov's brief stay in Chicago. Yes, I'm listing a layer of white jersey on the far edge of the Samsonov swatch -- it's barely visible when looking at the card from an angle.
I already own the Dual Jersey version of this card, but the patch version is much nicer. Unfortunately, I'm a long way from being done with 07-08 SP Game Used -- Samsonov also appears on 3-player, 4-player, and 5-player memorabilia cards.
In classic UD tradition, neither swatch on this card is from a Blackhawks jersey -- as listed on the card back, Havlat's is from Ottawa, and Samsonov's is from Boston.
-------------------------------------------------------
02-03 Pacific Heads-Up Purple Sergei Samsonov (03/30)
It's an exciting day when I can pick off an old, limited Samsonov parallel! This card finally completes my run of 02-03 Pacific Heads-Up parallel cards, with four total versions: base, blue (/240), red (/80), and purple (/30). Not only that, but it finishes out every Pacific base-set parallel card from the 2002-03 product year!
-------------------------------------------------------
01-02 UD Challenge For The Cup Unstoppable Combos UC-ST (22/25)
-- Sergei Samsonov (White Jersey) / Joe Thornton (Yellow Jersey)
This card might not look very special in 2016, but for when it was released in 01-02, it was high-end! Two jersey swatches, two autographs, and two of the most talented offensive players in the NHL? There was no way I'd ever have been able to acquire it back then, but demand for the Samsonov / Thornton pairing has softened with time. Over the last 14 years, I've seen only a few copies of this card, but always held by sellers who vastly inflated its value -- perhaps thinking it was still 2002. I was finally able to find a copy for a price that made sense, and I was quick to make the purchase.
It may seem strange, but this was the only Samsonov card in the Challenge For The Cup product. He wasn't in the base set, and he wasn't in any other insert sets.
There are a couple of very small creases near the Thornton swatch, but it's not really enough to affect the integrity of the card.
So, here you go! While everyone else is posting Connor McDavid RCs and the latest and greatest from UD -- whose recent products I've barely kept up with at all -- I present what might have been a "card of the year" candidate in 2002 ... just 14 years too late.
Oh, and maybe Samsonov's done, but Thornton is -- as I finish writing this post -- on the ice right now "challenging for the cup."
-----------------
News and notes:
** I was in attendance for Game 3 of the Lightning / Red Wings series, which was also the only Bolts loss in their five-game series victory. Just bad luck that I got to see their only atrocious game of the series in person, and surrounded by an awful sea of red!
** By the way, enjoy your $5-pizzas-I-wouldn't-eat-if-you-paid-me arena!
** I'm sitting on a boatload of new cards from the Czech league that I can't wait to share in the future. Yet another European market that is producing some pretty nice cardboard.
That'll be it. Thanks everyone!
--Andy
http://www.thegreatzo.com/cards/
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