primetimepawich
Verified Trader ,
Greetings from the Larry Murphy guy. With May fast coming to an end, I just wanted to showcase my pickups from the last 2 months and highlight a few hobby friends who helped me along the way.
April:
A UD Canadian Tire canvas card. Plan the parade.
OK, how about May then?
As usual, I didn't go to the Expo again this year. Given the expenses involved and who I collect, I just can't justify it. I apparently did, however, have a few extra helpful eyes looking out for me. Big thanks to g-force Greg for being one of those trying to help. Greg PMed me about a UD Black autograph /10 that made him think about me for some reason when he came across it, and he tried to act as my proxy and broker a deal for it. Though a deal wasn't reached, I appreciate the thought and effort. Thanks Greg.
So what "did" I get? Well I got this:
16/17 Lumber Kings All-Time Lumber Team 8’s Printing Plates Cyan #AT09 Mario Lemieux/Ron Francis/Jaromir Jagr/Tom Barrasso/Kevin Stevens/Larry Murphy/Joe Mullen/Paul Coffey 1/1 by primetimepawich, on Flickr
I tried for this early on when it was BIN/OBO, and when it changed to BIN only, I kept tabs on it. The price slowly kept dropping until this past weekend, when it finally landed in my budgeted wheelhouse and I pulled the trigger.
In a rare break from Murphy stuff, I got this:
A little backstory...
Morris Mott was my History professor at Brandon University. He played a couple of seasons with the California Golden Seals and appears with them on his rookie card (and one-and-only NHL card) in 74-75 OPC/Topps. A few years after that, he played all of 2 games with the Winnipeg Jets. I didn't know if any pics of him from that blip in time existed online, but apparently one must, because someone made a "missing link" custom of sorts with one to commemorate it:
https://mrburnscollectorscorner.weebly.com/cards-that-never-were-blog-pages/archives/09-2016
The Ebay seller I won from appears to have taken that graphic, added some logos and blown it up to "make it his own", and had it signed by Morris. Under $2 US for a full color 4x6 signed photo of my former professor pictured as a Jet? Yes please.
Many here know what a godsend our kmitchel Kevin is with his B.C. address and U.S. post office box. I've used his help to save on shipping fees from U.S. Ebay auctions on a number of occasions in the past, but had tried to refrain from calling on him again for many months. Well, recently, a few low-end wants came up that I felt I wouldn't have to break the bank for if I asked Kevin to help reel them in, so I did, and as always, he did so with no hesitation. Here are the best ones he's locked down for me so far:
2017 In The Game Superlative Careers Printing Plates Magenta #C12 Larry Murphy 1/1 by primetimepawich, on Flickr
16/17 Ice Glacial Graphs #GGLM Larry Murphy by primetimepawich, on Flickr
17/18 In The Game Used Induction Years #IY06 Raymond Bourque/Paul Coffey/Larry Murphy 2/25 by primetimepawich, on Flickr
Kevin, if you're reading this, I know your help is just second-nature and no big deal to you, but every little bit helps and your willingness to assist with no hesitation or questions asked is always appreciated. Thank you.
For the #1 star of the thread, I present to the court Sean McCafferty, our own ranfordfan30.
I've never met Sean, but for a few years now, he's been a great message buddy on here. Life, the hobby, whatever...no subject is off-limits. You don't have to "meet" people to be friends. I've valued his friendship and enjoy being able to share and support each other's collection. I've never done anything particularly nice for him hobby-wise, but that hasn't stopped Sean from going above and beyond to surprise.
Last year, I asked for Sean's help in securing a few low-end oddballs, one from an Ebay seller who had blocked me, and a couple from COMC. This month, he finally had them all in hand and I settled up with him for them, plus this one that puts me one away from the full rainbow:
2017 In The Game Used Quad Game Used Patch Purple #GUP408 Kevin Lowe/Dave Babych/Larry Murphy/Randy Carlyle 3/5 by primetimepawich, on Flickr
But that wasn't all I got.
I'm an epack member...well, more of a fringe member. I don't buy anything, I mostly signed up for purposes of capturing scans for my Murphy "population report" and to be able to at least contact members if something interesting popped up on there.
When 16/17 SPGU hit epack, I knew about the epack exclusive purple parallels and heard about the black parallels you could only get by trading 5 of the purples. Would somebody ever show the diligence to trade up on there for a black parallel of a guy like Murphy? Well, maybe, if they saw a market for limited parallels that nobody else was bothering to trade up for. So if I saw any pop up, great. If I didn't, I wasn't gonna lose sleep over it. I put them out of mind and didn't think about them anymore for a long time after that until...you can probably guess where I'm going with this...
I got a PM from Sean one day titled "something else I've been working on". Unlike myself, he "is" an active epack user, and unbeknownst to me, he actually braved the dangerous waters that by all accounts is trying to trade on epack and acquired the 5 Murphy purple base required to trade up for this:
16-17 SP Game Used Black Rainbow #95
Looks amazing in-hand, and looks even better knowing the thought that went into it. But it doesn't end there.
Y'all remember how happy I was about this pickup last year:
16/17 SP Game Used Game Gear NHL Legends #GGLM Larry Murphy 3/3 by primetimepawich, on Flickr
as well as its French equivalent:
16/17 SP Game Used Game Gear NHL Legends #GGLM Larry Murphy 2/3 by primetimepawich, on Flickr
Well, one day on epack I noticed the third and final piece of the puzzle and commented to Sean that it would be neat to complete the "Quincy". I told him I was going to message the owner on there and see if they might agree on a price and transfer it to Ebay or COMC. So I did. The owner told me he had intended to counter my offer, but had ended up getting a trade offer of a nice YG he couldn't pass up and went in that direction instead. "Some Ranford guy". Any guesses who "that" was?
This came in the package from Sean:
16/17 SP Game Used Game Gear NHL Legends #GGLM Larry Murphy 1/3
and he wouldn't take anything for it because I hadn't asked him to get it. I hadn't wanted to involve him, let alone have him trade something infinitely more useful for it, but that's just the kind of guy he is.
Thank you for everything, Sean. I'm lucky and proud to call you a friend, even if you "are" putting me to shame
So those last few might be the sentimental favorites of this thread, but I did have another recent pickup (collected from FedEx just today) that I didn't require any help and am equally pleased with.
3 years ago, a Google image search led me to a pic of a card I instantly coveted - a signed copy of a super-tough older team issue I'd never seen "a" copy of before. The problem? It was on a vanity/boutique auction site asking for $400 US for it at the time. So I waited, and I waited. A year after that, I landed an unsigned copy in a 4-card lot on Ebay for a great price, so I was thrilled to knock it off the list. But the signed copy was never far from my mind. If you know what a big, important niche part of my collection IP Murphy autos are, you know why I had to have it.
I kept tabs on the site. Over time, the price started to drop, but not enough. When they added the "make an offer" feature, I thought that was my chance, but they still weren't very flexible. Last week, the price finally dropped under $100. I felt if they would chop the new price in half, I'd still be overpaying but could live with it. I just didn't think they would.
Why not test that theory though, right? I offered half, and they...accepted. Could I have done better if I'd waited longer? Maybe. Possibly. But I couldn't stand it taunting me and had to bring it home.
89/90 North Stars ADA #18 Larry Murphy Autograph by primetimepawich, on Flickr
Thanks again to everyone who contributed to this minor haul, and thanks to anyone for the look. Comments always welcome. Happy collecting!
Joe Pawich
April:
A UD Canadian Tire canvas card. Plan the parade.
OK, how about May then?
As usual, I didn't go to the Expo again this year. Given the expenses involved and who I collect, I just can't justify it. I apparently did, however, have a few extra helpful eyes looking out for me. Big thanks to g-force Greg for being one of those trying to help. Greg PMed me about a UD Black autograph /10 that made him think about me for some reason when he came across it, and he tried to act as my proxy and broker a deal for it. Though a deal wasn't reached, I appreciate the thought and effort. Thanks Greg.
So what "did" I get? Well I got this:
16/17 Lumber Kings All-Time Lumber Team 8’s Printing Plates Cyan #AT09 Mario Lemieux/Ron Francis/Jaromir Jagr/Tom Barrasso/Kevin Stevens/Larry Murphy/Joe Mullen/Paul Coffey 1/1 by primetimepawich, on FlickrI tried for this early on when it was BIN/OBO, and when it changed to BIN only, I kept tabs on it. The price slowly kept dropping until this past weekend, when it finally landed in my budgeted wheelhouse and I pulled the trigger.
In a rare break from Murphy stuff, I got this:
A little backstory...
Morris Mott was my History professor at Brandon University. He played a couple of seasons with the California Golden Seals and appears with them on his rookie card (and one-and-only NHL card) in 74-75 OPC/Topps. A few years after that, he played all of 2 games with the Winnipeg Jets. I didn't know if any pics of him from that blip in time existed online, but apparently one must, because someone made a "missing link" custom of sorts with one to commemorate it:
https://mrburnscollectorscorner.weebly.com/cards-that-never-were-blog-pages/archives/09-2016
The Ebay seller I won from appears to have taken that graphic, added some logos and blown it up to "make it his own", and had it signed by Morris. Under $2 US for a full color 4x6 signed photo of my former professor pictured as a Jet? Yes please.
Many here know what a godsend our kmitchel Kevin is with his B.C. address and U.S. post office box. I've used his help to save on shipping fees from U.S. Ebay auctions on a number of occasions in the past, but had tried to refrain from calling on him again for many months. Well, recently, a few low-end wants came up that I felt I wouldn't have to break the bank for if I asked Kevin to help reel them in, so I did, and as always, he did so with no hesitation. Here are the best ones he's locked down for me so far:
2017 In The Game Superlative Careers Printing Plates Magenta #C12 Larry Murphy 1/1 by primetimepawich, on Flickr16/17 Ice Glacial Graphs #GGLM Larry Murphy by primetimepawich, on Flickr17/18 In The Game Used Induction Years #IY06 Raymond Bourque/Paul Coffey/Larry Murphy 2/25 by primetimepawich, on FlickrKevin, if you're reading this, I know your help is just second-nature and no big deal to you, but every little bit helps and your willingness to assist with no hesitation or questions asked is always appreciated. Thank you.
For the #1 star of the thread, I present to the court Sean McCafferty, our own ranfordfan30.
I've never met Sean, but for a few years now, he's been a great message buddy on here. Life, the hobby, whatever...no subject is off-limits. You don't have to "meet" people to be friends. I've valued his friendship and enjoy being able to share and support each other's collection. I've never done anything particularly nice for him hobby-wise, but that hasn't stopped Sean from going above and beyond to surprise.
Last year, I asked for Sean's help in securing a few low-end oddballs, one from an Ebay seller who had blocked me, and a couple from COMC. This month, he finally had them all in hand and I settled up with him for them, plus this one that puts me one away from the full rainbow:
2017 In The Game Used Quad Game Used Patch Purple #GUP408 Kevin Lowe/Dave Babych/Larry Murphy/Randy Carlyle 3/5 by primetimepawich, on FlickrBut that wasn't all I got.
I'm an epack member...well, more of a fringe member. I don't buy anything, I mostly signed up for purposes of capturing scans for my Murphy "population report" and to be able to at least contact members if something interesting popped up on there.
When 16/17 SPGU hit epack, I knew about the epack exclusive purple parallels and heard about the black parallels you could only get by trading 5 of the purples. Would somebody ever show the diligence to trade up on there for a black parallel of a guy like Murphy? Well, maybe, if they saw a market for limited parallels that nobody else was bothering to trade up for. So if I saw any pop up, great. If I didn't, I wasn't gonna lose sleep over it. I put them out of mind and didn't think about them anymore for a long time after that until...you can probably guess where I'm going with this...
I got a PM from Sean one day titled "something else I've been working on". Unlike myself, he "is" an active epack user, and unbeknownst to me, he actually braved the dangerous waters that by all accounts is trying to trade on epack and acquired the 5 Murphy purple base required to trade up for this:
16-17 SP Game Used Black Rainbow #95
Looks amazing in-hand, and looks even better knowing the thought that went into it. But it doesn't end there.
Y'all remember how happy I was about this pickup last year:
16/17 SP Game Used Game Gear NHL Legends #GGLM Larry Murphy 3/3 by primetimepawich, on Flickras well as its French equivalent:
16/17 SP Game Used Game Gear NHL Legends #GGLM Larry Murphy 2/3 by primetimepawich, on FlickrWell, one day on epack I noticed the third and final piece of the puzzle and commented to Sean that it would be neat to complete the "Quincy". I told him I was going to message the owner on there and see if they might agree on a price and transfer it to Ebay or COMC. So I did. The owner told me he had intended to counter my offer, but had ended up getting a trade offer of a nice YG he couldn't pass up and went in that direction instead. "Some Ranford guy". Any guesses who "that" was?
This came in the package from Sean:
16/17 SP Game Used Game Gear NHL Legends #GGLM Larry Murphy 1/3
and he wouldn't take anything for it because I hadn't asked him to get it. I hadn't wanted to involve him, let alone have him trade something infinitely more useful for it, but that's just the kind of guy he is.
Thank you for everything, Sean. I'm lucky and proud to call you a friend, even if you "are" putting me to shame
So those last few might be the sentimental favorites of this thread, but I did have another recent pickup (collected from FedEx just today) that I didn't require any help and am equally pleased with.
3 years ago, a Google image search led me to a pic of a card I instantly coveted - a signed copy of a super-tough older team issue I'd never seen "a" copy of before. The problem? It was on a vanity/boutique auction site asking for $400 US for it at the time. So I waited, and I waited. A year after that, I landed an unsigned copy in a 4-card lot on Ebay for a great price, so I was thrilled to knock it off the list. But the signed copy was never far from my mind. If you know what a big, important niche part of my collection IP Murphy autos are, you know why I had to have it.
I kept tabs on the site. Over time, the price started to drop, but not enough. When they added the "make an offer" feature, I thought that was my chance, but they still weren't very flexible. Last week, the price finally dropped under $100. I felt if they would chop the new price in half, I'd still be overpaying but could live with it. I just didn't think they would.
Why not test that theory though, right? I offered half, and they...accepted. Could I have done better if I'd waited longer? Maybe. Possibly. But I couldn't stand it taunting me and had to bring it home.
89/90 North Stars ADA #18 Larry Murphy Autograph by primetimepawich, on FlickrThanks again to everyone who contributed to this minor haul, and thanks to anyone for the look. Comments always welcome. Happy collecting!
Joe Pawich
