The Great Zo
Verified Trader,
It's been a quick start to 2011, in terms of what's come in the mail -- but slow progress in actually getting all the cards accounted for. I've got a bit of a mail backlog, and haven't been around as much as usual in the past week or two. Well, there's work to be done, so it's time to get moving on another mail post!
Everything in this post came from ebay, unless otherwise noted.
Also, as alluded to in the title -- my pictures from Toronto are finally ready to be shared. It's only been over two months, which isn't that bad of a delay, right? Maybe? No? Alright, so it took me longer than I wanted. Links to the galleries are at the bottom of the mail post.
Mail Post #2 for 2011
-------------------------------------------------------
McFarlane Series 24 Figure -- Tim Thomas (White Jersey Variant)
I picked up the standard black jersey version at the Expo last fall, and decided I wanted to own the white jersey version to go along with it. I'm not sure how much more rare this figure is than the standard black jersey version, if at all. If anyone can provide a little more information on this, I'd be happy to hear it!
-------------------------------------------------------
1993 Anaheim Bullfrogs RHI:
Header Card, Maury Silver, Stuart Silver, Chris McSorley, Grant Sonier,
Rob Laurie, Mike Butters, Joe Cook, Bob McKillop, Ken Murchison,
Devin Edgerton, Darren Perkins, Barry Potomski, Victor Gervais,
Savo Mitrovic, Kevin Kerr, Marc Lyons, Brad McCaughey,
Christian LaLonde, Billl Horn
Here's another entry into my small supply of minor league sets. Well, actually, this isn't even an ice hockey minor league. I guess it's a major league -- just a major roller hockey league from the mid-90s.
I have never seen full sets from the Anaheim Bullfrogs cards offered for sale before. When I made the purchase, I received three sealed sets -- never opened!
-------------------------------------------------------
1995 Anaheim Bullfrogs RHI:
Header Card, Steve Cadieux, Daniel Shank, Grant Sonier, Chris Gordon, Todd Wetzel,
B.J. MacPherson, Mark Deazeley, Darren Perkins, Brad Tiley, Savo Mitrovic, Victor Gervais,
Brad McCaughey, Jared Bednar, Rob Laurie, Mark Ouimet, Fredrik Jax,
Joe Cook, Rick Judson
Here's the second set, minus one card. As you might guess, there's a Detroit Vipers connection here.
-------------------------------------------------------
1996 Anaheim Bullfrogs RHI:
Header Card, Eric Raymond, Tom Menicci, Mark Desantis, Glenn Stewart,
Sean O'Brien, Jim Ficenec, Mark Stitt, Rob Laurie, B.J. MacPherson,
Rick Judson, Scott Bell, Darren Perkins, Savo Mitrovic, Joe Cook,
Todd Wetzel, Victor Gervais, Brad McCaughey, Grant Sonier
Here's the third set, minus one card. I can pretty much guarantee that most of you have never seen these cards before!
Actually, the Detroit Vipers connection is a little bigger than I might have otherwise indicated. Brad Tiley, Chris Gordon, and Daniel Shank all played for the Vipers. Grant Sonier was the team's GM in its final season.
So, what are the cards I put aside?
-------------------------------------------------------
1995 Anaheim Bullfrogs RHI Darren Banks
...see next picture...
-------------------------------------------------------
1996 Anaheim Bullfrogs RHI Darren Banks
These cards feature Darren Banks -- one of the Vipers' fan-favorite tough guys.
They are of crucial importance to my collection, because they complete my collection of all of Darren Banks' cards!
http://www.thegreatzo.com/cards/players/index.php?id=39
I've been looking for these Bullfrogs cards for ten years -- finally, it's all done!
-------------------------------------------------------
09-10 Upper Deck Victory Sean Collins RC (x2)
10-11 Donruss Proof Matt Moulson (023/100)
2010 ITG Fall Expo Team ITG Vincent Lecavalier (/500)
These cards, and the ones in the next picture, are from a deal I made with James (stajan55). It's sort of funny that the Victory RC was the final card I needed for my Sean Collins rookie collection. The Moulson is a tradelist entrant from one of the worst parallel sets in history, and the Lecavalier will be a keeper. It goes nicely with the Martin St. Louis card I got at the Expo.
-------------------------------------------------------
10-11 Donruss Boys of Winter Mark Flood
10-11 Donruss Brandon Yip RC (SP)
10-11 Donruss Dustin Tokarski RC (SP)
10-11 Donruss Grant Clitsome RC (SP)
Here are the rest of the cards from James. The Mark Flood card is an interesting case that has been talked about here before -- he got an insert card before earning a true RC. The other three cards are "regular" rookies from Donruss.
Once upon a time, Grant Clitsome was just a minor leaguer with a funny surname. Now, he's the power play quarterback for the Columbus Blue Jackets, with an even funnier nickname.
Thanks for the deal, James!
-------------------------------------------------------
10-11 Donruss (Shaded) Dustin Tokarski RC (SP)
While on the subject of Donruss, here's another of the "shaded" rookie variants. This is the last of the five I needed -- now I just have one more of the regular cards to chase down.
-------------------------------------------------------
09-10 Upper Deck Victory Finnish Chris Durno
09-10 Upper Deck Victory Finnish Michael Vernace
I purchased these cards in an off-ebay deal with someone who had begun listing most of the set. I now own both the Swedish and Finnish Victory cards of Durno and Vernace.
Next up -- player collections (and a few cards that came along with them).
-------------------------------------------------------
02-03 BAP Ultimate Memorabilia Game-Used Jersey Sergei Samsonov (26 of 50)
Here's an old-ish Samsonov jersey card from Ultimate Memorabilia third edition. It has a nice two-color swatch with a seam.
-------------------------------------------------------
10-11 O-Pee-Chee Retro Blank Back Sergei Samsonov
Here's a good one to yank from the wantlist -- Samsonov's OPC Blank Back card from 10-11. It's the only copy I have seen so far.
-------------------------------------------------------
10-11 O-Pee-Chee Retro Black Rainbow Scott Nichol (086/100)
Also from OPC, here's the last of the Black Rainbow cards I needed for my collection. Scott Nichol, apparently, is a lousy dentist. He was given a four game suspension for appearing in that commercial! Or maybe it was just a coincidence...
-------------------------------------------------------
10-11 Panini Certified Mirror Blue Phil Kessel (084/100)
10-11 O-Pee-Chee Retro Black Rainbow Kari Lehtonen (040/100)
These two cards will be headed to my tradelist, and were purchased inexpensively along with the next one.
-------------------------------------------------------
10-11 O-Pee-Chee Retro Blank Back Scott Nichol
Yup, two Blank Back cards in one mail post! This card was very inexpensive. Interestingly enough, I've seen one or two more copies of the Nichol Blank Back card since this one was purchased.
-------------------------------------------------------
10-11 ITG Ultimate 10 500 Goal Combo Silver Joe Nieuwendyk / Kevin Weekes (09/24)
Good idea, awful execution. That's the story with these 500 goal cards. It's even worse when both swatches are pure white -- leaving the card about as boring as possible. I feel very, very bad for anyone that pulled this card from an expensive pack of ITG Ultimate.
Despite my dislike for the set, I do consider the Gold 1/1 version somewhat a priority. That's simply because it's one of very few items Kevin Weekes has had released recently.
-------------------------------------------------------
09-10 Upper Deck Trilogy Honorary Swatches Gold Gilbert Perreault (03/50)
09-10 Upper Deck Trilogy Honorary Swatches Gold Marty Turco (04/50)
...see next picture...
-------------------------------------------------------
08-09 Upper Deck Ice Fresh Threads Black PETG Kevin Porter (15/25)
10-11 Upper Deck Artifacts Tundra Tandems Jersey Silver (03/75)
-- Daniel Briere / Guillaume Latendresse
These four numbered jersey cards were purchased for my tradelist -- they were dirt cheap additions to the deal for the next card...
-------------------------------------------------------
09-10 Upper Deck Artifacts Gold Rainbow Tim Thomas (10/10)
This is one of those tough parallels that eluded me after the product was released. I can't even remember if I saw a copy or two go by, but I certainly know I never got one for myself.
Thankfully, with the product over a year old, this one showed up and sold for peanuts.
Tim Thomas has 16 different cards in 09-10 UD Artifacts. I own 15 of them now. The only card I am missing is the Trios Patch with Fernandez and Chara (#/10). The count does include two Tundra Tandems 1/1 cards.
-------------------------------------------------------
10-11 Donruss Boys of Winter Jersey Prime Tim Thomas (49/50)
Here's a "prime" card with a big seam. I kind of like this insert set, actually.
-------------------------------------------------------
10-11 Panini Certified Big Men on Campus Prime Tim Thomas (01/25)
Here's another "prime" card, and this one has an even bigger seam! To top it off, it's the first copy printed. Not bad!
To close the post -- two 1/1s from a set I have mixed feelings on.
-------------------------------------------------------
10-11 Famous Fabrics Ink Hockey Edition Hockey Ink Mark Howe (1/1)
Why Mark Howe? Because I met him a long time ago, and because this card was insanely inexpensive for a 1/1 -- even if it's from an atrocious set. That's the issue I have with the set. It's an ugly regurgitation of unlicensed cut/re-used signatures. However, the checklist is flat-out interesting. It has names I've never heard of, and tons of players who rarely get any attention in the hobby. So, I can appreciate it for that reason alone.
-------------------------------------------------------
10-11 Famous Fabrics Ink Hockey Edition Vezina Winner Tim Thomas (1/1)
Of course, Tim Thomas ended up with three different cards on the checklist. This is hardly one of my favorite Thomas cards, but it's a 1/1 and I'm happy to take it for my collection!
Both the Howe and Thomas cards share one thing in common -- the signatures are on standard ITG stickers, placed atop a white background. That means that these autographs aren't really cuts, nor were they specifically acquired for this product. They're leftovers from other ITG products. That's why the window is so small -- if it were any bigger, you'd clearly be able to see the signatures cut off at the edge of the sticker.
Alright, enough of the negative -- it's a Thomas 1/1, and that makes it a nice card to me. It's my 40th 1/1 card of Tim Thomas, and 55th for my player collections in total.
-------------------------------------------------------
News and notes:
** Alright -- as mentioned at the top of the post, I finally have my pictures posted from my trip to Toronto in November. There's very little from the expo -- the first two sets are all from an extensive self-guided tour of downtown I did on Thursday (about 10 miles on foot), and the third set is mostly from the Air Canada Centre for the Leafs/Canucks game -- with a few pictures from the expo thrown in for good measure. Enjoy!
http://www.thegreatzo.com/photos/20101111a/
http://www.thegreatzo.com/photos/20101111b/
http://www.thegreatzo.com/photos/20101113/
** I have more than another mail post's worth of stuff already here, but with some other things occupying my time, I might not get to it right away. If you sent me some cards, you'll be hearing about it soon, and seeing it posted soon-ish as well. It might just be in a week or so.
** The Tampa Bay Lightning are for real. Get used to it!
That'll be it. Thanks everyone!
--Andy
http://www.thegreatzo.com/cards/
-------------------------------------------------------
Everything in this post came from ebay, unless otherwise noted.
Also, as alluded to in the title -- my pictures from Toronto are finally ready to be shared. It's only been over two months, which isn't that bad of a delay, right? Maybe? No? Alright, so it took me longer than I wanted. Links to the galleries are at the bottom of the mail post.
Mail Post #2 for 2011
-------------------------------------------------------
McFarlane Series 24 Figure -- Tim Thomas (White Jersey Variant)
I picked up the standard black jersey version at the Expo last fall, and decided I wanted to own the white jersey version to go along with it. I'm not sure how much more rare this figure is than the standard black jersey version, if at all. If anyone can provide a little more information on this, I'd be happy to hear it!
-------------------------------------------------------
1993 Anaheim Bullfrogs RHI:
Header Card, Maury Silver, Stuart Silver, Chris McSorley, Grant Sonier,
Rob Laurie, Mike Butters, Joe Cook, Bob McKillop, Ken Murchison,
Devin Edgerton, Darren Perkins, Barry Potomski, Victor Gervais,
Savo Mitrovic, Kevin Kerr, Marc Lyons, Brad McCaughey,
Christian LaLonde, Billl Horn
Here's another entry into my small supply of minor league sets. Well, actually, this isn't even an ice hockey minor league. I guess it's a major league -- just a major roller hockey league from the mid-90s.
I have never seen full sets from the Anaheim Bullfrogs cards offered for sale before. When I made the purchase, I received three sealed sets -- never opened!
-------------------------------------------------------
1995 Anaheim Bullfrogs RHI:
Header Card, Steve Cadieux, Daniel Shank, Grant Sonier, Chris Gordon, Todd Wetzel,
B.J. MacPherson, Mark Deazeley, Darren Perkins, Brad Tiley, Savo Mitrovic, Victor Gervais,
Brad McCaughey, Jared Bednar, Rob Laurie, Mark Ouimet, Fredrik Jax,
Joe Cook, Rick Judson
Here's the second set, minus one card. As you might guess, there's a Detroit Vipers connection here.
-------------------------------------------------------
1996 Anaheim Bullfrogs RHI:
Header Card, Eric Raymond, Tom Menicci, Mark Desantis, Glenn Stewart,
Sean O'Brien, Jim Ficenec, Mark Stitt, Rob Laurie, B.J. MacPherson,
Rick Judson, Scott Bell, Darren Perkins, Savo Mitrovic, Joe Cook,
Todd Wetzel, Victor Gervais, Brad McCaughey, Grant Sonier
Here's the third set, minus one card. I can pretty much guarantee that most of you have never seen these cards before!
Actually, the Detroit Vipers connection is a little bigger than I might have otherwise indicated. Brad Tiley, Chris Gordon, and Daniel Shank all played for the Vipers. Grant Sonier was the team's GM in its final season.
So, what are the cards I put aside?
-------------------------------------------------------
1995 Anaheim Bullfrogs RHI Darren Banks
...see next picture...
-------------------------------------------------------
1996 Anaheim Bullfrogs RHI Darren Banks
These cards feature Darren Banks -- one of the Vipers' fan-favorite tough guys.
They are of crucial importance to my collection, because they complete my collection of all of Darren Banks' cards!
http://www.thegreatzo.com/cards/players/index.php?id=39
I've been looking for these Bullfrogs cards for ten years -- finally, it's all done!
-------------------------------------------------------
09-10 Upper Deck Victory Sean Collins RC (x2)
10-11 Donruss Proof Matt Moulson (023/100)
2010 ITG Fall Expo Team ITG Vincent Lecavalier (/500)
These cards, and the ones in the next picture, are from a deal I made with James (stajan55). It's sort of funny that the Victory RC was the final card I needed for my Sean Collins rookie collection. The Moulson is a tradelist entrant from one of the worst parallel sets in history, and the Lecavalier will be a keeper. It goes nicely with the Martin St. Louis card I got at the Expo.
-------------------------------------------------------
10-11 Donruss Boys of Winter Mark Flood
10-11 Donruss Brandon Yip RC (SP)
10-11 Donruss Dustin Tokarski RC (SP)
10-11 Donruss Grant Clitsome RC (SP)
Here are the rest of the cards from James. The Mark Flood card is an interesting case that has been talked about here before -- he got an insert card before earning a true RC. The other three cards are "regular" rookies from Donruss.
Once upon a time, Grant Clitsome was just a minor leaguer with a funny surname. Now, he's the power play quarterback for the Columbus Blue Jackets, with an even funnier nickname.
Thanks for the deal, James!
-------------------------------------------------------
10-11 Donruss (Shaded) Dustin Tokarski RC (SP)
While on the subject of Donruss, here's another of the "shaded" rookie variants. This is the last of the five I needed -- now I just have one more of the regular cards to chase down.
-------------------------------------------------------
09-10 Upper Deck Victory Finnish Chris Durno
09-10 Upper Deck Victory Finnish Michael Vernace
I purchased these cards in an off-ebay deal with someone who had begun listing most of the set. I now own both the Swedish and Finnish Victory cards of Durno and Vernace.
Next up -- player collections (and a few cards that came along with them).
-------------------------------------------------------
02-03 BAP Ultimate Memorabilia Game-Used Jersey Sergei Samsonov (26 of 50)
Here's an old-ish Samsonov jersey card from Ultimate Memorabilia third edition. It has a nice two-color swatch with a seam.
-------------------------------------------------------
10-11 O-Pee-Chee Retro Blank Back Sergei Samsonov
Here's a good one to yank from the wantlist -- Samsonov's OPC Blank Back card from 10-11. It's the only copy I have seen so far.
-------------------------------------------------------
10-11 O-Pee-Chee Retro Black Rainbow Scott Nichol (086/100)
Also from OPC, here's the last of the Black Rainbow cards I needed for my collection. Scott Nichol, apparently, is a lousy dentist. He was given a four game suspension for appearing in that commercial! Or maybe it was just a coincidence...
-------------------------------------------------------
10-11 Panini Certified Mirror Blue Phil Kessel (084/100)
10-11 O-Pee-Chee Retro Black Rainbow Kari Lehtonen (040/100)
These two cards will be headed to my tradelist, and were purchased inexpensively along with the next one.
-------------------------------------------------------
10-11 O-Pee-Chee Retro Blank Back Scott Nichol
Yup, two Blank Back cards in one mail post! This card was very inexpensive. Interestingly enough, I've seen one or two more copies of the Nichol Blank Back card since this one was purchased.
-------------------------------------------------------
10-11 ITG Ultimate 10 500 Goal Combo Silver Joe Nieuwendyk / Kevin Weekes (09/24)
Good idea, awful execution. That's the story with these 500 goal cards. It's even worse when both swatches are pure white -- leaving the card about as boring as possible. I feel very, very bad for anyone that pulled this card from an expensive pack of ITG Ultimate.
Despite my dislike for the set, I do consider the Gold 1/1 version somewhat a priority. That's simply because it's one of very few items Kevin Weekes has had released recently.
-------------------------------------------------------
09-10 Upper Deck Trilogy Honorary Swatches Gold Gilbert Perreault (03/50)
09-10 Upper Deck Trilogy Honorary Swatches Gold Marty Turco (04/50)
...see next picture...
-------------------------------------------------------
08-09 Upper Deck Ice Fresh Threads Black PETG Kevin Porter (15/25)
10-11 Upper Deck Artifacts Tundra Tandems Jersey Silver (03/75)
-- Daniel Briere / Guillaume Latendresse
These four numbered jersey cards were purchased for my tradelist -- they were dirt cheap additions to the deal for the next card...
-------------------------------------------------------
09-10 Upper Deck Artifacts Gold Rainbow Tim Thomas (10/10)
This is one of those tough parallels that eluded me after the product was released. I can't even remember if I saw a copy or two go by, but I certainly know I never got one for myself.
Thankfully, with the product over a year old, this one showed up and sold for peanuts.
Tim Thomas has 16 different cards in 09-10 UD Artifacts. I own 15 of them now. The only card I am missing is the Trios Patch with Fernandez and Chara (#/10). The count does include two Tundra Tandems 1/1 cards.
-------------------------------------------------------
10-11 Donruss Boys of Winter Jersey Prime Tim Thomas (49/50)
Here's a "prime" card with a big seam. I kind of like this insert set, actually.
-------------------------------------------------------
10-11 Panini Certified Big Men on Campus Prime Tim Thomas (01/25)
Here's another "prime" card, and this one has an even bigger seam! To top it off, it's the first copy printed. Not bad!
To close the post -- two 1/1s from a set I have mixed feelings on.
-------------------------------------------------------
10-11 Famous Fabrics Ink Hockey Edition Hockey Ink Mark Howe (1/1)
Why Mark Howe? Because I met him a long time ago, and because this card was insanely inexpensive for a 1/1 -- even if it's from an atrocious set. That's the issue I have with the set. It's an ugly regurgitation of unlicensed cut/re-used signatures. However, the checklist is flat-out interesting. It has names I've never heard of, and tons of players who rarely get any attention in the hobby. So, I can appreciate it for that reason alone.
-------------------------------------------------------
10-11 Famous Fabrics Ink Hockey Edition Vezina Winner Tim Thomas (1/1)
Of course, Tim Thomas ended up with three different cards on the checklist. This is hardly one of my favorite Thomas cards, but it's a 1/1 and I'm happy to take it for my collection!
Both the Howe and Thomas cards share one thing in common -- the signatures are on standard ITG stickers, placed atop a white background. That means that these autographs aren't really cuts, nor were they specifically acquired for this product. They're leftovers from other ITG products. That's why the window is so small -- if it were any bigger, you'd clearly be able to see the signatures cut off at the edge of the sticker.
Alright, enough of the negative -- it's a Thomas 1/1, and that makes it a nice card to me. It's my 40th 1/1 card of Tim Thomas, and 55th for my player collections in total.
-------------------------------------------------------
News and notes:
** Alright -- as mentioned at the top of the post, I finally have my pictures posted from my trip to Toronto in November. There's very little from the expo -- the first two sets are all from an extensive self-guided tour of downtown I did on Thursday (about 10 miles on foot), and the third set is mostly from the Air Canada Centre for the Leafs/Canucks game -- with a few pictures from the expo thrown in for good measure. Enjoy!
http://www.thegreatzo.com/photos/20101111a/
http://www.thegreatzo.com/photos/20101111b/
http://www.thegreatzo.com/photos/20101113/
** I have more than another mail post's worth of stuff already here, but with some other things occupying my time, I might not get to it right away. If you sent me some cards, you'll be hearing about it soon, and seeing it posted soon-ish as well. It might just be in a week or so.
** The Tampa Bay Lightning are for real. Get used to it!
That'll be it. Thanks everyone!
--Andy
http://www.thegreatzo.com/cards/
-------------------------------------------------------
