primetimepawich
Verified Trader ,
Hey everyone. Dunno how things are where y'all are at, but it's hot as hell here in Calgary. So while I unsuccessfully try to cool down beside a fan, I figured I'd try to catch you up on how the hobby has treated me in the first half of 2021.
How "has" it treated me? In short, not well. That's why it's July 1st and you haven't seen a S+T from me until now - I haven't had the cards to justify one. I still follow along with these boards, I still chime in on threads here and there, and I still pine for overpriced cards on my Ebay wantlist. Hell, I've sold more cards than I've added. My wallet thanks me, but my collection? Not so much.
So what "did" I get? I'm glad you asked. Between my Larry Murphy collection and a few side projects, here's what I've cobbled together:
Credit my hobby friend Sean, our own Ranfordfan, for this one. Some of you might remember me mentioning in the past how my university history professor was former NHLer (and Golden Seal) Morris Mott, and Sean sent me this as a surprise earlier in the year. Seems he was doing a bulk deal with a seller on Ebay, saw this in the seller's other items, didn't know if I had it but grabbed it anyway. I did not. I'm sure I'd seen them before but for some reason was never inspired to dig into them or acquire them. Maybe I was too distracted looking for signed oddballs? I was thankful and appreciative of the gesture, and it sent me down the rabbit hole looking for others. I saw this had gone unsold in Completed Listings, messaged the seller and bought it for $1 US plus shipping:
Just recently, I added this for the same:
So if I'm correct, I'm down to needing just the following 2 issues:
1970-71 Swedish Masterserien #189 Morris Mott
1974-75 NHL Action Stamps Update #7 Morris Mott
Seems pretty doable.
***
Next up, you also might remember my impulse PC of failed Montreal Canadiens' 1991 1st rounder Brent Bilodeau from late last year. I took care of many of his issues in short order, leaving only a few stragglers:
2004-05 Johnstown Chiefs*#1 Brent Bilodeau
2010-11 Tri-City Americans*#5 Brent Bilodeau
2011-12 U.S. Cellular Tri-City Americans WHL #28 Brent Bilodeau ACO
Plus one other card. But first, on the signed card front, I've only been able to add this one so far in 2021:
91/92 Ultimate Draft French #14 Brent Bilodeau Autograph by primetimepawich, on Flickr
Now, that unmentioned card...
Brent Bilodeau has a 1/1 on his official checklist. How, you ask? Because in Upper Deck's quest to be nostalgic, they did 1/1 buybacks of all their previous cards for their 30th anniversary. This included Bilodeau's 91/92 UD RC. Given the sheer number of buybacks out there, and the possibility of someone pulling it and not deeming it worth listing, I knew the likelihood of it surfacing wasn't good. Yet I did a recent Ebay search, and there it was, cross-listed from COMC. Ridiculous asking price, but I wandered over to COMC and the seller was accepting offers on it. 2 offers later, it was in my port.
19/20 Upper Deck 30th Anniversary 1991/92 #694 1/1 by primetimepawich, on Flickr
I still paid more than I wanted to and know I shouldn't be unreasonably excited about adding a Brent Bilodeau card, yet here we are. I really didn't expect to even see this anytime soon. It's kind of the centerpiece of the collection and I had to have it.
As for the main event, Murphys have been hard to come by. I grabbed these cheap oddballs to pad the numbers a bit:
85/86 O-Pee-Chee #236 gray sheet grey back color variation wrong back by primetimepawich, on Flickr
92/93 Panini Stickers Panel #228 Brett Hull/Larry Murphy by primetimepawich, on Flickr
This was my first pickup of the year, for my signed case card wing:
93/94 Score #23 Larry Murphy Autograph by primetimepawich, on Flickr
And this was for my nicer pack-puled signature wing:
2017 In The Game Superlative Signatures Silver #SSLM1 Larry Murphy 1/2 by primetimepawich, on Flickr
For signing up for Ebay's dreaded Managed Payments (which I have not had to use as a seller yet so the jury's still out) I received a $15 CDN coupon from Ebay to be used by the end of June. And when a 5% Ebay Bucks day came around, I decided this was the best card on my wantlist to use it on:
17/18 Leaf 1990 Auto Printing Plates Yellow #BALM1 Larry Murphy 1/1 by primetimepawich, on Flickr
It's an autograph, it's a 1/1, and I felt it was priced at 2x its value. This coupon cut it in half, so I felt it all made too much sense.
And last, but certainly not least...
When Dr. Price dropped his boxed Stickrack product on us with little to no advance warning, Murphy appeared on 2 cards in the official checklist. Both caught my attention sight unseen because they would add something different to my collection. But if this product was under the radar and not many knew about it, I didn't know how many would be opening it or how likely either card would be to surface.
Well, it didn't take long for one of them. The weekend of May 1st, I got my first dose of the vaccine and didn't respond well to it for the rest of the weekend, but something helped brighten my spirits. Our own buyerbrad listed a card among the spoils of his Stickrack break. I probably would've seen it myself soon enough, but at the time, I hadn't. Josh Packham did though, and sent him my way. Brad PMed me and invited me to make an offer if interested. I generally hate that because if you don't hit the price they already might have in mind, you run the risk of insulting them. I asked for a pic to make sure what I was dealing with, and it more than checked out, though I probably would've wanted it regardless. I tried to find some comparable Ebay sales, pitched a number, and a small adjustment later, we had a deal. It was that easy and that simple. I'd expected the worst after repeated price frustrations on Ebay, but Brad couldn't have been better to deal with. This one helped light the spark, and I was happy to bring it home:
20/21 President's Choice Game-Used Stick Rack Tape Job TJ-55 Larry Murphy 2/5 by primetimepawich, on Flickr
And for reference, this is the other Stickrack issue I'd be interested in sight unseen:
2020-21 President's Choice Game-Used Stick Rack StickHandle SH-82 Larry Murphy 1/1
Guess we'll see how the back half of 2021 goes. Thanks for the look, and thanks to Sean, Josh and Brad for their contributions to this thread. Please wish me luck with the overpriced premium cards on my Ebay watchlist - I think I need to land at least one of them in 2021 to consider this to be an even remotely successful hobby year.
Happy collecting, and if you're in Calgary too, I hope you beat the heat better than I can.
Joe
How "has" it treated me? In short, not well. That's why it's July 1st and you haven't seen a S+T from me until now - I haven't had the cards to justify one. I still follow along with these boards, I still chime in on threads here and there, and I still pine for overpriced cards on my Ebay wantlist. Hell, I've sold more cards than I've added. My wallet thanks me, but my collection? Not so much.
So what "did" I get? I'm glad you asked. Between my Larry Murphy collection and a few side projects, here's what I've cobbled together:
Credit my hobby friend Sean, our own Ranfordfan, for this one. Some of you might remember me mentioning in the past how my university history professor was former NHLer (and Golden Seal) Morris Mott, and Sean sent me this as a surprise earlier in the year. Seems he was doing a bulk deal with a seller on Ebay, saw this in the seller's other items, didn't know if I had it but grabbed it anyway. I did not. I'm sure I'd seen them before but for some reason was never inspired to dig into them or acquire them. Maybe I was too distracted looking for signed oddballs? I was thankful and appreciative of the gesture, and it sent me down the rabbit hole looking for others. I saw this had gone unsold in Completed Listings, messaged the seller and bought it for $1 US plus shipping:
Just recently, I added this for the same:
So if I'm correct, I'm down to needing just the following 2 issues:
1970-71 Swedish Masterserien #189 Morris Mott
1974-75 NHL Action Stamps Update #7 Morris Mott
Seems pretty doable.
***
Next up, you also might remember my impulse PC of failed Montreal Canadiens' 1991 1st rounder Brent Bilodeau from late last year. I took care of many of his issues in short order, leaving only a few stragglers:
2004-05 Johnstown Chiefs*#1 Brent Bilodeau
2010-11 Tri-City Americans*#5 Brent Bilodeau
2011-12 U.S. Cellular Tri-City Americans WHL #28 Brent Bilodeau ACO
Plus one other card. But first, on the signed card front, I've only been able to add this one so far in 2021:
91/92 Ultimate Draft French #14 Brent Bilodeau Autograph by primetimepawich, on FlickrNow, that unmentioned card...
Brent Bilodeau has a 1/1 on his official checklist. How, you ask? Because in Upper Deck's quest to be nostalgic, they did 1/1 buybacks of all their previous cards for their 30th anniversary. This included Bilodeau's 91/92 UD RC. Given the sheer number of buybacks out there, and the possibility of someone pulling it and not deeming it worth listing, I knew the likelihood of it surfacing wasn't good. Yet I did a recent Ebay search, and there it was, cross-listed from COMC. Ridiculous asking price, but I wandered over to COMC and the seller was accepting offers on it. 2 offers later, it was in my port.
19/20 Upper Deck 30th Anniversary 1991/92 #694 1/1 by primetimepawich, on FlickrI still paid more than I wanted to and know I shouldn't be unreasonably excited about adding a Brent Bilodeau card, yet here we are. I really didn't expect to even see this anytime soon. It's kind of the centerpiece of the collection and I had to have it.
As for the main event, Murphys have been hard to come by. I grabbed these cheap oddballs to pad the numbers a bit:
85/86 O-Pee-Chee #236 gray sheet grey back color variation wrong back by primetimepawich, on Flickr92/93 Panini Stickers Panel #228 Brett Hull/Larry Murphy by primetimepawich, on FlickrThis was my first pickup of the year, for my signed case card wing:
93/94 Score #23 Larry Murphy Autograph by primetimepawich, on FlickrAnd this was for my nicer pack-puled signature wing:
2017 In The Game Superlative Signatures Silver #SSLM1 Larry Murphy 1/2 by primetimepawich, on FlickrFor signing up for Ebay's dreaded Managed Payments (which I have not had to use as a seller yet so the jury's still out) I received a $15 CDN coupon from Ebay to be used by the end of June. And when a 5% Ebay Bucks day came around, I decided this was the best card on my wantlist to use it on:
17/18 Leaf 1990 Auto Printing Plates Yellow #BALM1 Larry Murphy 1/1 by primetimepawich, on FlickrIt's an autograph, it's a 1/1, and I felt it was priced at 2x its value. This coupon cut it in half, so I felt it all made too much sense.
And last, but certainly not least...
When Dr. Price dropped his boxed Stickrack product on us with little to no advance warning, Murphy appeared on 2 cards in the official checklist. Both caught my attention sight unseen because they would add something different to my collection. But if this product was under the radar and not many knew about it, I didn't know how many would be opening it or how likely either card would be to surface.
Well, it didn't take long for one of them. The weekend of May 1st, I got my first dose of the vaccine and didn't respond well to it for the rest of the weekend, but something helped brighten my spirits. Our own buyerbrad listed a card among the spoils of his Stickrack break. I probably would've seen it myself soon enough, but at the time, I hadn't. Josh Packham did though, and sent him my way. Brad PMed me and invited me to make an offer if interested. I generally hate that because if you don't hit the price they already might have in mind, you run the risk of insulting them. I asked for a pic to make sure what I was dealing with, and it more than checked out, though I probably would've wanted it regardless. I tried to find some comparable Ebay sales, pitched a number, and a small adjustment later, we had a deal. It was that easy and that simple. I'd expected the worst after repeated price frustrations on Ebay, but Brad couldn't have been better to deal with. This one helped light the spark, and I was happy to bring it home:
20/21 President's Choice Game-Used Stick Rack Tape Job TJ-55 Larry Murphy 2/5 by primetimepawich, on FlickrAnd for reference, this is the other Stickrack issue I'd be interested in sight unseen:
2020-21 President's Choice Game-Used Stick Rack StickHandle SH-82 Larry Murphy 1/1
Guess we'll see how the back half of 2021 goes. Thanks for the look, and thanks to Sean, Josh and Brad for their contributions to this thread. Please wish me luck with the overpriced premium cards on my Ebay watchlist - I think I need to land at least one of them in 2021 to consider this to be an even remotely successful hobby year.
Happy collecting, and if you're in Calgary too, I hope you beat the heat better than I can.
Joe
What is the difference between it and a "normal" card from that set?
