The Great Zo
Verified Trader,
There isn't any big theme for this mail post, but HI members contributed in several ways, and I thank them for that!
Mail Post #15 for 2013
-------------------------------------------------------
00-01 Titanium All-Stars World / North America (041/100)
I'll start with a tough insert from the 00-01 season. Cole (roaddogg1718) first alerted me to the peculiarities of this card.
This insert set was set up in a somewhat-confusing manner. There are separate 9-card sets for the World and North American All-Star teams, with each set numbered 1-9. Each of those 18 cards are limited to 1000 copies. However, there is only one version of card #10 -- the one pictured here, with one team on each side. This card is numbered to 100 copies. So, in theory, a set completion would contain 19 cards in all. Beckett has this incorrect, listing a separate card #10 in each of the World and North American sets.
Why does this card have a home in my collection? Aside from being a bit of an oddity for the reasons listed above, Sergei Samsonov is also pictured on the card. He's on the World side, and is the left-most player in the second row. It's not an official card for my Samsonov collection, but it's definitely worth owning anyway.
-------------------------------------------------------
00-01 SP Game Used Tools of the Game Jersey Sergei Samsonov
This Samsonov card was purchased on ebay from Paul (pwag31). It's a Samsonov card I already own, but I could not pass up the upgrade. My current version of the card has a two-color white/yellow swatch, with large creases near the jersey window. This one is in perfect shape, and sneaks three colors (black/white/yellow) into the jersey swatch! It's a nice and inexpensive upgrade to one of Samsonov's earliest memorabilia cards.
-------------------------------------------------------
12-13 UD Artifacts J.T. Brown RC (140/999)
12-13 UD Artifacts Autofacts Brendan Mikkelson
That wasn't all, though -- Paul also included these two Lightning cards for my collection. Thanks for the Samsonov and for the extras, Paul!
-------------------------------------------------------
11-12 Between the Pipes He Shoots He Saves Prizes Tim Thomas (13/20)
I purchased this tough Tim Thomas redemption card from North of 7 on ebay. Of course I purchased it from North of 7 -- does anybody else actually own any of these?
This card isn't exciting to me in any way (especially with the plain yellow swatch), but for a redemption card out of 20, I had to jump at the price.
-------------------------------------------------------
11-12 Panini Elite Series Steven Stamkos #5
09-10 Between The Pipes GoalieGraphs Cedrick Desjardins
The next three cards were purchased from Shawn (allonblack). I'm now halfway through the Stamkos Elite Series insert set, and the Desjardins pre-RC autograph has been on my wantlist for a while.
-------------------------------------------------------
11-12 Between the Pipes He Shoots He Saves Prizes Tim Thomas / Tuukka Rask (4/20)
However, the big card I got from Shawn was this one -- a sibling to the Thomas redemption card two pictures up! The Rask swatch is all black, but the Thomas swatch is three colors (white/yellow/black). I certainly prefer this redemption card to the other one.
I now own two of the three 11-12 BTP HSHS redemption cards featuring Tim Thomas. A third card features Thomas, Rask, and Gerry Cheevers -- copies of that card have sold pretty well on ebay.
Thanks for the sale, Shawn!
-------------------------------------------------------
08-09 Be A Player Jonathon Kalinski RC (61/99)
Jon Kalinski was a member of the Lightning organization for a few months in 2012, playing just five games for the Norfolk Admirals during that time. So, his addition to my rookie wantlist was at the very lowest of priorities. However, finding this card in a lot with a second #/99 card from Be A Player from my wantlist made the purchase an easy decision!
-------------------------------------------------------
08-09 Be A Player Rookie Redemptions Spencer Machacek (10/99)
Spencer Machacek is an AHL player in the Blue Jackets organization, but it's possible that he could end up with the big club for a few games this year. This isn't a RC, as it's one of the redemptions from the previous seasons, but I like to get those as well if they're inexpensive. Finding this and the Kalinski in the same ebay auction was quite fortunate.
-------------------------------------------------------
00-01 Topps Stars Marian Gaborik RC
99-00 Stadium Club First Day Issue David Tanabe (109/150)
00-01 Titanium Red Jamie Storr (022/299)
The next two pictures contain cards I received from Bryan (lucky19). The Gaborik here is a RC keeper, and the other two parallel cards will be added to my tradelist. 00-01 Titanium Red remains one of my favorite parallel sets of all time -- the deep red holofoil is very attractive.
-------------------------------------------------------
00-01 Black Diamond Marian Gaborik RC (0749/1999)
00-01 Topps Heritage Marian Gaborik RC (1253/1955)
These two Gaborik RCs close out the deal with Bryan, and they are very nice ones to get in hand. I'm now nearing the halfway point on Gaborik RCs. Thanks, Bryan!
-------------------------------------------------------
12-13 ITG Heroes and Prospects Autographs Slater Koekkoek
This card, an autographed card from the Lightning's top 2012 draft pick, came in as an extra purchase with the next one.
-------------------------------------------------------
12-13 SPx Cody Goloubef RC (164/275)
While Panini acquired signature deals with all four of the Blue Jackets' RC-eligible players in 2012-13, Upper Deck only got Cody Goloubef to sign (at least through products before The Cup). Here's his SPx rookie card, which is another of those cards that blur the definitions of what may or may not actually be a rookie card -- a question that really matters only to the statisticians and categorizers of the hobby. The card, with only 275 copies made, has four dark blue jersey swatches. It's my second card from the set, after acquiring the J.T. Brown card a couple months ago.
-------------------------------------------------------
08-09 O-Pee-Chee Mitch Fritz RC (SP)
12-13 Score Dalton Prout RC (SP)
12-13 O-Pee-Chee Dalton Prout RC (SP)
12-13 O-Pee-Chee J.T. Brown RC (SP)
The next several pictures came from a huge lot of inexpensive RCs I purchased on ebay. Most of them are from the latest O-Pee-Chee and Score sets, almost completing my wantlists from each product.
-------------------------------------------------------
13-14 O-Pee-Chee Sean Collins RC (SP)
13-14 O-Pee-Chee Mark Barberio RC (SP)
13-14 O-Pee-Chee Tyler Johnson RC (SP)
13-14 O-Pee-Chee Andrej Sustr RC (SP)
O-Pee-Chee featured a pretty comprehensive rookie subset -- for better or for worse.
-------------------------------------------------------
13-14 O-Pee-Chee Ondrej Palat RC (SP)
13-14 O-Pee-Chee Jonathan Audy-Marchessault RC (SP)
13-14 O-Pee-Chee Alex Killorn RC (SP)
Breaking news from the Blue Jackets is that Jonathan Audy-Marchessault has decided to shorten his last name -- by dropping the "Audy." I'm not sure that really counts as much of a shortening.
-------------------------------------------------------
13-14 Score Alex Killorn RC (SP)
13-14 Score Sean Collins RC (SP)
13-14 Score Richard Panik RC (SP)
13-14 Score Cory Conacher RC (SP)
After purchasing the Richard Panik RC, I remembered I pulled one in late August from a Score jumbo pack. Oh well.
-------------------------------------------------------
13-14 Score Gold Alec Martinez
13-14 Score Red Alec Martinez
These are the last cards from the big lot of cheap RCs. Picking up these two Score parallels for my Martinez collection was nice, especially getting them from the same place. The Red parallels are not all that easy to find, given that they are only available in certain retail packs.
-------------------------------------------------------
13-14 Score Black Alec Martinez
Much tougher to find are the Black parallels, though apparently not as difficult as some of the tough Score parallels in the past few years, as I've seen a few copies of this one.
-------------------------------------------------------
13-14 Score Alternate Back (Red Back) Alec Martinez
Finally, here's one more Score card of Alec Martinez -- the toughest of them all!
That's four out of five Martinez base/parallel cards from Score. Which one am I still missing? Yup, it's the regular base card.
-------------------------------------------------------
13-14 Score Team8s (SP) T8-LAK Los Angeles Kings
-- Dustin Brown (Black) / Mike Richards (Black)
-- Jeff Carter (Black) / Tyler Toffoli (Black)
-- Dwight King (White) / Willie Mitchell (Black)
-- Alec Martinez (Black) / Jonathan Bernier (Yellow)
Alec Martinez also found his way on this Team8s eight-jersey card, featuring members of the Los Angeles Kings. There are some good jersey pieces on this card, including top forwards Brown, Richards, and Carter, and prospect Tyler Toffoli. This card is listed as a short print, but it wasn't particularly difficult to find.
-------------------------------------------------------
13-14 Score Team8s T8-STL St. Louis Blues
-- Patrick Berglund (Blue) / Vladimir Tarasenko (Dark Blue)
-- Scott Nichol (Dark Blue) / Vladimir Sobotka (White)
-- Ian Cole (Blue) / Barret Jackman (White)
-- Roman Polak (Blue) / Jaroslav Halak (Dark Blue)
I also picked up this Team8s jersey card, featuring members of the St. Louis Blues -- most notably rookie star Vladimir Tarasenko. The fact that I'd be buying a Blues eight-jersey card in 2013 for one of my player collections is remarkably strange, but yes, there's Scott Nichol in the bottom left on the card front!
Scott Nichol was the final captain of the Detroit Vipers, playing with the team in the 00-01 season. His NHL career had actually started years earlier, as he played two games with the Buffalo Sabres in 95-96. After leaving the Vipers, he signed with the Calgary Flames, and later played for the Chicago Blackhawks, Nashville Predators, San Jose Sharks, and ended his playing career with the Blues in 2012-13. He's now a member of the front office for the Predators.
Scott Nichol hasn't been on a hockey card since his appearance in 2010-11 O-Pee-Chee. It's not unfathomable that he'd earn a card while a member of the Blues, but the fact that it's a jersey card is a remarkable surprise! Now that Nichol is retired, it's virtually guaranteed that Panini's got a ton of Scott Nichol jersey (and patch) pieces in their stock, with very little ability to make use of them. Personally, even though his playing career is over, I hope they show up again somewhere down the line.
-------------------------------------------------------
02-03 SP Authentic Future Watch Signed Patches Alexander Svitov (061/100)
My Alexander Svitov rookie collection is not quite complete, as I'm still missing two cards. I decided to go after this insert card, though -- the first Lightning appearance in the SPA Auto/Patch set! I'm sure some of our hobby veterans remember just how insanely popular this set was when it was released. Now, the SPA Auto/Patch cards seem like an afterthought.
This card features a two-color swatch -- black and white patch, with a black thread sticking out of the card. The #61 out of 100 is the closest I'll ever get to owning the Rick Nash card from the same set.
-------------------------------------------------------
06-07 UD Artifacts Tundra Tandems Jerseys Gold
-- Sergei Samsonov / Alex Kovalev (03/10)
The final card in this mail post is a new Samsonov item that does count for my collection! This card was received from Ryan (rylin1711) in an easy transaction. It's only my second of the nine different Tundra Tandems cards that Samsonov shares with Kovalev -- the only other one I own is the Red Jersey #/50. This one is a big step up from there, with only ten copies made, and I don't think I've seen more than one or two copies of this card on the market. This card features two black jersey swatches.
Thanks for the deal, Ryan, and for a big addition to my Samsonov stash!
-----------------
News and notes:
** My player collection wantlist from Panini Prizm is exactly zero cards long. That's an unbelievable piece of good luck! Now, I can simply look at picking up several of the parallels for fun, rather than trying to track down all 40 versions of some guy's base card.
** My new computer arrived last week, and I'll be working on transitioning to it over the next week or two. I won't be back up to full speed on trading until I get that done.
That'll be it. Thanks everyone!
--Andy
http://www.thegreatzo.com/cards/
-------------------------------------------------------
Mail Post #15 for 2013
-------------------------------------------------------
00-01 Titanium All-Stars World / North America (041/100)
I'll start with a tough insert from the 00-01 season. Cole (roaddogg1718) first alerted me to the peculiarities of this card.
This insert set was set up in a somewhat-confusing manner. There are separate 9-card sets for the World and North American All-Star teams, with each set numbered 1-9. Each of those 18 cards are limited to 1000 copies. However, there is only one version of card #10 -- the one pictured here, with one team on each side. This card is numbered to 100 copies. So, in theory, a set completion would contain 19 cards in all. Beckett has this incorrect, listing a separate card #10 in each of the World and North American sets.
Why does this card have a home in my collection? Aside from being a bit of an oddity for the reasons listed above, Sergei Samsonov is also pictured on the card. He's on the World side, and is the left-most player in the second row. It's not an official card for my Samsonov collection, but it's definitely worth owning anyway.
-------------------------------------------------------
00-01 SP Game Used Tools of the Game Jersey Sergei Samsonov
This Samsonov card was purchased on ebay from Paul (pwag31). It's a Samsonov card I already own, but I could not pass up the upgrade. My current version of the card has a two-color white/yellow swatch, with large creases near the jersey window. This one is in perfect shape, and sneaks three colors (black/white/yellow) into the jersey swatch! It's a nice and inexpensive upgrade to one of Samsonov's earliest memorabilia cards.
-------------------------------------------------------
12-13 UD Artifacts J.T. Brown RC (140/999)
12-13 UD Artifacts Autofacts Brendan Mikkelson
That wasn't all, though -- Paul also included these two Lightning cards for my collection. Thanks for the Samsonov and for the extras, Paul!
-------------------------------------------------------
11-12 Between the Pipes He Shoots He Saves Prizes Tim Thomas (13/20)
I purchased this tough Tim Thomas redemption card from North of 7 on ebay. Of course I purchased it from North of 7 -- does anybody else actually own any of these?
This card isn't exciting to me in any way (especially with the plain yellow swatch), but for a redemption card out of 20, I had to jump at the price.
-------------------------------------------------------
11-12 Panini Elite Series Steven Stamkos #5
09-10 Between The Pipes GoalieGraphs Cedrick Desjardins
The next three cards were purchased from Shawn (allonblack). I'm now halfway through the Stamkos Elite Series insert set, and the Desjardins pre-RC autograph has been on my wantlist for a while.
-------------------------------------------------------
11-12 Between the Pipes He Shoots He Saves Prizes Tim Thomas / Tuukka Rask (4/20)
However, the big card I got from Shawn was this one -- a sibling to the Thomas redemption card two pictures up! The Rask swatch is all black, but the Thomas swatch is three colors (white/yellow/black). I certainly prefer this redemption card to the other one.
I now own two of the three 11-12 BTP HSHS redemption cards featuring Tim Thomas. A third card features Thomas, Rask, and Gerry Cheevers -- copies of that card have sold pretty well on ebay.
Thanks for the sale, Shawn!
-------------------------------------------------------
08-09 Be A Player Jonathon Kalinski RC (61/99)
Jon Kalinski was a member of the Lightning organization for a few months in 2012, playing just five games for the Norfolk Admirals during that time. So, his addition to my rookie wantlist was at the very lowest of priorities. However, finding this card in a lot with a second #/99 card from Be A Player from my wantlist made the purchase an easy decision!
-------------------------------------------------------
08-09 Be A Player Rookie Redemptions Spencer Machacek (10/99)
Spencer Machacek is an AHL player in the Blue Jackets organization, but it's possible that he could end up with the big club for a few games this year. This isn't a RC, as it's one of the redemptions from the previous seasons, but I like to get those as well if they're inexpensive. Finding this and the Kalinski in the same ebay auction was quite fortunate.
-------------------------------------------------------
00-01 Topps Stars Marian Gaborik RC
99-00 Stadium Club First Day Issue David Tanabe (109/150)
00-01 Titanium Red Jamie Storr (022/299)
The next two pictures contain cards I received from Bryan (lucky19). The Gaborik here is a RC keeper, and the other two parallel cards will be added to my tradelist. 00-01 Titanium Red remains one of my favorite parallel sets of all time -- the deep red holofoil is very attractive.
-------------------------------------------------------
00-01 Black Diamond Marian Gaborik RC (0749/1999)
00-01 Topps Heritage Marian Gaborik RC (1253/1955)
These two Gaborik RCs close out the deal with Bryan, and they are very nice ones to get in hand. I'm now nearing the halfway point on Gaborik RCs. Thanks, Bryan!
-------------------------------------------------------
12-13 ITG Heroes and Prospects Autographs Slater Koekkoek
This card, an autographed card from the Lightning's top 2012 draft pick, came in as an extra purchase with the next one.
-------------------------------------------------------
12-13 SPx Cody Goloubef RC (164/275)
While Panini acquired signature deals with all four of the Blue Jackets' RC-eligible players in 2012-13, Upper Deck only got Cody Goloubef to sign (at least through products before The Cup). Here's his SPx rookie card, which is another of those cards that blur the definitions of what may or may not actually be a rookie card -- a question that really matters only to the statisticians and categorizers of the hobby. The card, with only 275 copies made, has four dark blue jersey swatches. It's my second card from the set, after acquiring the J.T. Brown card a couple months ago.
-------------------------------------------------------
08-09 O-Pee-Chee Mitch Fritz RC (SP)
12-13 Score Dalton Prout RC (SP)
12-13 O-Pee-Chee Dalton Prout RC (SP)
12-13 O-Pee-Chee J.T. Brown RC (SP)
The next several pictures came from a huge lot of inexpensive RCs I purchased on ebay. Most of them are from the latest O-Pee-Chee and Score sets, almost completing my wantlists from each product.
-------------------------------------------------------
13-14 O-Pee-Chee Sean Collins RC (SP)
13-14 O-Pee-Chee Mark Barberio RC (SP)
13-14 O-Pee-Chee Tyler Johnson RC (SP)
13-14 O-Pee-Chee Andrej Sustr RC (SP)
O-Pee-Chee featured a pretty comprehensive rookie subset -- for better or for worse.
-------------------------------------------------------
13-14 O-Pee-Chee Ondrej Palat RC (SP)
13-14 O-Pee-Chee Jonathan Audy-Marchessault RC (SP)
13-14 O-Pee-Chee Alex Killorn RC (SP)
Breaking news from the Blue Jackets is that Jonathan Audy-Marchessault has decided to shorten his last name -- by dropping the "Audy." I'm not sure that really counts as much of a shortening.
-------------------------------------------------------
13-14 Score Alex Killorn RC (SP)
13-14 Score Sean Collins RC (SP)
13-14 Score Richard Panik RC (SP)
13-14 Score Cory Conacher RC (SP)
After purchasing the Richard Panik RC, I remembered I pulled one in late August from a Score jumbo pack. Oh well.
-------------------------------------------------------
13-14 Score Gold Alec Martinez
13-14 Score Red Alec Martinez
These are the last cards from the big lot of cheap RCs. Picking up these two Score parallels for my Martinez collection was nice, especially getting them from the same place. The Red parallels are not all that easy to find, given that they are only available in certain retail packs.
-------------------------------------------------------
13-14 Score Black Alec Martinez
Much tougher to find are the Black parallels, though apparently not as difficult as some of the tough Score parallels in the past few years, as I've seen a few copies of this one.
-------------------------------------------------------
13-14 Score Alternate Back (Red Back) Alec Martinez
Finally, here's one more Score card of Alec Martinez -- the toughest of them all!
That's four out of five Martinez base/parallel cards from Score. Which one am I still missing? Yup, it's the regular base card.
-------------------------------------------------------
13-14 Score Team8s (SP) T8-LAK Los Angeles Kings
-- Dustin Brown (Black) / Mike Richards (Black)
-- Jeff Carter (Black) / Tyler Toffoli (Black)
-- Dwight King (White) / Willie Mitchell (Black)
-- Alec Martinez (Black) / Jonathan Bernier (Yellow)
Alec Martinez also found his way on this Team8s eight-jersey card, featuring members of the Los Angeles Kings. There are some good jersey pieces on this card, including top forwards Brown, Richards, and Carter, and prospect Tyler Toffoli. This card is listed as a short print, but it wasn't particularly difficult to find.
-------------------------------------------------------
13-14 Score Team8s T8-STL St. Louis Blues
-- Patrick Berglund (Blue) / Vladimir Tarasenko (Dark Blue)
-- Scott Nichol (Dark Blue) / Vladimir Sobotka (White)
-- Ian Cole (Blue) / Barret Jackman (White)
-- Roman Polak (Blue) / Jaroslav Halak (Dark Blue)
I also picked up this Team8s jersey card, featuring members of the St. Louis Blues -- most notably rookie star Vladimir Tarasenko. The fact that I'd be buying a Blues eight-jersey card in 2013 for one of my player collections is remarkably strange, but yes, there's Scott Nichol in the bottom left on the card front!
Scott Nichol was the final captain of the Detroit Vipers, playing with the team in the 00-01 season. His NHL career had actually started years earlier, as he played two games with the Buffalo Sabres in 95-96. After leaving the Vipers, he signed with the Calgary Flames, and later played for the Chicago Blackhawks, Nashville Predators, San Jose Sharks, and ended his playing career with the Blues in 2012-13. He's now a member of the front office for the Predators.
Scott Nichol hasn't been on a hockey card since his appearance in 2010-11 O-Pee-Chee. It's not unfathomable that he'd earn a card while a member of the Blues, but the fact that it's a jersey card is a remarkable surprise! Now that Nichol is retired, it's virtually guaranteed that Panini's got a ton of Scott Nichol jersey (and patch) pieces in their stock, with very little ability to make use of them. Personally, even though his playing career is over, I hope they show up again somewhere down the line.
-------------------------------------------------------
02-03 SP Authentic Future Watch Signed Patches Alexander Svitov (061/100)
My Alexander Svitov rookie collection is not quite complete, as I'm still missing two cards. I decided to go after this insert card, though -- the first Lightning appearance in the SPA Auto/Patch set! I'm sure some of our hobby veterans remember just how insanely popular this set was when it was released. Now, the SPA Auto/Patch cards seem like an afterthought.
This card features a two-color swatch -- black and white patch, with a black thread sticking out of the card. The #61 out of 100 is the closest I'll ever get to owning the Rick Nash card from the same set.
-------------------------------------------------------
06-07 UD Artifacts Tundra Tandems Jerseys Gold
-- Sergei Samsonov / Alex Kovalev (03/10)
The final card in this mail post is a new Samsonov item that does count for my collection! This card was received from Ryan (rylin1711) in an easy transaction. It's only my second of the nine different Tundra Tandems cards that Samsonov shares with Kovalev -- the only other one I own is the Red Jersey #/50. This one is a big step up from there, with only ten copies made, and I don't think I've seen more than one or two copies of this card on the market. This card features two black jersey swatches.
Thanks for the deal, Ryan, and for a big addition to my Samsonov stash!
-----------------
News and notes:
** My player collection wantlist from Panini Prizm is exactly zero cards long. That's an unbelievable piece of good luck! Now, I can simply look at picking up several of the parallels for fun, rather than trying to track down all 40 versions of some guy's base card.
** My new computer arrived last week, and I'll be working on transitioning to it over the next week or two. I won't be back up to full speed on trading until I get that done.
That'll be it. Thanks everyone!
--Andy
http://www.thegreatzo.com/cards/
-------------------------------------------------------
