hckycdn93
Verified Trader,
Hello all,
The following cards are pickups from the month of April 2021. As many are aware, I'm chasing very limited sets that are now 16 years old, so it is a daunting challenge to say the least. The aide I've received from the different forums and facebook group members in finding these cards has been superb, so thank you to everyone who has provided information leading to a purchase. Also stay tuned for the top ten cards of the month at the end, so without further adieu, lets get to it!
2005-06 Victory Gold Sopel #194 (94/100)
Starting off is a base gold victory parallel, nothing too fancy, but I now own the Sopel base, gold and victory parallels. The only one missing to complete the rainbow is the silver /250.
2005-06 SP Game Used Rookie Exclusives Parallel Dallman RC (3/5)
While not the most collected player out there, Dallman carved out a decent playing career in the KHL after departing for the 2008-09 season. Its always a joy to puck up these rare parallels whenever they become available.
2005 UD Canadian Fall Expo Spezza #133 (2/10)
its been quite a while since I was able to add any cards to this set, and what a player to add! Spezza, who now plays for the cross province rival, continues to produce at a high level well into his 30's. Its incredible the number of athletes who are able to excel much later into their careers, and its a testament to how far sports science and conditioning has come in recent years.
2005-06 UD Be A Player Gold Spezza (1/10)
Yet another rare Spezza parallel from a largely unappreciated release. this is likely due to the absence of rookies in the checklist, its unfortunate there were no BAP rookies of Crosby or Ovechkin produced. While many may not be fans of the sticker auto, it hasn't swayed my appreciation for the gold parallels, which are tough finds for any player PC.
2005-06 SP Game Used Autographed Parallel Spezza #70 (1/5)
If you are seeing a theme here, you would be correct! I was lucky enough to pick up some nice pieces from a fellow member's PC, which included quite a few Spezza cards. This is also my first non-rookie auto parallel from this set.
2005-06 UD Trilogy Patches Alfredsson (3/10)
Taking a break from the Spezzas to shift attention to his line mate, Daniel Alfredsson. This seldom seen patch from the trilogy series features an eye popping 3-colour patch.
2005-06 UD The Cup RPA's Leneveu and Nastiuk /199
Next are two rookie goaltender RPA's from the inital cup release. Nastiuk never appeared in any NHL games but had a lengthily career, split between the minor and european leagues, which ended after the 2017-18 season. Leneveu had brief NHL career, and all but one game spent with the Coyotes. I'm was pretty ecstatic to find a 4-colour copy of this rookie, as these are few and far in between.
2005-06 Fleer Ultra Scoring Kings Patches Autographed Spezza and Havlat /10
Given the rarity of the parallel, these cards don't come around often. I think the silver background really makes the blue autograph and colorful patches stand out, particularly the 3-colour Spezza.
2005-06 Fleer Rookie Uniformity Autographed Patch Steen (1/5)
Yet another tough parallel from the Fleer Ultra release, and another feather in my growing Steen rookie collection, it never gets old picking up these parallels. The only other Steen RPA I have seen has a solid white patch, so it was a nice bonus to find a dual color patch.
2005-06 UD High Glossy Garth Snow #121 (6/10)
My one and only high gloss find from this past month, of former Islanders GM
and combatant of Dominik Hasek back in 97'. This HG addition gives me 229/487 or 47% of the set. One step closer to the 50% mark!
2005-06 UD Victory Black Ryan Malone #159 (3/5)
Its been a few months since adding any cards to my victory black parallels set, this one came via facebook a bit unexpectedly. These cards seem to pop up in the most unexpected collections, particularly of players that are not heavily collected. This addition gives me 67/300 or 22% completion.
Now, lets begin the top 10!
#10. 2005-06 Fleer Ultra Fresh Ink Blue Parallel /25
This was one of my larger purchases this past month, but finding low numbered card lots like this don't come around often. For those unfamiliar with this set, it was part of the Fleer Ultra release and was a blue parallel to the regular Fresh Ink set. There are officially 101 cards in the set, though there is speculation that the Richard Zednik card was never produced. If any one can confirm that please let me know!
This lot purchase featured roughly 60 or so cards, with key highlights including star players such as Martin Brodeur, Thornton, Luongo and Chara. It also features rookie year autographs of Perry, Getzlaf, Carter, Richards and Steen.
#9. 2005-06 Fleer Hot Prospects En Fuego Dany Heatley #70 (1/1)
I'm not sure how many Heatley collectors there were around this time, but I would presume this was a highly sought after card back in the days of the Heatley-Alfie-Spezza line. This additon now gives me 17 En Fuego 1/1 cards from the set, and only the fifth non-shield.
#8. 2005-06 UD Game Patches Havlat and Kurri /15
Both the series 1 and 2 UD Patches were one of my original chase sets and still among my favorite cards to acquire. I was lucky enough to find both the series 1 and 2 Martin Havlats, along with the nicest copy of Jarri Kurri I have seen to date. Not sure if there are any Kurri collectors out there who could tell me if patches from his Kings jerseys are rare or not. Either way, among the my favorite cards from the set.
#7. 2005-06 UD Victory Gold Crosby RC #285 (30/100) PSA 8.5
This is the first of a few cards I submitted for grading back in March through PSA Canada, and I had a great experience with them and do recommend them when PSA begins accepting submissions again. The victory release from 05-06 had issues with chipping, particularly the gold and black parallels, so an 8.5 was pretty great in my opinion. Its currently the highest graded by PSA, though I know there are some higher grade BGS copies around.
#6. 2005-06 Ultimate National Heroes Patches
This subset is largely forgotten when conversation arises about the 2005-06 Ultimate Collection release. To me they look more like an early licensed ITG release, more so then a mid-2000s set, which is a nice change up for me.
For those unfamiliar with the set, these were numbered out of 25 and featured the player's home country flag as a backdrop. However, there were a few star players which were short printed to just 10 copies, and this makes up the majority of the lot that I purchased. Among my favorite pieces include an eye catching patch on the Rob Blake /25, Nice 3 and 4-colour pieces on the Richards and Thornton short prints, and a great 3-colour Joe Sakic SP.
#5. 2005-06 UD Trilogy Patch Autographs Spezza and Havlat /5
A pair of seldom seen parallel patch autographed cards makes it to number 5 on this month's count down. A nice 2-colour patch on the Havlat and solid white patch on the Spezza. Its too bad that UD didn't save a better patch for the Spezza, but given the patch alternations on high end cards in the past, I have no doubts that this is indeed the original patch.
#4. 1957 Topps Johnny Bucyk RC #10 PSA 7
This is the second card to be featured from my March PSA submission and its an oldie but a goodie! I was attempting to put together the 1957 topps set in PSA 7-8 grades a few years back, but sold most of them to fund a purchase of a lifetime, which I do not regret by any means. However, I did hang onto an ungraded Bucyk rookie, speculating it would grade about a 7. Fast forward a few years and I decided to finally submit it and I was right on the money with my analysis. I would love to upgrade this to a PSA 8 if anyone has one and is interested. I am also open to acquiring any PSA 8s from this set if you have any, just let me know what you've got!
#3. 2005-06 Fleer Ultra Alexander Ovechkin Fresh Ink Blue Parallel (15/25)
As part of the Fresh Ink blue lot, the highlight for me was the Ovechkin rookie year auto. With the dramatic increase in price for his rookie year cards, Its becoming increasing difficult to find reasonably priced cards for my Ovechkin rookie PC. This card looks great alongside my Crosby Fresh Ink blue and my regular Fresh Ink Ovechkin. Now all I need is to find a regular Fresh Ink Crosby to complete the foursome.
#2. 2005-06 UD Phenomenal Beginnings Sidney Crosby Autograph (16/25) PSA 9
A quick synopsis of the history of this issue for those unfamiliar with this card, this Crosby autograph was randomly inserted into boxes which Upper Deck created to commemorate Crosby's rookie campaign. Hundred's of thousands of boxes, normally containing the standard 20-card set + 1 oversized card, were readily abundant everywhere until only about 5 or so years ago, when the supply dried up and they disappeared from retail stores. A huge production run and very remote odds of finding the randomly inserted autograph.
I submitted this in my recent PSA submission and I was pretty ecstatic with the result. There have been three graded, and only one is higher than this PSA 9. I feel incredibly fortunate to have this in my collection and consider it a cornerstone piece to my 2005-06 collection.
What on earth could be beat this out for the number one spot!?
#1. 2005-06 UD Phenomenal Beginnings Sidney Crosby Autograph (19/25) PSA 10!
A PSA Gem-mint 10 copy of course! This is the only PSA 10 graded and, along with the 9, complete the two highest graded copies of the three ever graded through PSA. There's not really much more to add as I believe the scan speaks for itself.
Well if you have made it this far, thank you for the time and please do not hesitate to contact me with information on cards I need or those you are looking to sell. Looking forward to what May will bring, comments/feedback are welcome. Have a great weekend everyone!
The following cards are pickups from the month of April 2021. As many are aware, I'm chasing very limited sets that are now 16 years old, so it is a daunting challenge to say the least. The aide I've received from the different forums and facebook group members in finding these cards has been superb, so thank you to everyone who has provided information leading to a purchase. Also stay tuned for the top ten cards of the month at the end, so without further adieu, lets get to it!
2005-06 Victory Gold Sopel #194 (94/100)
Starting off is a base gold victory parallel, nothing too fancy, but I now own the Sopel base, gold and victory parallels. The only one missing to complete the rainbow is the silver /250.
2005-06 SP Game Used Rookie Exclusives Parallel Dallman RC (3/5)
While not the most collected player out there, Dallman carved out a decent playing career in the KHL after departing for the 2008-09 season. Its always a joy to puck up these rare parallels whenever they become available.
2005 UD Canadian Fall Expo Spezza #133 (2/10)
its been quite a while since I was able to add any cards to this set, and what a player to add! Spezza, who now plays for the cross province rival, continues to produce at a high level well into his 30's. Its incredible the number of athletes who are able to excel much later into their careers, and its a testament to how far sports science and conditioning has come in recent years.
2005-06 UD Be A Player Gold Spezza (1/10)
Yet another rare Spezza parallel from a largely unappreciated release. this is likely due to the absence of rookies in the checklist, its unfortunate there were no BAP rookies of Crosby or Ovechkin produced. While many may not be fans of the sticker auto, it hasn't swayed my appreciation for the gold parallels, which are tough finds for any player PC.
2005-06 SP Game Used Autographed Parallel Spezza #70 (1/5)
If you are seeing a theme here, you would be correct! I was lucky enough to pick up some nice pieces from a fellow member's PC, which included quite a few Spezza cards. This is also my first non-rookie auto parallel from this set.
2005-06 UD Trilogy Patches Alfredsson (3/10)
Taking a break from the Spezzas to shift attention to his line mate, Daniel Alfredsson. This seldom seen patch from the trilogy series features an eye popping 3-colour patch.
2005-06 UD The Cup RPA's Leneveu and Nastiuk /199
Next are two rookie goaltender RPA's from the inital cup release. Nastiuk never appeared in any NHL games but had a lengthily career, split between the minor and european leagues, which ended after the 2017-18 season. Leneveu had brief NHL career, and all but one game spent with the Coyotes. I'm was pretty ecstatic to find a 4-colour copy of this rookie, as these are few and far in between.
2005-06 Fleer Ultra Scoring Kings Patches Autographed Spezza and Havlat /10
Given the rarity of the parallel, these cards don't come around often. I think the silver background really makes the blue autograph and colorful patches stand out, particularly the 3-colour Spezza.
2005-06 Fleer Rookie Uniformity Autographed Patch Steen (1/5)
Yet another tough parallel from the Fleer Ultra release, and another feather in my growing Steen rookie collection, it never gets old picking up these parallels. The only other Steen RPA I have seen has a solid white patch, so it was a nice bonus to find a dual color patch.
2005-06 UD High Glossy Garth Snow #121 (6/10)
My one and only high gloss find from this past month, of former Islanders GM
and combatant of Dominik Hasek back in 97'. This HG addition gives me 229/487 or 47% of the set. One step closer to the 50% mark!
2005-06 UD Victory Black Ryan Malone #159 (3/5)
Its been a few months since adding any cards to my victory black parallels set, this one came via facebook a bit unexpectedly. These cards seem to pop up in the most unexpected collections, particularly of players that are not heavily collected. This addition gives me 67/300 or 22% completion.
Now, lets begin the top 10!
#10. 2005-06 Fleer Ultra Fresh Ink Blue Parallel /25
This was one of my larger purchases this past month, but finding low numbered card lots like this don't come around often. For those unfamiliar with this set, it was part of the Fleer Ultra release and was a blue parallel to the regular Fresh Ink set. There are officially 101 cards in the set, though there is speculation that the Richard Zednik card was never produced. If any one can confirm that please let me know!
This lot purchase featured roughly 60 or so cards, with key highlights including star players such as Martin Brodeur, Thornton, Luongo and Chara. It also features rookie year autographs of Perry, Getzlaf, Carter, Richards and Steen.
#9. 2005-06 Fleer Hot Prospects En Fuego Dany Heatley #70 (1/1)
I'm not sure how many Heatley collectors there were around this time, but I would presume this was a highly sought after card back in the days of the Heatley-Alfie-Spezza line. This additon now gives me 17 En Fuego 1/1 cards from the set, and only the fifth non-shield.
#8. 2005-06 UD Game Patches Havlat and Kurri /15
Both the series 1 and 2 UD Patches were one of my original chase sets and still among my favorite cards to acquire. I was lucky enough to find both the series 1 and 2 Martin Havlats, along with the nicest copy of Jarri Kurri I have seen to date. Not sure if there are any Kurri collectors out there who could tell me if patches from his Kings jerseys are rare or not. Either way, among the my favorite cards from the set.
#7. 2005-06 UD Victory Gold Crosby RC #285 (30/100) PSA 8.5
This is the first of a few cards I submitted for grading back in March through PSA Canada, and I had a great experience with them and do recommend them when PSA begins accepting submissions again. The victory release from 05-06 had issues with chipping, particularly the gold and black parallels, so an 8.5 was pretty great in my opinion. Its currently the highest graded by PSA, though I know there are some higher grade BGS copies around.
#6. 2005-06 Ultimate National Heroes Patches
This subset is largely forgotten when conversation arises about the 2005-06 Ultimate Collection release. To me they look more like an early licensed ITG release, more so then a mid-2000s set, which is a nice change up for me.
For those unfamiliar with the set, these were numbered out of 25 and featured the player's home country flag as a backdrop. However, there were a few star players which were short printed to just 10 copies, and this makes up the majority of the lot that I purchased. Among my favorite pieces include an eye catching patch on the Rob Blake /25, Nice 3 and 4-colour pieces on the Richards and Thornton short prints, and a great 3-colour Joe Sakic SP.
#5. 2005-06 UD Trilogy Patch Autographs Spezza and Havlat /5
A pair of seldom seen parallel patch autographed cards makes it to number 5 on this month's count down. A nice 2-colour patch on the Havlat and solid white patch on the Spezza. Its too bad that UD didn't save a better patch for the Spezza, but given the patch alternations on high end cards in the past, I have no doubts that this is indeed the original patch.
#4. 1957 Topps Johnny Bucyk RC #10 PSA 7
This is the second card to be featured from my March PSA submission and its an oldie but a goodie! I was attempting to put together the 1957 topps set in PSA 7-8 grades a few years back, but sold most of them to fund a purchase of a lifetime, which I do not regret by any means. However, I did hang onto an ungraded Bucyk rookie, speculating it would grade about a 7. Fast forward a few years and I decided to finally submit it and I was right on the money with my analysis. I would love to upgrade this to a PSA 8 if anyone has one and is interested. I am also open to acquiring any PSA 8s from this set if you have any, just let me know what you've got!
#3. 2005-06 Fleer Ultra Alexander Ovechkin Fresh Ink Blue Parallel (15/25)
As part of the Fresh Ink blue lot, the highlight for me was the Ovechkin rookie year auto. With the dramatic increase in price for his rookie year cards, Its becoming increasing difficult to find reasonably priced cards for my Ovechkin rookie PC. This card looks great alongside my Crosby Fresh Ink blue and my regular Fresh Ink Ovechkin. Now all I need is to find a regular Fresh Ink Crosby to complete the foursome.
#2. 2005-06 UD Phenomenal Beginnings Sidney Crosby Autograph (16/25) PSA 9
A quick synopsis of the history of this issue for those unfamiliar with this card, this Crosby autograph was randomly inserted into boxes which Upper Deck created to commemorate Crosby's rookie campaign. Hundred's of thousands of boxes, normally containing the standard 20-card set + 1 oversized card, were readily abundant everywhere until only about 5 or so years ago, when the supply dried up and they disappeared from retail stores. A huge production run and very remote odds of finding the randomly inserted autograph.
I submitted this in my recent PSA submission and I was pretty ecstatic with the result. There have been three graded, and only one is higher than this PSA 9. I feel incredibly fortunate to have this in my collection and consider it a cornerstone piece to my 2005-06 collection.
What on earth could be beat this out for the number one spot!?
#1. 2005-06 UD Phenomenal Beginnings Sidney Crosby Autograph (19/25) PSA 10!
A PSA Gem-mint 10 copy of course! This is the only PSA 10 graded and, along with the 9, complete the two highest graded copies of the three ever graded through PSA. There's not really much more to add as I believe the scan speaks for itself.
Well if you have made it this far, thank you for the time and please do not hesitate to contact me with information on cards I need or those you are looking to sell. Looking forward to what May will bring, comments/feedback are welcome. Have a great weekend everyone!
