primetimepawich
Verified Trader ,
Well, it's Joe Pawich the Larry Murphy Guy, and I'm back. A bit later than I expected to be. The last few years have been extremely slow for my PC. Cards I could use are still showing up, but often at prices higher than my arbitrary internal budget. I can and will make exceptions for special cards, but with anything else, I try to stick to my guns...with decidedly less than stellar results.
Starting last year, Murphy began to feature more prominently in a few Leaf releases, so I was certain 2023 would lead to more minor successes worthy of a S+T thread here within a few months. That was not the case. Even now, at almost the midway mark of the year, it's debatable. But I think I've cobbled enough together to make a case, and I took it upon myself to create my own hobby excitement, as you'll see if you stick around for the show.
A special thanks to our own Kevin Mitchell. Ebay's becoming a hard place to justify on both sides of the border, and without his continued help with US shipping, much of this wouldn't be possible.
So with that said, here we go...
***
I wanted to give a shoutout to our own 'Snobles' Scott. Scott PMed me here to say he'd come across a miscut Pro Set Murphy (I know, right? Imagine that
) and offered to send it free of charge if I had any use for it. Given my success rate of the first few months of 2023, I gladly accepted the offer. I appreciated the gesture, and while I don't quite classify a miscut as a unique PC addition, I do have lots of "proofs" and other oddballs it is right at home with. Thank you Scott. And I expected a PWE, but let it be said that Scott packaged it better than most high-end cards I've received.
Case in point that I'm the Island of Misfit Oddballs, these were my first 2 pickups of the year:
99/00 Stadium Club Capture the Action OVERSIZED NHL PROOF #CA30 (2) by primetimepawich, on Flickr
This, from one of my oddball go-tos on Ebay, and
90/91 Bowman #177 Wrong Back by primetimepawich, on Flickr
This, a Bowman card from COMC with an entirely wrong back.
91/92 Penguins Foodland Coupon Stickers Bryan Trottier/Joe Mullen/Larry Murphy 11.20 by primetimepawich, on Flickr
Speaking of COMC, it's hard for me to find cards in my budget there too, but after a recent sale, this finally ended up in my wheelhouse and I pulled the trigger the other night.
16/17 Metal Lords of Hockey Pre-Production Proof Super Prismatic Gold #LHLM1 Larry Murphy 1/1 by primetimepawich, on Flickr
I normally don't care about slabbed proofs - they're big, bulky and don't have unique features. Made an exception for this because I actually have the Super Prismatic Gold Signature 1/1, the nicest one of the bunch, and thought having the source proof would make for a nice companion piece.
16/17 Metal Lords of Hockey Super Prismatic Gold #LHLM1 Larry Murphy 1/1 by primetimepawich, on Flickr
That proof was part of a small 3-card shipment I requested early from Kevin specifically because it also included this card:
Which I already had a copy of, but more on that later.
21/22 Art Of Hockey Visual Art Purple #VALM1 Larry Murphy 4/5 9.53 by primetimepawich, on Flickr
21/22 Art Of Hockey Visual Art Bronze #VALM1 Larry Murphy 2/35 7.50 by primetimepawich, on Flickr
A few from the recently released Leaf Art of Hockey that Kevin helped me break the seal with.
96/97 Pinnacle #189 Larry Murphy Autograph by primetimepawich, on Flickr
Something I don't find too often these days - a signed base card I don't already have. More help from Kevin.
81/82 O-Pee-Chee #148 Larry Murphy RC Inscribed Autograph 2 by primetimepawich, on Flickr
81/82 Topps #W100 Larry Murphy RC Inscribed Autograph by primetimepawich, on Flickr
You might remember these that I added separately last year from Mark Orphan's private signing with Larry. I was content with the 2 and didn't plan on adding more of his signed RCs, but the fact that the OPC didn't have his jersey number and the full HOF inscription did nibble away at my OCD a bit.
81/82 O-Pee-Chee #148 Larry Murphy RC Inscribed Autograph by primetimepawich, on Flickr
So when Mark listed this on his site, I couldn't help myself. Centering is poor, but the condition and autograph are pretty clean. Jersey number, full inscription and nice symmetry with the previously-acquired Topps RC...finally, all was right with the world
81/82 O-Pee-Chee Stickers #239 Larry Murphy Autograph by primetimepawich, on Flickr
This rookie year sticker came from the same signing. A member of a Facebook hockey autograph group got a few of them signed. A few months ago, hobby friends of mine had directed me to a post by that member selling a signed Leaf Limited base card of Murphy. I already had that, but asked the member if they had anything else. They came pitching this sticker, at a more reasonable price than they'd wanted last year, so the deal was made quickly and easily. Clean sticker, clean signature, clean inscription, and the sticker isn't too common to find on its own, so they were more than fair and it was a no-brainer.
***
Now, the moment you're all waiting for, I'm sure
12/13 Custom Cut Signature Larry Murphy 1/1 front by primetimepawich, on Flickr
12/13 Custom Cut Signature Larry Murphy 1/1 back by primetimepawich, on Flickr
I've shown this off before - the custom I commissioned and worked on with 'DnJCards' Jon 10 years ago. Still proud of it, still happy with how it turned out. But in the back of my mind, I always wondered...could I do better?
At the time, clearly not. This may surprise you, but images of Larry Murphy from his junior days are not plentiful online. They were basically limited to what were used on that custom. As recently as last year, I'd had another black and white action photo of him that I'd found after and saved, but it died with my last laptop and I haven't been able to find it since.
I wanted new content to add some variety, so I was always low-key keeping an eye out from time to time. I was happy with how the 97/98 BAP signature had worked for the cut and figured a silver foil version of said signature would be a nice way to upgrade the concept. My custom celebrates Murphy's time with Peterborough and makes mention of the Memorial Cup win, but has no content specific to the win itself. Fortunately, in the last few years, a Google image deep dive turned up a few things I thought I could use - poor, low-res images, mind you, but still something. In the right hands, maybe they could be thrown together into something where the sum was greater than the individual parts.
What would said new custom look like? I didn't know. Still, I decided to target a 97/98 BAP silver foil signature to have in my back pocket in case I ever figured it out, and Kevin helped me with the one I showed earlier.
***
You may remember the Bill Ranford custom I collaborated with our own Glenn of Barracuda Customs on earlier this year for HI's 'Ranfordfan' Sean McCafferty. It was great fun working with Glenn on it, seeing my concepts take shape before my eyes thanks to his quick design work and skill. Such was the experience that I knew I wouldn't hesitate contacting Glenn for help on my new custom concept...if I ever figured out what the concept would be.
When working on the Ranford, I'd arranged for Glenn to purchase a base auto off Ebay to be used in it. And while the seller was likewise in Canada, through a mixup, Glenn accidentally had it sent to his US receiver and had to get it rerouted. Now, this was no time-sensitive project at all - it was to be done at his leisure and convenience, and I made that clear. But Glenn being Glenn, he felt bad for the "delay". And despite the fact he was already doing me a favor, he said he'd be sending me something he'd made to make up for it and hoped I could use it. What did he send me? That would be this:
1/1 Custom Booklet Outside by primetimepawich, on Flickr
1/1 Custom Booklet Inside by primetimepawich, on Flickr
I couldn't imagine the time and care that went into this, with the hand-cutting. I loved the treasure chest concept, and the lock on the front isn't just part of the design - it's an actual, tangible, embossed thing. I still don't know how he did it. A completely unnecessary gesture that was very much appreciated. And it inadvertently helped solved the riddle of my own proposed custom. I'd been thinking in terms of another standard card. Prior to Glenn's gift, I only had one booklet card and always considered them big, bulky and hard to display. But after his gift, I knew the concept had to be a booklet.
It became clear how I could lay out the crappy elements I'd been dealt and use them within their limitations - structure it as an old photo album, with concepts I'd seen before like wire press photos, etc. If this was a 40+ year old album with 40+ year old newspaper clippings that had been thumbed through for 40+ years, of course they would look like crap, right?
So I hit up Glenn with the request to work with him again, and though he was more than willing, it sounded like his schedule wouldn't allow it until after the summer. Which was fine - pickups were slow for me and I was basically just looking for a spark to pass the time and get me excited - again, it was hardly time-sensitive. But when a window opened up for Glenn before that, I jumped on it.
I sent him the pieces I had to work with, the text I wanted to use, the way I wanted each panel laid out. Some panels were built around one photo and pretty straightforward, but the others were more fluid and open to ideas. As with the Ranford, Glenn was quick to work (especially if we ever connected online at the same time, which was rare) and brought his own touches to the table, including the graphic that would become the cover background. He also came up with an embossed border design that I liked but ultimately had to cut because of space limitations. Glenn cheerfully accommodated my tedious changes, gave me options to choose from, showed me how my ideas worked or how they didn't. I was stumped on the inside right panel and would let it sit and marinate at times until ultimately finding that the answers were in a combination of our ideas. Glenn had provided some colored background ideas that helped crack the code when I suggested the low-res newspaper ads I'd sent be substituted with the same color scheme.
The end result? I feel it was the best that could be done with what we had to work with:
Memorial Cup Memories Championship Cuts Larry Murphy Autograph 1/1 outside by primetimepawich, on Flickr
Memorial Cup Memories Championship Cuts Larry Murphy Autograph 1/1 inside by primetimepawich, on Flickr
I finally have the definitive Larry Murphy Peterborough Petes card. Not gonna lie - I was like a kid at Christmas when I was at work and saw the tracking say it had been delivered to my home yesterday. Glenn, thanks for tolerating my micromanaging and helping make my vision a reality. I think you hit it out of the park again.
Joe
Starting last year, Murphy began to feature more prominently in a few Leaf releases, so I was certain 2023 would lead to more minor successes worthy of a S+T thread here within a few months. That was not the case. Even now, at almost the midway mark of the year, it's debatable. But I think I've cobbled enough together to make a case, and I took it upon myself to create my own hobby excitement, as you'll see if you stick around for the show.
A special thanks to our own Kevin Mitchell. Ebay's becoming a hard place to justify on both sides of the border, and without his continued help with US shipping, much of this wouldn't be possible.
So with that said, here we go...
***
I wanted to give a shoutout to our own 'Snobles' Scott. Scott PMed me here to say he'd come across a miscut Pro Set Murphy (I know, right? Imagine that
) and offered to send it free of charge if I had any use for it. Given my success rate of the first few months of 2023, I gladly accepted the offer. I appreciated the gesture, and while I don't quite classify a miscut as a unique PC addition, I do have lots of "proofs" and other oddballs it is right at home with. Thank you Scott. And I expected a PWE, but let it be said that Scott packaged it better than most high-end cards I've received.Case in point that I'm the Island of Misfit Oddballs, these were my first 2 pickups of the year:
99/00 Stadium Club Capture the Action OVERSIZED NHL PROOF #CA30 (2) by primetimepawich, on FlickrThis, from one of my oddball go-tos on Ebay, and
90/91 Bowman #177 Wrong Back by primetimepawich, on FlickrThis, a Bowman card from COMC with an entirely wrong back.
91/92 Penguins Foodland Coupon Stickers Bryan Trottier/Joe Mullen/Larry Murphy 11.20 by primetimepawich, on FlickrSpeaking of COMC, it's hard for me to find cards in my budget there too, but after a recent sale, this finally ended up in my wheelhouse and I pulled the trigger the other night.
16/17 Metal Lords of Hockey Pre-Production Proof Super Prismatic Gold #LHLM1 Larry Murphy 1/1 by primetimepawich, on FlickrI normally don't care about slabbed proofs - they're big, bulky and don't have unique features. Made an exception for this because I actually have the Super Prismatic Gold Signature 1/1, the nicest one of the bunch, and thought having the source proof would make for a nice companion piece.
16/17 Metal Lords of Hockey Super Prismatic Gold #LHLM1 Larry Murphy 1/1 by primetimepawich, on FlickrThat proof was part of a small 3-card shipment I requested early from Kevin specifically because it also included this card:
Which I already had a copy of, but more on that later.
21/22 Art Of Hockey Visual Art Purple #VALM1 Larry Murphy 4/5 9.53 by primetimepawich, on Flickr21/22 Art Of Hockey Visual Art Bronze #VALM1 Larry Murphy 2/35 7.50 by primetimepawich, on FlickrA few from the recently released Leaf Art of Hockey that Kevin helped me break the seal with.
96/97 Pinnacle #189 Larry Murphy Autograph by primetimepawich, on FlickrSomething I don't find too often these days - a signed base card I don't already have. More help from Kevin.
81/82 O-Pee-Chee #148 Larry Murphy RC Inscribed Autograph 2 by primetimepawich, on Flickr81/82 Topps #W100 Larry Murphy RC Inscribed Autograph by primetimepawich, on FlickrYou might remember these that I added separately last year from Mark Orphan's private signing with Larry. I was content with the 2 and didn't plan on adding more of his signed RCs, but the fact that the OPC didn't have his jersey number and the full HOF inscription did nibble away at my OCD a bit.
81/82 O-Pee-Chee #148 Larry Murphy RC Inscribed Autograph by primetimepawich, on FlickrSo when Mark listed this on his site, I couldn't help myself. Centering is poor, but the condition and autograph are pretty clean. Jersey number, full inscription and nice symmetry with the previously-acquired Topps RC...finally, all was right with the world
81/82 O-Pee-Chee Stickers #239 Larry Murphy Autograph by primetimepawich, on FlickrThis rookie year sticker came from the same signing. A member of a Facebook hockey autograph group got a few of them signed. A few months ago, hobby friends of mine had directed me to a post by that member selling a signed Leaf Limited base card of Murphy. I already had that, but asked the member if they had anything else. They came pitching this sticker, at a more reasonable price than they'd wanted last year, so the deal was made quickly and easily. Clean sticker, clean signature, clean inscription, and the sticker isn't too common to find on its own, so they were more than fair and it was a no-brainer.
***
Now, the moment you're all waiting for, I'm sure
12/13 Custom Cut Signature Larry Murphy 1/1 front by primetimepawich, on Flickr12/13 Custom Cut Signature Larry Murphy 1/1 back by primetimepawich, on FlickrI've shown this off before - the custom I commissioned and worked on with 'DnJCards' Jon 10 years ago. Still proud of it, still happy with how it turned out. But in the back of my mind, I always wondered...could I do better?
At the time, clearly not. This may surprise you, but images of Larry Murphy from his junior days are not plentiful online. They were basically limited to what were used on that custom. As recently as last year, I'd had another black and white action photo of him that I'd found after and saved, but it died with my last laptop and I haven't been able to find it since.
I wanted new content to add some variety, so I was always low-key keeping an eye out from time to time. I was happy with how the 97/98 BAP signature had worked for the cut and figured a silver foil version of said signature would be a nice way to upgrade the concept. My custom celebrates Murphy's time with Peterborough and makes mention of the Memorial Cup win, but has no content specific to the win itself. Fortunately, in the last few years, a Google image deep dive turned up a few things I thought I could use - poor, low-res images, mind you, but still something. In the right hands, maybe they could be thrown together into something where the sum was greater than the individual parts.
What would said new custom look like? I didn't know. Still, I decided to target a 97/98 BAP silver foil signature to have in my back pocket in case I ever figured it out, and Kevin helped me with the one I showed earlier.
***
You may remember the Bill Ranford custom I collaborated with our own Glenn of Barracuda Customs on earlier this year for HI's 'Ranfordfan' Sean McCafferty. It was great fun working with Glenn on it, seeing my concepts take shape before my eyes thanks to his quick design work and skill. Such was the experience that I knew I wouldn't hesitate contacting Glenn for help on my new custom concept...if I ever figured out what the concept would be.
When working on the Ranford, I'd arranged for Glenn to purchase a base auto off Ebay to be used in it. And while the seller was likewise in Canada, through a mixup, Glenn accidentally had it sent to his US receiver and had to get it rerouted. Now, this was no time-sensitive project at all - it was to be done at his leisure and convenience, and I made that clear. But Glenn being Glenn, he felt bad for the "delay". And despite the fact he was already doing me a favor, he said he'd be sending me something he'd made to make up for it and hoped I could use it. What did he send me? That would be this:
1/1 Custom Booklet Outside by primetimepawich, on Flickr1/1 Custom Booklet Inside by primetimepawich, on FlickrI couldn't imagine the time and care that went into this, with the hand-cutting. I loved the treasure chest concept, and the lock on the front isn't just part of the design - it's an actual, tangible, embossed thing. I still don't know how he did it. A completely unnecessary gesture that was very much appreciated. And it inadvertently helped solved the riddle of my own proposed custom. I'd been thinking in terms of another standard card. Prior to Glenn's gift, I only had one booklet card and always considered them big, bulky and hard to display. But after his gift, I knew the concept had to be a booklet.
It became clear how I could lay out the crappy elements I'd been dealt and use them within their limitations - structure it as an old photo album, with concepts I'd seen before like wire press photos, etc. If this was a 40+ year old album with 40+ year old newspaper clippings that had been thumbed through for 40+ years, of course they would look like crap, right?
So I hit up Glenn with the request to work with him again, and though he was more than willing, it sounded like his schedule wouldn't allow it until after the summer. Which was fine - pickups were slow for me and I was basically just looking for a spark to pass the time and get me excited - again, it was hardly time-sensitive. But when a window opened up for Glenn before that, I jumped on it.
I sent him the pieces I had to work with, the text I wanted to use, the way I wanted each panel laid out. Some panels were built around one photo and pretty straightforward, but the others were more fluid and open to ideas. As with the Ranford, Glenn was quick to work (especially if we ever connected online at the same time, which was rare) and brought his own touches to the table, including the graphic that would become the cover background. He also came up with an embossed border design that I liked but ultimately had to cut because of space limitations. Glenn cheerfully accommodated my tedious changes, gave me options to choose from, showed me how my ideas worked or how they didn't. I was stumped on the inside right panel and would let it sit and marinate at times until ultimately finding that the answers were in a combination of our ideas. Glenn had provided some colored background ideas that helped crack the code when I suggested the low-res newspaper ads I'd sent be substituted with the same color scheme.
The end result? I feel it was the best that could be done with what we had to work with:
Memorial Cup Memories Championship Cuts Larry Murphy Autograph 1/1 outside by primetimepawich, on FlickrMemorial Cup Memories Championship Cuts Larry Murphy Autograph 1/1 inside by primetimepawich, on FlickrI finally have the definitive Larry Murphy Peterborough Petes card. Not gonna lie - I was like a kid at Christmas when I was at work and saw the tracking say it had been delivered to my home yesterday. Glenn, thanks for tolerating my micromanaging and helping make my vision a reality. I think you hit it out of the park again.
Joe
