does a license really matter to you?

BenDMitchell

BenDMitchell

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I have been buying a lot of President's Choice and Leaf lately and obviously what they have in common is neither have an official license. For example, in Presidents Choice Solitaire the patches are incredible. And they are ALL 1/1 and ALL game used. All sports--i mean I have seen a Kobe logoman from Solitaire and there is nowhere near the excitement as if somebody pulled it from Panini. In my mind, they are way better than what Upper Deck (of any other licensed company) can offer. Obviously just my opinion but the fact that UD sells on the secondary market for SO much more than Presidents Choice, does that just prove that a license is a big deal for collectors?
 
Personally the license is a big deal to me. I can't explain why but it just feels like the limitations that come with no logos and/or player photos are too much to ignore.

If I were a player collector and the memorabilia was only obtainable via these avenues, it would most likely change my mind. But I'm not, and the aesthetics of most of these cards just aren't pleasing to me. Yes, I'd love to own a memo card of player X, but if I don't like the look of the card, I probably won't want to own it.
 
I'm pretty open to them but it just depends on the card. If the photo selection is good, you don't even notice the difference between licensed or unlicensed. But if they choose a full-body photo or something that shows the full jersey then I'd pass on it, my brain just can't overlook the photoshop. I think they're doing a better job of it now to minimize the unlicensed look of cards as much as possible.

There's plenty of really nice patch and auto cards from Leaf that I've come across and there's some really neat mem cards from President's Choice. Haven't really collected much of either but probably will in the future.
 
The image/photograph used is a big draw for me, so seeing the logos on jerseys and helmets missing/erased bothers me. That plain blank space makes me think of amateur sports instead of the pinnacle league in all of hockey. But that's not a dig at the quality of the cards themselves or the creative ways in which non-licensed companies have come up with to work within their limitations. I'm particularly impressed with the vintage stuff produced.
 
There was a time when it didn’t matter to me and I actually preferred a lot of unlicensed cards, mainly during the ITG heyday prior to the Leaf takeover. They’re not really for me anymore though. I guess my tastes have changed over the years.
 
Instead of typing a novel I will say non licensed companies face an impossible task trying to compete with Upper Deck. Although the big player, who shall not be named, could make simple tweaks in their design to bring their products closer to something resembling a licensed product but that is yet to happen.
 
I have never bought a card or a box from a unlicense product, I just don't like their designs and the fact that the logo's are airbrushed makes the cards look very dull, but I have no problem with them, or collectors that collect them, in the end this is a hobby and you collect what you like!
 
It doesn't really matter to me. 2017-18 In The Game Used was one of my favorite products ever, but that may have partly to do with pulling one of the best 1/1 cards in the product n my 2nd or 3rd pack/box. But I decided to make a good part of it part of my PC, because I love the designs, I love the player selection, and all the material is game used.

That being said, non-licensed cards don't have much of a place in my Caps RC PC, but it really doesn't matter as rookies aren't the focus of the products that don't have licenses, so it's not much of an issue.
 
I collect both but a license certainly 'matters.'
There's no denying what a license brings to the table. True RCs in the eyes of the hobby have long been the big draw to breaking product. When you can't play in that sandbox, you immediately loose a lot of interest and value. Personally, a big draw for me to NHL licensed cards are the 'moments' that they can capture. From actual Game Dated Moments cards to Day with the Cup, the memories associated with these cards adds value.

I was a big ITG fan. A product like ITG Motown Madness or Decades was such a cool way to deal with not having a license. I feel like what Leaf produces is just lazy, capitalizing on their incredible stock of vintage jerseys with unorganized and mismatched checklists, littered with parallels. Feels like a lot of the same old and I absolutely detest some of the designs. The mismatch of floating heads, pictures of jerseys and pictures of player's numbers on a multi player jersey card are not eye appealing and have a negative effect on value and collectibility for a good reason.
 
I have a part of my collection of unlicenced stuff, but it's mostly Habs and Nordiques vintage and Gino Odjick.I broke a bunch of unlicenced ITG products, but I'm less a fan of what comes out of Leaf. I'm not a fan of their multiple levels of low-numbered parallels and their designs are not up to what ITG made. But, yes, the quality of their auto and memorabilia checklists is impressive.
 
I think it's a huge deal. Even a licensed product like the Lafreniere YG (and just about all his cards) that don't have his jersey number or helmet decals was a huuuuge turn off for me on that card. If I was a fan, I don't think I would PC him for that fact alone since they used a plain jersey, non-gameplay shots and missing decals on his helmet & pants.
 
I prefer the logos on the licensed cards. I do like what Leaf does with certain issues. I think the cards where they can’t show a player and just put their name or the back of the jersey can be skipped over entirely. They are not appealing to me at all. Especially on the multi player cards.
 
To me personally, it does matter to a certain degree. For instance, a true rookie card to me must include team name and logos.

For memorabilia cards, it's more of an even field. I guess I may be in the minority where I can still appreciate a nice game used memorabilia card. ITG and Panini had great swatch pieces where it wasn't a patch but a nice piece of the jersey with a fat seam and/or stitching. Panini had some great ideas when they had the NHL license using player used all star game helmet decals, all star name plates, etc. Dr. Price/President's Choice and Leaf still pump out some of the nicest memorabilia pieces I've seen, and their inventory of vintage game used is second to none. (I love the Vezina set that released a little while back by President's Choice).

For autograph cards, I still prefer team names and logos but the attribute that stands above all for me is that the cards are hard signed. Now I know this is only going to get tougher as we move forward in time with lots of the HOF'ers and greats of the game sadly passing away and card companies only having sticker autos.
 
I'm currently internally debating this point. I'm not a fan of the airbrushed shots or cards with jerseys in place of player faces. Those don't look good to me. Some ITG cards I like have close cropped head shots that don't really reveal the airbrushed shoulders or chests. I'm split on the issue.
 
Following up on my first post, I thought it'd be useful to share what I thought were good examples of non-licensed cards that I would buy (images taken from ebay).

I really like autographs and most trio/quad+ autos from UD are already stickers so that's something I can make my peace with. The headshots are also cropped so that I don't really notice the lack of logos. I included two images, one of a Leaf card and another of a UD card to illustrate what I mean. I'm absolutely one of those people who gets bothered when I see an image and know something has been edited out but this card does a good job of not doing that by just having a headshot instead.

I also really enjoy the Trouvaille cards as they're just massive patch cards, kind of similar to the Premier Mega Patches. Again, haven't bought either Leaf card but in the future if I see something right then I'll definitely consider it.

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Arkhive said:
Following up on my first post, I thought it'd be useful to share what I thought were good examples of non-licensed cards that I would buy (images taken from ebay).

I really like autographs and most trio/quad+ autos from UD are already stickers so that's something I can make my peace with. The headshots are also cropped so that I don't really notice the lack of logos. I included two images, one of a Leaf card and another of a UD card to illustrate what I mean. I'm absolutely one of those people who gets bothered when I see an image and know something has been edited out but this card does a good job of not doing that by just having a headshot instead.

I also really enjoy the Trouvaille cards as they're just massive patch cards, kind of similar to the Premier Mega Patches. Again, haven't bought either Leaf card but in the future if I see something right then I'll definitely consider it.

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Click to expand...

This could absolutely just be me (and please don't crucify me if so) but I just feel like the UD design seems classier, while the Leaf one seems a bit more rudimentary. Perhaps it's the font? It could even be some bias I have that can't really be quantified. I just feel that if you had the same autos on the same cards, I'd pick UD 10 times out of 10 based on those designs.
 
For hockey, I won't touch Leaf. The current designs do nothing for me. All their brands and designs tend to bleed into each other IMO.


For soccer, I will absolutely continue buying Leaf cards. Some of the best autograph checklists in the hobby and the cards are affordable.
 

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