The Great Zo
Verified Trader,
The 2013-14 hockey card year has finally ended, but there won't be anything from The Cup in this mail post. This batch of cards is quite a mix -- minor league issues, NHL rookies, and an interesting slate of player collection items.
Mail Post #15 for 2014
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14-15 Upper Deck MVP Gold Script Seth Jones (039/100)
Let me begin by correcting a mistake I made in the last mail post. I opened a blaster of 14-15 MVP, and somehow didn't catch this Gold Script parallel hiding in the base cards. I looked through the cards when I opened the packs, and I didn't catch it then. I sorted the cards when preparing them for taking pictures, and missed it again. It was only when putting the cards away that I caught the shine of the gold foil in the light.
So, apparently I have a nice #/100 parallel to add to my tradelist!
-------------------------------------------------------
1988-89 ProCards AHL Lyle Phair (x2)
1991-92 7th Inning Sketch QMJHL 236 Michael Gaul
2002-03 Kootenay Ice Adam Cracknell
2011-12 Wilkes-Barre Scranton Penguins 5 Brian Gibbons
2012-13 Saint John Sea Dogs 23 Olivier Leblanc
2012-13 Sarnia Sting 21 Anthony DeAngelo
2013-14 Worcester Sharks 24 Yanni Gourde
2013-14 Brandon Wheat Kings Peter Quenneville
Next up is a big purchase from Armchair Sports, covering many minor/junior league cards of players with Blue Jackets or Lightning connections.
The card of Michael Gaul -- the only player in Columbus Blue Jackets history to never receive an NHL rookie card -- was an accidental purchase. I already own the card, but I forgot to remove it from my wantlist.
Lyle Phair is a former co-worker of my brother. This is his only card.
-------------------------------------------------------
2013-14 Guelph Storm Kerby Rychel
2013-14 Niagara IceDogs 4 Blake Siebenaler
2011-12 ITG Heroes and Prospects 208 Cory Conacher
2011-12 ITG Heroes and Prospects 211 Carter Camper
2011-12 ITG Heroes and Prospects 226 Kerby Rychel
2011-12 ITG Heroes and Prospects 246 Adam Erne
Does the Kerby Rychel card look familiar? 12 years later, the design from 01-02 Upper Deck MVP lives on!
I don't normally buy H&P singles in purchases like this, but these four cards are from the 11-12 update set -- not as easy to find as the base set.
-------------------------------------------------------
2013-14 Upper Deck AHL 76 Jonathan Marchessault
2013-14 Upper Deck AHL 82 Kristers Gudlevskis
2013-14 Upper Deck AHL 83 Cedric Paquette
2013-14 Upper Deck AHL 95 Brian Gibbons
Upper Deck's first AHL release is pretty nice! Two of these players (Marchessault and Gibbons) earned RCs in 13-14, while Gudlevskis and Paquette are now appearing on RCs in 14-15.
I've seen this product listed as 14-15 in some places, but I definitely think it fits better as a retrospective of the 13-14 AHL season.
-------------------------------------------------------
2013-14 AHL Top Prospects 36 Michael Chaput
2013-14 AHL Top Prospects 37 Will Weber
2013-14 AHL Top Prospects 40 Nikita Kucherov
2013-14 AHL Top Prospects 41 Dmitry Korobov
2013-14 AHL Top Prospects 47 Brian Gibbons
The annual AHL Top Prospects card set is always worth a look. I think the AHL has seen the last of Nikita Kucherov!
That's it for the purchase from Armchair Sports. Next up is an assortment of NHL rookies.
-------------------------------------------------------
09-10 Ultimate Collection Matthew Corrente RC (242/299)
Matt Corrente is an AHL player for the Lightning this season. This is one of his better RCs. I probably won't pick up too many of his cards, since his position on the depth chart makes it unlikely that he'll actually play for Tampa Bay.
-------------------------------------------------------
13-14 Panini Contenders Fours Autographs
-- Tyler Johnson / Alex Killorn / Ondrej Palat / Richard Panik
Four Lightning rookies on one card? I had to purchase this one, even if it's not an actual RC. It was tough to find a copy with all of the signatures contained on the stickers, but this one came out perfect. The design of the card is peculiar, in that there pretty much isn't any design at all. It's four stickers, four player heads, four names, and a product logo. It's not exciting, but it definitely has a spot in my collection.
-------------------------------------------------------
13-14 Dominion Ondrej Palat RC (127/299)
This awesome hard-signed autograph of Calder finalist Ondrej Palat is a semi-milestone -- it finishes off the auto-only portion of my 13-14 Dominion wantlist. I still need the patch/auto cards of Boone Jenner (/99) and Ryan Murray (/199). Murray was released as an update card in another product.
-------------------------------------------------------
13-14 National Treasures Rookie Jumbo Jersey Booklet Autograph Ryan Murray (/99) (Redemption)
The lone National Treasures card in this mail post is a redemption, and it's an odd card for me to pick up. I generally wouldn't have any interest in a booklet autograph that isn't a true RC. So, why did I make the purchase?
If you haven't read the thread about the Alex Killorn National Treasures RC, please give it a look. In short, without getting into the morality discussions, the Killorn RC was not packed out. However, redemptions for a completely different card (a dual autograph with Dave Andreychuk) were being fulfilled with the Killorn RC. To date, I've seen only one copy of an actual redemption card for the Killorn base set rookie.
I have yet to see a single copy (redemption or live) for the Ryan Murray RC, which is indeed listed on the National Treasures checklist. Murray was late in returning autographs for several products (Upper Deck sets included), but would they really scrub a #2 overall pick from National Treasures entirely? I thought buying this Murray redemption card was worth the chance. Who knows what I'll get in the mail for real. By the time you read this, I'll have the code scratched and redeemed. Look for an update in a future mail post!
-------------------------------------------------------
2013 Topps Magic Football base cards
Not that I have any interest in football, but here are a few base cards I received with the next item in the post. Included in the batch are RCs of Sam Montgomery, Kenbrell Thompkins, and Matt Barkley.
-------------------------------------------------------
13-14 Panini Prime Alex Killorn RC (173/199)
Here's the first of a run of RCs from Panini Prime. This Alex Killorn rookie card -- which was released correctly -- features two blue and two white jersey swatches.
-------------------------------------------------------
13-14 Panini Prime Richard Panik RC (155/199)
Next up is Richard Panik, now a former member of the Lightning. His ceiling is undoubtedly high, but he's never been able to put it together at the NHL level. He was picked up on waivers by the Toronto Maple Leafs, so his uniform colors haven't changed at all. The jersey swatches on this card are three blue and one white. I did find a copy with two of each, but this one works good enough for me.
-------------------------------------------------------
13-14 Panini Prime Ryan Murray RC (145/199)
Ryan Murray's RCs were available in time for the Panini Prime release. This card has three dark blue swatches, and one white swatch.
-------------------------------------------------------
13-14 Panini Prime Boone Jenner RC (054/199)
Almost all of Boone Jenner's Panini Prime RCs featured two white swatches and two blue swatches, but most were arranged in a side-to-side manner. This is one of the only copies I've seen with the swatches arranged across the corners from each other. I think it looks much nicer.
-------------------------------------------------------
13-14 Panini Prime Cory Conacher RC (153/199)
My final Panini Prime RC features Cory Conacher, who is now a member of the New York Islanders. The swatches on this card are black and red. I have also seen versions of the card with white and red swatches.
At 5-for-5, my rookie wantlist from Panini Prime has been completely extinguished!
-------------------------------------------------------
12-13 SeReal KHL Martin Cibak
Let me jump across the pond for some player collection entries from the KHL! I'll start with a Martin Cibak base card that I received as an extra with one of the other items.
-------------------------------------------------------
13-14 SeReal KHL Gold Collection Transfers TRA-020 Kristian Kudroc (224/299)
13-14 SeReal KHL Gold Collection Transfers TRA-048 Martin Cibak (116/299)
The KHL Gold Collection product is SeReal's premium release. Here are two limited insert cards, featuring two former Detroit Vipers -- Kristian Kudroc and Martin Cibak. Both players are natives of Slovakia (Czechoslovakia), and played for several years in North America before heading to the KHL.
The theme for this insert set -- Transfers -- appears to highlight players who moved between KHL teams during the 2013-14 season. Kudroc played for Novosibirsk Sibir at the start of the season, but finished with Astana Barys. Cibak started the year with Nizhnekamsk Neftekhimik, but ended the season with Vityaz Chekhov.
For 2014-15, Cibak is playing for Olomouc HC in the Czech Extraliga. Kudroc was supposed to play for Avangard Omsk of the KHL this season, but he lost consciousness after a hit to the head in a pre-season game in August. I haven't yet seen if he will be able to continue his career.
-------------------------------------------------------
13-14 SeReal KHL Gold Collection Captains CAP-031 Martin Cibak (40/199)
Martin Cibak served as the captain of Nizhnekamsk Neftekhimik during the 2013-14 season, before moving to Vityaz Chekhov.
This is a really nice die-cut card, and it's about three or four times as thick as a standard base card.
-------------------------------------------------------
13-14 SeReal KHL Gold Collection Autographs Martin Cibak (31/50)
My final KHL card -- and perhaps Martin Cibak's final KHL card -- is a very limited autograph from the Gold Collection set. Martin Cibak isn't very good at keeping his signature on the sticker -- I've seen very few copies of his autograph from last year that are fully contained, and none from this year.
These cards finish out the entirety of my obtainable 13-14 SeReal KHL wantlist, but both Cibak and Kudroc are also featured on press plate cards. The plates are from the standard 13-14 KHL set, but were released in the KHL Gold Collection product.
-------------------------------------------------------
00-01 BAP Memorabilia All-Star Game Memorabilia AST-09 Tampa Bay (1999)
Game Ticket memorabilia cards were attempted once, and only once, in the hockey hobby. About a year ago, I remembered about this obscure set from 00-01 BAP Memorabilia, and decided to add the 1999 card to my wantlist. Why? That card features a ticket swatch from the only All-Star Game held in Tampa -- the 49th in NHL history.
The back of the card contains an image of the ticket -- Section 216, Row D, Seat 2, for a price of $175.00. The full text from the card back discusses the game, which was a great one for the Great One.
On January 24, 1999, the NHL All-Star Game was held at the Ice Palace in Tampa Bay, Florida. The North American All-Stars defeated the World All-Stars 8-6, as Wayne Gretzky scored once and set up two other goals. The Great One was named the Most Valuable Player, his third such honor, in this, his final All-Star Game. Gretzky completed his All-Star career with a record 25 points.
One minor error aside -- Tampa Bay is not a city -- this is a pretty neat commemoration of a part of hockey history in Tampa.
The ticket swatches from this set are usually very interesting, and I think I hit the jackpot -- this one contains the full NHL logo!
This card came in from Josh Harris in a very easy purchase. Thanks for the deal!
-------------------------------------------------------
02-03 BAP First Edition Team Scoring Leaders TSL-03 Sergei Samsonov (/50)
A quartet of Sergei Samsonov cards will help me close out the mail post. This jersey card is the last Samsonov item on my wantlist from 02-03 BAP First Edition. Although the print run isn't especially low, this was not as easy to find as similar Samsonov cards from other 02-03 ITG products. This card celebrates Samsonov's team lead in scoring (70 points) with the 01-02 Boston Bruins.
-------------------------------------------------------
09-10 Upper Deck Biography of a Season BOS1 Sidney Crosby
09-10 Upper Deck Biography of a Season BOS29 Steven Stamkos
09-10 Upper Deck Biography of a Season BOS30 Martin Brodeur
These Bio of a Season cards were included as extras with the next item in the post.
-------------------------------------------------------
13-14 ITG Superlative The First Six Draft Highlights DH-12
-- Reggie Leach / Sergei Samsonov / Joe Thornton (/14)
This triple memorabilia item is a unique one for my collection -- it's the only time Reggie Leach and Sergei Samsonov have appeared on a card together! Although Leach is most famous for his many years with the Philadelphia Flyers, he was originally drafted by the Boston Bruins (#3 overall in 1970). At #8 overall, Samsonov is actually the lowest draft pick on the card -- Thornton went to the Bruins at #1.
The Leach stick peace is nice, with part of a black letter printed on wood. The Samsonov jersey swatch is all black. The Thornton jersey swatch has two layers -- white seam and black jersey.
There is also a gold 1/1 parallel of this card, which was recently sold on ebay by north-of-7 (and not to me).
-------------------------------------------------------
13-14 ITG Stickwork Stick Rack Dual Silver SRD-05 Joe Thornton / Sergei Samsonov (/14)
This two-stick card from ITG Stickwork was delivered to me by Curt (GabbyGuy). Both swatches are quite nice. The Samsonov stick piece is gold with black writing, matching many of the ITG stick cards Samsonov earned in 02-03 and 03-04. The Thornton swatch has a silver background, with part of a black and white wordmark covering the majority of the piece.
This goes nicely with the Stick Rack Triple I already own. However, I have yet to purchase the Samsonov-only Stickwork card. Hopefully I can find one soon, because I've always been a fan of game-used stick cards.
Thank you for the sale, Curt!
The final Samsonov card in the mail post is from another 13-14 ITG set, and it's as rare as they come.
-------------------------------------------------------
13-14 ITG Decades 1990s Rookie Jersey and Auto Gold RJA-SS Sergei Samsonov (1/1)
An autographed jersey card with only one copy printed? Yes, this is a great way to finish off a mail post!
The jersey swatch is obviously the best part of the card. Getting four layers on a single swatch is difficult for a Bruins jersey! The top of the swatch has a thick white seam, with three flat colors below it -- black, yellow, and white. Samsonov's autograph is well-known for the wrong reasons, and this one does no favors by going slightly off the sticker at the bottom. Ultimately, that's a minor complaint for such a nice card.
This card is the toughest of three parallels. I already own a copy of the Black #/3 version. I don't own one of the Silver #/2 parallels, but one of the two surfaced here at HI -- I was unable to work out a deal for the card.
Samsonov hasn't been included in any ITG sets since the Spring Expo, so maybe his short revival in their products is over. If so, it's nice to have one of the nicest cards produced in that short time span! This is my 16th Sergei Samsonov 1/1 card.
-----------------
News and notes:
** I'm balking at the prices for the good RCs in National Treasures, and most of the RCs in The Cup. I don't expect those will be appearing in a mail post any time soon.
** 2013-14 The Cup may have more errors than any product since 90-91 Pro Set. That release is an absolute abomination to detail-oriented collectors like me.
** I'm equally frustrated with Panini, who left several unanswered questions with the National Treasures release, including numerous checklist errors and some major problems with the redemptions.
** I have a great theme planned for my next two mail posts -- something special regarding a pseudo-retired goalie.
That'll be it. Thanks everyone!
--Andy
http://www.thegreatzo.com/cards/
-------------------------------------------------------
Mail Post #15 for 2014
-------------------------------------------------------
14-15 Upper Deck MVP Gold Script Seth Jones (039/100)
Let me begin by correcting a mistake I made in the last mail post. I opened a blaster of 14-15 MVP, and somehow didn't catch this Gold Script parallel hiding in the base cards. I looked through the cards when I opened the packs, and I didn't catch it then. I sorted the cards when preparing them for taking pictures, and missed it again. It was only when putting the cards away that I caught the shine of the gold foil in the light.
So, apparently I have a nice #/100 parallel to add to my tradelist!
-------------------------------------------------------
1988-89 ProCards AHL Lyle Phair (x2)
1991-92 7th Inning Sketch QMJHL 236 Michael Gaul
2002-03 Kootenay Ice Adam Cracknell
2011-12 Wilkes-Barre Scranton Penguins 5 Brian Gibbons
2012-13 Saint John Sea Dogs 23 Olivier Leblanc
2012-13 Sarnia Sting 21 Anthony DeAngelo
2013-14 Worcester Sharks 24 Yanni Gourde
2013-14 Brandon Wheat Kings Peter Quenneville
Next up is a big purchase from Armchair Sports, covering many minor/junior league cards of players with Blue Jackets or Lightning connections.
The card of Michael Gaul -- the only player in Columbus Blue Jackets history to never receive an NHL rookie card -- was an accidental purchase. I already own the card, but I forgot to remove it from my wantlist.
Lyle Phair is a former co-worker of my brother. This is his only card.
-------------------------------------------------------
2013-14 Guelph Storm Kerby Rychel
2013-14 Niagara IceDogs 4 Blake Siebenaler
2011-12 ITG Heroes and Prospects 208 Cory Conacher
2011-12 ITG Heroes and Prospects 211 Carter Camper
2011-12 ITG Heroes and Prospects 226 Kerby Rychel
2011-12 ITG Heroes and Prospects 246 Adam Erne
Does the Kerby Rychel card look familiar? 12 years later, the design from 01-02 Upper Deck MVP lives on!
I don't normally buy H&P singles in purchases like this, but these four cards are from the 11-12 update set -- not as easy to find as the base set.
-------------------------------------------------------
2013-14 Upper Deck AHL 76 Jonathan Marchessault
2013-14 Upper Deck AHL 82 Kristers Gudlevskis
2013-14 Upper Deck AHL 83 Cedric Paquette
2013-14 Upper Deck AHL 95 Brian Gibbons
Upper Deck's first AHL release is pretty nice! Two of these players (Marchessault and Gibbons) earned RCs in 13-14, while Gudlevskis and Paquette are now appearing on RCs in 14-15.
I've seen this product listed as 14-15 in some places, but I definitely think it fits better as a retrospective of the 13-14 AHL season.
-------------------------------------------------------
2013-14 AHL Top Prospects 36 Michael Chaput
2013-14 AHL Top Prospects 37 Will Weber
2013-14 AHL Top Prospects 40 Nikita Kucherov
2013-14 AHL Top Prospects 41 Dmitry Korobov
2013-14 AHL Top Prospects 47 Brian Gibbons
The annual AHL Top Prospects card set is always worth a look. I think the AHL has seen the last of Nikita Kucherov!
That's it for the purchase from Armchair Sports. Next up is an assortment of NHL rookies.
-------------------------------------------------------
09-10 Ultimate Collection Matthew Corrente RC (242/299)
Matt Corrente is an AHL player for the Lightning this season. This is one of his better RCs. I probably won't pick up too many of his cards, since his position on the depth chart makes it unlikely that he'll actually play for Tampa Bay.
-------------------------------------------------------
13-14 Panini Contenders Fours Autographs
-- Tyler Johnson / Alex Killorn / Ondrej Palat / Richard Panik
Four Lightning rookies on one card? I had to purchase this one, even if it's not an actual RC. It was tough to find a copy with all of the signatures contained on the stickers, but this one came out perfect. The design of the card is peculiar, in that there pretty much isn't any design at all. It's four stickers, four player heads, four names, and a product logo. It's not exciting, but it definitely has a spot in my collection.
-------------------------------------------------------
13-14 Dominion Ondrej Palat RC (127/299)
This awesome hard-signed autograph of Calder finalist Ondrej Palat is a semi-milestone -- it finishes off the auto-only portion of my 13-14 Dominion wantlist. I still need the patch/auto cards of Boone Jenner (/99) and Ryan Murray (/199). Murray was released as an update card in another product.
-------------------------------------------------------
13-14 National Treasures Rookie Jumbo Jersey Booklet Autograph Ryan Murray (/99) (Redemption)
The lone National Treasures card in this mail post is a redemption, and it's an odd card for me to pick up. I generally wouldn't have any interest in a booklet autograph that isn't a true RC. So, why did I make the purchase?
If you haven't read the thread about the Alex Killorn National Treasures RC, please give it a look. In short, without getting into the morality discussions, the Killorn RC was not packed out. However, redemptions for a completely different card (a dual autograph with Dave Andreychuk) were being fulfilled with the Killorn RC. To date, I've seen only one copy of an actual redemption card for the Killorn base set rookie.
I have yet to see a single copy (redemption or live) for the Ryan Murray RC, which is indeed listed on the National Treasures checklist. Murray was late in returning autographs for several products (Upper Deck sets included), but would they really scrub a #2 overall pick from National Treasures entirely? I thought buying this Murray redemption card was worth the chance. Who knows what I'll get in the mail for real. By the time you read this, I'll have the code scratched and redeemed. Look for an update in a future mail post!
-------------------------------------------------------
2013 Topps Magic Football base cards
Not that I have any interest in football, but here are a few base cards I received with the next item in the post. Included in the batch are RCs of Sam Montgomery, Kenbrell Thompkins, and Matt Barkley.
-------------------------------------------------------
13-14 Panini Prime Alex Killorn RC (173/199)
Here's the first of a run of RCs from Panini Prime. This Alex Killorn rookie card -- which was released correctly -- features two blue and two white jersey swatches.
-------------------------------------------------------
13-14 Panini Prime Richard Panik RC (155/199)
Next up is Richard Panik, now a former member of the Lightning. His ceiling is undoubtedly high, but he's never been able to put it together at the NHL level. He was picked up on waivers by the Toronto Maple Leafs, so his uniform colors haven't changed at all. The jersey swatches on this card are three blue and one white. I did find a copy with two of each, but this one works good enough for me.
-------------------------------------------------------
13-14 Panini Prime Ryan Murray RC (145/199)
Ryan Murray's RCs were available in time for the Panini Prime release. This card has three dark blue swatches, and one white swatch.
-------------------------------------------------------
13-14 Panini Prime Boone Jenner RC (054/199)
Almost all of Boone Jenner's Panini Prime RCs featured two white swatches and two blue swatches, but most were arranged in a side-to-side manner. This is one of the only copies I've seen with the swatches arranged across the corners from each other. I think it looks much nicer.
-------------------------------------------------------
13-14 Panini Prime Cory Conacher RC (153/199)
My final Panini Prime RC features Cory Conacher, who is now a member of the New York Islanders. The swatches on this card are black and red. I have also seen versions of the card with white and red swatches.
At 5-for-5, my rookie wantlist from Panini Prime has been completely extinguished!
-------------------------------------------------------
12-13 SeReal KHL Martin Cibak
Let me jump across the pond for some player collection entries from the KHL! I'll start with a Martin Cibak base card that I received as an extra with one of the other items.
-------------------------------------------------------
13-14 SeReal KHL Gold Collection Transfers TRA-020 Kristian Kudroc (224/299)
13-14 SeReal KHL Gold Collection Transfers TRA-048 Martin Cibak (116/299)
The KHL Gold Collection product is SeReal's premium release. Here are two limited insert cards, featuring two former Detroit Vipers -- Kristian Kudroc and Martin Cibak. Both players are natives of Slovakia (Czechoslovakia), and played for several years in North America before heading to the KHL.
The theme for this insert set -- Transfers -- appears to highlight players who moved between KHL teams during the 2013-14 season. Kudroc played for Novosibirsk Sibir at the start of the season, but finished with Astana Barys. Cibak started the year with Nizhnekamsk Neftekhimik, but ended the season with Vityaz Chekhov.
For 2014-15, Cibak is playing for Olomouc HC in the Czech Extraliga. Kudroc was supposed to play for Avangard Omsk of the KHL this season, but he lost consciousness after a hit to the head in a pre-season game in August. I haven't yet seen if he will be able to continue his career.
-------------------------------------------------------
13-14 SeReal KHL Gold Collection Captains CAP-031 Martin Cibak (40/199)
Martin Cibak served as the captain of Nizhnekamsk Neftekhimik during the 2013-14 season, before moving to Vityaz Chekhov.
This is a really nice die-cut card, and it's about three or four times as thick as a standard base card.
-------------------------------------------------------
13-14 SeReal KHL Gold Collection Autographs Martin Cibak (31/50)
My final KHL card -- and perhaps Martin Cibak's final KHL card -- is a very limited autograph from the Gold Collection set. Martin Cibak isn't very good at keeping his signature on the sticker -- I've seen very few copies of his autograph from last year that are fully contained, and none from this year.
These cards finish out the entirety of my obtainable 13-14 SeReal KHL wantlist, but both Cibak and Kudroc are also featured on press plate cards. The plates are from the standard 13-14 KHL set, but were released in the KHL Gold Collection product.
-------------------------------------------------------
00-01 BAP Memorabilia All-Star Game Memorabilia AST-09 Tampa Bay (1999)
Game Ticket memorabilia cards were attempted once, and only once, in the hockey hobby. About a year ago, I remembered about this obscure set from 00-01 BAP Memorabilia, and decided to add the 1999 card to my wantlist. Why? That card features a ticket swatch from the only All-Star Game held in Tampa -- the 49th in NHL history.
The back of the card contains an image of the ticket -- Section 216, Row D, Seat 2, for a price of $175.00. The full text from the card back discusses the game, which was a great one for the Great One.
On January 24, 1999, the NHL All-Star Game was held at the Ice Palace in Tampa Bay, Florida. The North American All-Stars defeated the World All-Stars 8-6, as Wayne Gretzky scored once and set up two other goals. The Great One was named the Most Valuable Player, his third such honor, in this, his final All-Star Game. Gretzky completed his All-Star career with a record 25 points.
One minor error aside -- Tampa Bay is not a city -- this is a pretty neat commemoration of a part of hockey history in Tampa.
The ticket swatches from this set are usually very interesting, and I think I hit the jackpot -- this one contains the full NHL logo!
This card came in from Josh Harris in a very easy purchase. Thanks for the deal!
-------------------------------------------------------
02-03 BAP First Edition Team Scoring Leaders TSL-03 Sergei Samsonov (/50)
A quartet of Sergei Samsonov cards will help me close out the mail post. This jersey card is the last Samsonov item on my wantlist from 02-03 BAP First Edition. Although the print run isn't especially low, this was not as easy to find as similar Samsonov cards from other 02-03 ITG products. This card celebrates Samsonov's team lead in scoring (70 points) with the 01-02 Boston Bruins.
-------------------------------------------------------
09-10 Upper Deck Biography of a Season BOS1 Sidney Crosby
09-10 Upper Deck Biography of a Season BOS29 Steven Stamkos
09-10 Upper Deck Biography of a Season BOS30 Martin Brodeur
These Bio of a Season cards were included as extras with the next item in the post.
-------------------------------------------------------
13-14 ITG Superlative The First Six Draft Highlights DH-12
-- Reggie Leach / Sergei Samsonov / Joe Thornton (/14)
This triple memorabilia item is a unique one for my collection -- it's the only time Reggie Leach and Sergei Samsonov have appeared on a card together! Although Leach is most famous for his many years with the Philadelphia Flyers, he was originally drafted by the Boston Bruins (#3 overall in 1970). At #8 overall, Samsonov is actually the lowest draft pick on the card -- Thornton went to the Bruins at #1.
The Leach stick peace is nice, with part of a black letter printed on wood. The Samsonov jersey swatch is all black. The Thornton jersey swatch has two layers -- white seam and black jersey.
There is also a gold 1/1 parallel of this card, which was recently sold on ebay by north-of-7 (and not to me).
-------------------------------------------------------
13-14 ITG Stickwork Stick Rack Dual Silver SRD-05 Joe Thornton / Sergei Samsonov (/14)
This two-stick card from ITG Stickwork was delivered to me by Curt (GabbyGuy). Both swatches are quite nice. The Samsonov stick piece is gold with black writing, matching many of the ITG stick cards Samsonov earned in 02-03 and 03-04. The Thornton swatch has a silver background, with part of a black and white wordmark covering the majority of the piece.
This goes nicely with the Stick Rack Triple I already own. However, I have yet to purchase the Samsonov-only Stickwork card. Hopefully I can find one soon, because I've always been a fan of game-used stick cards.
Thank you for the sale, Curt!
The final Samsonov card in the mail post is from another 13-14 ITG set, and it's as rare as they come.
-------------------------------------------------------
13-14 ITG Decades 1990s Rookie Jersey and Auto Gold RJA-SS Sergei Samsonov (1/1)
An autographed jersey card with only one copy printed? Yes, this is a great way to finish off a mail post!
The jersey swatch is obviously the best part of the card. Getting four layers on a single swatch is difficult for a Bruins jersey! The top of the swatch has a thick white seam, with three flat colors below it -- black, yellow, and white. Samsonov's autograph is well-known for the wrong reasons, and this one does no favors by going slightly off the sticker at the bottom. Ultimately, that's a minor complaint for such a nice card.
This card is the toughest of three parallels. I already own a copy of the Black #/3 version. I don't own one of the Silver #/2 parallels, but one of the two surfaced here at HI -- I was unable to work out a deal for the card.
Samsonov hasn't been included in any ITG sets since the Spring Expo, so maybe his short revival in their products is over. If so, it's nice to have one of the nicest cards produced in that short time span! This is my 16th Sergei Samsonov 1/1 card.
-----------------
News and notes:
** I'm balking at the prices for the good RCs in National Treasures, and most of the RCs in The Cup. I don't expect those will be appearing in a mail post any time soon.
** 2013-14 The Cup may have more errors than any product since 90-91 Pro Set. That release is an absolute abomination to detail-oriented collectors like me.
** I'm equally frustrated with Panini, who left several unanswered questions with the National Treasures release, including numerous checklist errors and some major problems with the redemptions.
** I have a great theme planned for my next two mail posts -- something special regarding a pseudo-retired goalie.
That'll be it. Thanks everyone!
--Andy
http://www.thegreatzo.com/cards/
-------------------------------------------------------
