The Great Zo
Verified Trader,
I've made some important progress toward the Samsonov collection here, in 2007's third mail post. In general, I've been proud to keep up with most of the new products fairly efficiently -- but it hasn't come without a cost. I guess I'll just have to keep on doing my best, even as my wantlist grows, and my Paypal account shrinks!
OK, enough whining -- on to the cards!
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Kevin Weekes New York Rangers Magnet
I'll start with an oddball item that won't officially count toward anything, but is still neat to have. This magnet, which I believe was produced during the 05-06 season, came from a buyer on ebay who picked up a batch of them, and was able to sell off one. I'll be keeping it for sure. It's stuff like this that can add character to any collection!
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Washington Capitals Fan Pack
Sticker, Temporary Tattoo, Pocket Schedule
06-07 Capitals Postcards Ben Clymer
Here's my first success with a fan pack for the 06-07 season. The Capitals came through for me last year as well, and through their fan packs, I've been able to pick up the Ben Clymer postcards from both seasons! This is the only copy of the 06-07 postcard I've ever seen.
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Two Packs - 06-07 Upper Deck MVP
Commons
David Printz RC
Gotta Have Hart Patrice Bergeron
I picked up these two packs just for a laugh, and for another reminder of why my unopened-product budget is about $5-$10 a month.
-------------------------------------------------------
01-02 UD Premier Collection Olivier Michaud RC (/250)
This is a set of RCs I've been very slowly working on since the product's release. The #/250 RCs were essentially impossible to find for less than $20 for a very long time, but I've been picking up a few here and there for around $5 recently. This one is graded, and we all know that I'm no fan of modern graded cards. As such, when I'm home next, I'll be freeing it from its prison.
-------------------------------------------------------
98-99 Upper Deck Fantastic Finishers Quantum 2 Peter Bondra (/50)
This one has a decent story behind it. My first ever box of cards was 98-99 Upper Deck Series 1, and I pulled the Quantum 3 (1/1) version of this card. I moved it at a local show for $300 cash and an Yzerman OPC RC -- which, at the age of 13, was a pretty good business decision in retrospect! Recently, I decided I'd like to add the Quantum 2 version to my collection, sort of as a homage to the 1/1 I once owned. I already own the base and Quantum 1 versions as well. I certainly overspent on this card, and given my current financial constraints, probably should have been a little more cautious. Of course, should the 1/1 ever show back up one day, all bets are off.
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06-07 Flair Showcase Inks Sergei Samsonov
The first few copies of this card sold for almost $30! I was very happy to get this one on ebay for about a third of the cost. The Samsonov from this set is a SP, and only a few have surfaced at all.
-------------------------------------------------------
06-07 UD Artifacts Daniel Alfredsson
I have been told I have hockey card OCD, which is the only reason I took a picture of this card. It was thrown in -- for no apparent reason -- with the next card pictured being the "main event" from this ebay seller. I just wanted to give the next card its own photograph!
-------------------------------------------------------
99-00 Revolution Shadow Series Sergei Samsonov (/99)
This is a very important pickup for my Samsonov collection, because I had completed a deal for the card (and paid for it via paypal) about two years ago. The card never showed up, and the seller pretty much forced me to eat the cost. Two years later, this copy shows up on ebay. It was an extremely inexpensive pickup, but due to my history with this card, it's one of the most important items in the mailpost!
-------------------------------------------------------
00-01 Panini Stickers Sergei Samsonov, Vyacheslav Kozlov
These two came in a deal with Tatu (MOGO89). The Samsonov is staying with me, of course. The Kozlov is going to a friend of mine. Panini Stickers are surprisingly tough to find, so I was glad to finally pick up this Samsonov. Thank you very much!
-------------------------------------------------------
05-06 Upper Deck HG David Hale (/10)
Whenever I sell a very limited card, such as a BAP Emerald or Upper Deck HG, I try to pick up another one to add back to my tradelist -- and usually at a pretty nice profit margin. That was the case with this David Hale card, which was an extremely cheap ebay pickup.
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05-06 Upper Deck MVP Gold Rico Fata (/100)
05-06 Upper Deck MVP Platinum Ryan Smyth (/25)
05-06 Upper Deck Ice Rainbow Eric Staal (/100)
05-06 Upper Deck Victory Gold Nick Boynton (/100)
These additions to my parallel stash came from James (Big Tall) in trade. The Upper Deck Ice Rainbow parallels are pretty popular. Imagine what a decent design will do for a set! Thanks for the trade, James!
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04-05 UD Legendary Signatures Commons
Here's my first batch of cards from a trade with Josh (Ferrian1). These commons have proven very tough to find, since they came from a moderately expensive product. They will go to my yearly binder project.
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02-03 Crown Royale Dual Patches Bryan Smolinski / Adam Deadmarsh (/403)
03-04 BAP Memorabilia Emerald Maxime Ouellet (/10)
05-06 SPx Spectrum Manny Fernandez (/25)
05-06 SPx Spectrum Keith Primeau (/25)
Here's the biggest portion of the trade. As strange as it may seem, this is actually the first dual-patch card I have ever owned, of anyone! As such, it would only be available for a wantlist item. The other low-numbered parallels are also excellent additions. As with the Upper Deck Ice Rainbow parallel a few pictures up, I really do feel the SPx Spectrum parallels are some of the best designed parallels in years.
-------------------------------------------------------
03-04 ITG Action Spring Expo Sheldon Keefe (/10)
03-04 ITG Action Spring Expo Steve Martins (/10)
Here are the last two cards from the trade with Josh. I don't usually seek out show stamp cards of the players I collect, but I do pick them up when I can get them fairly easily. That was certainly the case here.
Thanks for the deal, Josh!
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05-06 Black Diamond Brandon Bochenski RC (Triple Diamond)
This RC came from Pete (Dominator) in trade. Thanks for the deal! The Bochenski is available.
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06-07 Upper Deck MVP Gold Script Tim Thomas (/100)
06-07 Upper Deck MVP Gold Script Nils Ekman (/100)
These two items came from ebay seller "31heidi01" -- who, in two separate deals, mailed both cards in white envelopes for $5 shipping. I'd suggest to steer clear of them unless it's absolutely necessary!
The cards themselves are fine, and are both great additions to my player collections.
-------------------------------------------------------
06-07 Upper Deck MVP Super Script Sergei Samsonov (/25)
This item was also an ebay pickup. It's great that I have nearly finished MVP so quickly, although I've paid a little more for these parallels than I would have liked to. The only card I still need to find is the Tim Thomas Super Script.
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01-02 Pacific Hobby Limited Thomas Ziegler (/99)
Now, another card with a story. This one is quite similar to the Samsonov Revolution Shadow Series halfway up the mail post. I had completed a deal for this card about three years ago, but the seller was unable to find the card and refunded my money. Since then, I've been looking for another copy. I found one in the Beckett Marketplace about a year and a half ago, but the seller proved (like so many are) to be an unreasonable jerk, and I vowed that they would never receive my business.
So, two weeks ago, two complete sets of the Hobby Limited parallels hit ebay! I wasn't going to let it slip away again. This brings my Ziegler collection to needing just one more NHL card: his 01-02 BAP Emerald.
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06-07 Black Diamond Gold Sergei Samsonov (/10)
For the second time in as many weeks, I'm ending my mail post with a Black Diamond Gold card #/10. Last week, it was the 05-06 version of Kevin Weekes. This week, I've picked up this year's Samsonov Gold from ebay. It doesn't seem like all that long ago that I was trying to add my first #/10 Samsonov card to my collection. It also doesn't seem like that long ago that I was paying as much as I did here for Samsonov parallels limited to 100 copies. Perhaps the two thoughts are related!
-------------------------------------------------------
News and notes:
**I am continuing to update the 05-06 Upper Deck Press Plate tracker. Here's the link: Press Plate Tracker
**Since I have finally received the 01-02 Pacific Hobby Limited card of Thomas Ziegler, I was able to remove it from my most-wanted list. The card replacing it is the 00-01 Topps O-Pee-Chee Parallel of Zac Bierk.
**Even as this post has been filled with great Samsonov cards, there's still a few more important ones on the way! Look for them in the next mail post, which will be posted a week or two from now.
**I hate snow.
That'll be it. Thanks everyone!
LINKS:
http://pipsey.net:8080/~thegreatzo/players/players.html - Player Collection Website
http://pipsey.net:8080/~thegreatzo/vipersrc/vipersrc.html - Vipers Best-RCs Project
http://pipsey.net:8080/~thegreatzo/lightningrc/lightningrc.html - Lightning Best-RCs Project
OK, enough whining -- on to the cards!
-------------------------------------------------------
Kevin Weekes New York Rangers Magnet
I'll start with an oddball item that won't officially count toward anything, but is still neat to have. This magnet, which I believe was produced during the 05-06 season, came from a buyer on ebay who picked up a batch of them, and was able to sell off one. I'll be keeping it for sure. It's stuff like this that can add character to any collection!
-------------------------------------------------------
Washington Capitals Fan Pack
Sticker, Temporary Tattoo, Pocket Schedule
06-07 Capitals Postcards Ben Clymer
Here's my first success with a fan pack for the 06-07 season. The Capitals came through for me last year as well, and through their fan packs, I've been able to pick up the Ben Clymer postcards from both seasons! This is the only copy of the 06-07 postcard I've ever seen.
-------------------------------------------------------
Two Packs - 06-07 Upper Deck MVP
Commons
David Printz RC
Gotta Have Hart Patrice Bergeron
I picked up these two packs just for a laugh, and for another reminder of why my unopened-product budget is about $5-$10 a month.
-------------------------------------------------------
01-02 UD Premier Collection Olivier Michaud RC (/250)
This is a set of RCs I've been very slowly working on since the product's release. The #/250 RCs were essentially impossible to find for less than $20 for a very long time, but I've been picking up a few here and there for around $5 recently. This one is graded, and we all know that I'm no fan of modern graded cards. As such, when I'm home next, I'll be freeing it from its prison.
-------------------------------------------------------
98-99 Upper Deck Fantastic Finishers Quantum 2 Peter Bondra (/50)
This one has a decent story behind it. My first ever box of cards was 98-99 Upper Deck Series 1, and I pulled the Quantum 3 (1/1) version of this card. I moved it at a local show for $300 cash and an Yzerman OPC RC -- which, at the age of 13, was a pretty good business decision in retrospect! Recently, I decided I'd like to add the Quantum 2 version to my collection, sort of as a homage to the 1/1 I once owned. I already own the base and Quantum 1 versions as well. I certainly overspent on this card, and given my current financial constraints, probably should have been a little more cautious. Of course, should the 1/1 ever show back up one day, all bets are off.
-------------------------------------------------------
06-07 Flair Showcase Inks Sergei Samsonov
The first few copies of this card sold for almost $30! I was very happy to get this one on ebay for about a third of the cost. The Samsonov from this set is a SP, and only a few have surfaced at all.
-------------------------------------------------------
06-07 UD Artifacts Daniel Alfredsson
I have been told I have hockey card OCD, which is the only reason I took a picture of this card. It was thrown in -- for no apparent reason -- with the next card pictured being the "main event" from this ebay seller. I just wanted to give the next card its own photograph!
-------------------------------------------------------
99-00 Revolution Shadow Series Sergei Samsonov (/99)
This is a very important pickup for my Samsonov collection, because I had completed a deal for the card (and paid for it via paypal) about two years ago. The card never showed up, and the seller pretty much forced me to eat the cost. Two years later, this copy shows up on ebay. It was an extremely inexpensive pickup, but due to my history with this card, it's one of the most important items in the mailpost!
-------------------------------------------------------
00-01 Panini Stickers Sergei Samsonov, Vyacheslav Kozlov
These two came in a deal with Tatu (MOGO89). The Samsonov is staying with me, of course. The Kozlov is going to a friend of mine. Panini Stickers are surprisingly tough to find, so I was glad to finally pick up this Samsonov. Thank you very much!
-------------------------------------------------------
05-06 Upper Deck HG David Hale (/10)
Whenever I sell a very limited card, such as a BAP Emerald or Upper Deck HG, I try to pick up another one to add back to my tradelist -- and usually at a pretty nice profit margin. That was the case with this David Hale card, which was an extremely cheap ebay pickup.
-------------------------------------------------------
05-06 Upper Deck MVP Gold Rico Fata (/100)
05-06 Upper Deck MVP Platinum Ryan Smyth (/25)
05-06 Upper Deck Ice Rainbow Eric Staal (/100)
05-06 Upper Deck Victory Gold Nick Boynton (/100)
These additions to my parallel stash came from James (Big Tall) in trade. The Upper Deck Ice Rainbow parallels are pretty popular. Imagine what a decent design will do for a set! Thanks for the trade, James!
-------------------------------------------------------
04-05 UD Legendary Signatures Commons
Here's my first batch of cards from a trade with Josh (Ferrian1). These commons have proven very tough to find, since they came from a moderately expensive product. They will go to my yearly binder project.
-------------------------------------------------------
02-03 Crown Royale Dual Patches Bryan Smolinski / Adam Deadmarsh (/403)
03-04 BAP Memorabilia Emerald Maxime Ouellet (/10)
05-06 SPx Spectrum Manny Fernandez (/25)
05-06 SPx Spectrum Keith Primeau (/25)
Here's the biggest portion of the trade. As strange as it may seem, this is actually the first dual-patch card I have ever owned, of anyone! As such, it would only be available for a wantlist item. The other low-numbered parallels are also excellent additions. As with the Upper Deck Ice Rainbow parallel a few pictures up, I really do feel the SPx Spectrum parallels are some of the best designed parallels in years.
-------------------------------------------------------
03-04 ITG Action Spring Expo Sheldon Keefe (/10)
03-04 ITG Action Spring Expo Steve Martins (/10)
Here are the last two cards from the trade with Josh. I don't usually seek out show stamp cards of the players I collect, but I do pick them up when I can get them fairly easily. That was certainly the case here.
Thanks for the deal, Josh!
-------------------------------------------------------
05-06 Black Diamond Brandon Bochenski RC (Triple Diamond)
This RC came from Pete (Dominator) in trade. Thanks for the deal! The Bochenski is available.
-------------------------------------------------------
06-07 Upper Deck MVP Gold Script Tim Thomas (/100)
06-07 Upper Deck MVP Gold Script Nils Ekman (/100)
These two items came from ebay seller "31heidi01" -- who, in two separate deals, mailed both cards in white envelopes for $5 shipping. I'd suggest to steer clear of them unless it's absolutely necessary!
The cards themselves are fine, and are both great additions to my player collections.
-------------------------------------------------------
06-07 Upper Deck MVP Super Script Sergei Samsonov (/25)
This item was also an ebay pickup. It's great that I have nearly finished MVP so quickly, although I've paid a little more for these parallels than I would have liked to. The only card I still need to find is the Tim Thomas Super Script.
-------------------------------------------------------
01-02 Pacific Hobby Limited Thomas Ziegler (/99)
Now, another card with a story. This one is quite similar to the Samsonov Revolution Shadow Series halfway up the mail post. I had completed a deal for this card about three years ago, but the seller was unable to find the card and refunded my money. Since then, I've been looking for another copy. I found one in the Beckett Marketplace about a year and a half ago, but the seller proved (like so many are) to be an unreasonable jerk, and I vowed that they would never receive my business.
So, two weeks ago, two complete sets of the Hobby Limited parallels hit ebay! I wasn't going to let it slip away again. This brings my Ziegler collection to needing just one more NHL card: his 01-02 BAP Emerald.
-------------------------------------------------------
06-07 Black Diamond Gold Sergei Samsonov (/10)
For the second time in as many weeks, I'm ending my mail post with a Black Diamond Gold card #/10. Last week, it was the 05-06 version of Kevin Weekes. This week, I've picked up this year's Samsonov Gold from ebay. It doesn't seem like all that long ago that I was trying to add my first #/10 Samsonov card to my collection. It also doesn't seem like that long ago that I was paying as much as I did here for Samsonov parallels limited to 100 copies. Perhaps the two thoughts are related!
-------------------------------------------------------
News and notes:
**I am continuing to update the 05-06 Upper Deck Press Plate tracker. Here's the link: Press Plate Tracker
**Since I have finally received the 01-02 Pacific Hobby Limited card of Thomas Ziegler, I was able to remove it from my most-wanted list. The card replacing it is the 00-01 Topps O-Pee-Chee Parallel of Zac Bierk.
**Even as this post has been filled with great Samsonov cards, there's still a few more important ones on the way! Look for them in the next mail post, which will be posted a week or two from now.
**I hate snow.
That'll be it. Thanks everyone!
LINKS:
http://pipsey.net:8080/~thegreatzo/players/players.html - Player Collection Website
http://pipsey.net:8080/~thegreatzo/vipersrc/vipersrc.html - Vipers Best-RCs Project
http://pipsey.net:8080/~thegreatzo/lightningrc/lightningrc.html - Lightning Best-RCs Project
It's a toss-up between the Sammy Revolution and Super Scripts. 
