primetimepawich
Verified Trader ,
Hey all, Joe Pawich here again. Been a few months since I've done this so let's see if I remember how, shall we?
Last year was very much a down year for my collection, and for the most part, 2022 has been much of the same. The reason you haven't seen many S+Ts out of me is because quite simply, I haven't had much to S or T. Yes, I still collect Larry Murphy, but I still do so on a budget and the pickings are often slim at my price point. Add to that the rising costs of doing business on Ebay with our cross-border neighbors to the south, and yeah, I've let a lot of cards pass me by in the last few years.
But I still chip away at enough small potatoes to keep the lights on. Big thanks to our own Kevin Mitchell who has reemerged as a US shipping liaison for me and has graciously allowed me to add cards that I would've otherwise had to pass on. You'll see some of those cards here, and I hope you enjoy the show...
***
18/19 Invictus Crystalline Signatures Red #CSLM1 Larry Murphy 3/5 by primetimepawich, on Flickr
My first pickup of 2022, from Facebook no less. Thanks to our own "Cheliosduff" Jim for alerting me to this one.
09/10 ITG Ultimate Memorabilia Fall Expo Top Ten Career Games Played PROOF #7 by primetimepawich, on Flickr
From one of my go-tos on Ebay for "proof" cards. I had no idea that such versions of these cards existed and had to have it.
91/92 Strat-O-Matic Hockey by primetimepawich, on Flickr
This was on my Ebay watchlist, listed for a cheap price, but I couldn't justify the US shipping. Then one day, I happened to glance at it and noticed the shipping terms had changed. Done deal.
94/95 Donruss #27 Larry Murphy Autograph 10.00 by primetimepawich, on Flickr
Signed base I need doesn't pop up that much anymore. This one was on my watchlist until Kevin helped me save on shipping.
96/97 Summit #11 Larry Murphy Autograph by primetimepawich, on Flickr
This one I was able to win myself.
Big thanks to Mark Orphan of Morphan Collectibles for these. In the summer, I was trolling Facebook groups for Murphy stuff and a few people directed me to Mark's upcoming private signing with Larry. I knew of it but hadn't seriously considered it. I assumed those kinds of signings were out of my price range, I didn't know what I would even want to get signed, and felt sending obscure, hard-to-find stuff in the mail for it would be asking for trouble. In short, you name the excuse and I had it. But Mark reached out to me, was kind enough to walk me through the process and made it impossible to not want to participate. He had some extra cards on hand and sent me pics of them. Most of them I already had signed, except for the 2 Franchises cards. Bundled together with the chance to get an inscribed RC (which I had quietly wanted but most I'd ever seen were slabbed and overpriced) and all signed directly by the man himself, well, that seemed pretty cool. I recommend looking Mark up if you can. He does his signings at no financial benefit to himself, he's just a fan of the game and hobby who wants to bring players and collectors together. He even passed along my Flickr site to Larry. Did he look at it? I don't know, but my Flickr view stats did spike one day around that time so I'd like to imagine it.
20/21 Pro Set 1989 Autographs Yellow #A89LM1 Larry Murphy 4/15 by primetimepawich, on Flickr
20/21 Pro Set 1991-92 Hockey Autographs Black #A91LM1 Larry Murphy 17/20 by primetimepawich, on Flickr
A few Pro Set autos Kevin helped me with.
20/21 Pro Set 1990-91 Hockey Autographs Yellow #A90LM1 Larry Murphy 2/10 by primetimepawich, on Flickr
And one that our own Ranfordfan Sean helped me with.
1987 Washington Capitals Fan Appreciation Day Kodak Team Photo 10.00 by primetimepawich, on Flickr
Another Kevin special, a Caps team photo from Kodak that both goes with some previous acquisitions of mine and adds more Caps content (you're welcome, CJ)
These were all listed at the same time from the same seller a few weeks ago. I already own enough of Murphy's show cards that it's a rare thrill to find ones I need (or have never even heard of) after all these years.
Earlier pickups from the same seller. I already had copies of both, so why did I bother? The Sportsfest is LA jersey-numbered and the stick is a nice colorful, easily identifiable piece of a Koho, which I always dig. 'Nuff said.
98/99 Be A Player Toronto Fall Expo #48 Larry Murphy 2/5 10.00 by primetimepawich, on Flickr
A show card acquired with Kevin's help because I wanted to save on shipping and didn't think I'd see another anytime soon. Would you believe the last (unrelated) seller listed 2 of the other copies?
18/19 Chronology Diamond Relics #55 Larry Murphy 26/36 by primetimepawich, on Flickr
Wanted one of these for a while but always lost out until I snagged this one through the offer system.
17/18 Artifacts Black #136 Larry Murphy 5/5 by primetimepawich, on Flickr
17/18 Artifacts cards have been the bane of my existence. The last record I have of this exact copy selling showed it going for far more than I was willing to pony up for one, so when I saw it pop up on Ebay Canada at auction with a low starting bid, free shipping and a few watchers, I wasn't very optimistic. But wouldn't you know it, I won. I've gone back to the Artifacts well a few times since then and lost each time, so maybe this one was a one-hit wonder.
15/16 ITG Final Vault Be A Player Autographs Gold #48 Larry Murphy by primetimepawich, on Flickr
I consider Vault autographs to be unique autographs for my collecting purposes and own many of them. Had no idea if this variation existed or not until I saw it a few weeks ago and grabbed it for a good price.
Sketch Card Limited 6/50 Edward Vela Signed by primetimepawich, on Flickr
I'd seen these custom art cards making the rounds for a while now. I'm not one to target customs that I haven't commissioned, but these looked neat, and I figured if I could get one cheap enough, I would. Thanks to Kevin's help again, I did.
17/18 Leaf The Sensational Swatch #SS02 Larry Murphy 3/6 30.00 by primetimepawich, on Flickr
Last but not least from the "Kevin's Help" files is this beauty. With the exception of certain GU cards, I don't often go for multiples of cards anymore. Well this is one of those exceptions. Goes well with a pickup facilitated by our own "HammerHawks" Eric a few years ago:
17/18 Leaf The Sensational Swatch #SS02 Larry Murphy 4/6 by primetimepawich, on Flickr
Was the middle of this tag used on one of these cards? If so, I'd love to see it, and if I see it, I want it.
***
Still with me?
Y'all might remember this one from our illustrious Richard Ho:
15/16 SP Home Edition Retro Custom Supreme Stick #PA-LM Larry Murphy 1/1 front by primetimepawich, on Flickr
Still love it, still think he did a great job, still don't regret a thing about it. But for the longest time, it looked like this custom card would end up being my best "pickup" of 2022.
Or would it?
In June of 2020, the checklist for an upcoming Upper Deck release hit the boards here. My boy Larry made a few appearances in it, but it was one of those appearances in particular that really got me excited. If it was made, and was actually what it said it was, it immediately jumped to #1 on my wantlist.
This was a more obscure lesser product though, so would much of this product be broken? Would this card see the light of day? With no way to know, I waited. And in January of last year, the card was listed on Ebay. Hallelujah, right?
Not so fast. The price? $1200 US BIN/OBO. Bummer.
Not one to be deterred though, I contacted the seller with the intent of making friends with them. What kind of price range were they realistically hoping to achieve? What were their plans for it? I had to know.
The seller responded politely and we had a very cordial conversation over a few messages. They told me what they were looking for, what they wouldn't let it go for less than, that they would take offers for a few weeks but were open to negotiation. Now knowing their expectations though, I didn't feel there was much room for negotiation because any offer I could make, while more realistic, wouldn't sound fair. So I vowed to keep an eye on it and they vowed to give me an opportunity if they got any traction on it.
Over time, the price was lowered and early this year I tossed an offer in on Ebay to throw my name in the hat. It was auto-rejected, but I was keeping steady tabs on its offer history on watchcount.com and it seemed like all other offers were suffering the same fate. Was he close to anything? How much had his price expectations changed? Again, I had to know and reached out. And again, he sounded open to liquidating it for a fair price. But when I tried to engage him in discussion about it, he went radio silent. So I continued to covet it from afar and monitor the offer action on it, afraid each new offer could be the last but mildly hopeful he'd at least tell me the Ebay ID of the eventual winner for my own population report purposes.
It seemed each new month after that brought increased activity and at least one new offer. I knew I could be blown out of the water at any time, but as long as it hadn't happened yet, I may still have a horse in the race. A few months back, I reached out again, heard nothing in response, assumed they were tired of hearing from me and just kind of forgot about it. Still coveted the card, but without a conversation, there wasn't much I could do. Then early last month, he replied.
He was in the process of liquidating most of his collection and had received an offer on the card. He was debating the offer or sending it to auction but wanted to give me an opportunity too. Now I should mention that this is a US-based seller, using the dreaded Global Shipping Program, which comes with its associated import charges, a crummy exchange rate and the new Ebay authentication program (which I am skeptical of and have read mixed things about). In short, there are a number of factors making cross-border transactions difficult for both sides, and getting into a bidding war on Ebay would come with costs above and beyond the card that would price it out of my range. I basically had one play - take it off Ebay, save myself from the bells and whistles, save him from the fees and put more real dollars in his pocket. I left my e-mail, and a few weeks later, he followed the breadcrumbs. Once we were e-mailing directly, it came together fast. Early last week the deal was done, and today it was in my hands.
Thanks to UD for making it, and thanks to Dan C. for being great to work with. He could've confined his dealings to the US, but he didn't, and I think we got something we were both happy with. I just couldn't let this land in someone else's hands and disappear into a PC abyss, never to be seen again. I had to step up. Mike Gartner's presence on this card really does nothing for me. I had no problems with him as a player, he just complicated things and probably made it more expensive than a solo Murphy. But it is what it is, and my apologies to any Gartner collectors out there. For all his time with Washington, Murphy has very few GU cards picturing him with them. This is as premium as they come, and I may not see another like it in a long time, or ever. I've had bad luck with the big fish on my wantlist in recent years, so it was an immense sense of joy and accomplishment to reel this in. I've probably made more from selling PC cards than I've spent on PC cards the past few years, so I've been good and could splurge this time. If I land nothing else in 2022, I think I'm good.
19/20 Engrained Dual Stick Nameplates #DSNGM Mike Gartner/Larry Murphy 1/1 by primetimepawich, on Flickr
Thanks for the look and read.
-Joe Pawich
Last year was very much a down year for my collection, and for the most part, 2022 has been much of the same. The reason you haven't seen many S+Ts out of me is because quite simply, I haven't had much to S or T. Yes, I still collect Larry Murphy, but I still do so on a budget and the pickings are often slim at my price point. Add to that the rising costs of doing business on Ebay with our cross-border neighbors to the south, and yeah, I've let a lot of cards pass me by in the last few years.
But I still chip away at enough small potatoes to keep the lights on. Big thanks to our own Kevin Mitchell who has reemerged as a US shipping liaison for me and has graciously allowed me to add cards that I would've otherwise had to pass on. You'll see some of those cards here, and I hope you enjoy the show...
***
18/19 Invictus Crystalline Signatures Red #CSLM1 Larry Murphy 3/5 by primetimepawich, on FlickrMy first pickup of 2022, from Facebook no less. Thanks to our own "Cheliosduff" Jim for alerting me to this one.
09/10 ITG Ultimate Memorabilia Fall Expo Top Ten Career Games Played PROOF #7 by primetimepawich, on FlickrFrom one of my go-tos on Ebay for "proof" cards. I had no idea that such versions of these cards existed and had to have it.
91/92 Strat-O-Matic Hockey by primetimepawich, on FlickrThis was on my Ebay watchlist, listed for a cheap price, but I couldn't justify the US shipping. Then one day, I happened to glance at it and noticed the shipping terms had changed. Done deal.
94/95 Donruss #27 Larry Murphy Autograph 10.00 by primetimepawich, on FlickrSigned base I need doesn't pop up that much anymore. This one was on my watchlist until Kevin helped me save on shipping.
96/97 Summit #11 Larry Murphy Autograph by primetimepawich, on FlickrThis one I was able to win myself.
Big thanks to Mark Orphan of Morphan Collectibles for these. In the summer, I was trolling Facebook groups for Murphy stuff and a few people directed me to Mark's upcoming private signing with Larry. I knew of it but hadn't seriously considered it. I assumed those kinds of signings were out of my price range, I didn't know what I would even want to get signed, and felt sending obscure, hard-to-find stuff in the mail for it would be asking for trouble. In short, you name the excuse and I had it. But Mark reached out to me, was kind enough to walk me through the process and made it impossible to not want to participate. He had some extra cards on hand and sent me pics of them. Most of them I already had signed, except for the 2 Franchises cards. Bundled together with the chance to get an inscribed RC (which I had quietly wanted but most I'd ever seen were slabbed and overpriced) and all signed directly by the man himself, well, that seemed pretty cool. I recommend looking Mark up if you can. He does his signings at no financial benefit to himself, he's just a fan of the game and hobby who wants to bring players and collectors together. He even passed along my Flickr site to Larry. Did he look at it? I don't know, but my Flickr view stats did spike one day around that time so I'd like to imagine it.
20/21 Pro Set 1989 Autographs Yellow #A89LM1 Larry Murphy 4/15 by primetimepawich, on Flickr20/21 Pro Set 1991-92 Hockey Autographs Black #A91LM1 Larry Murphy 17/20 by primetimepawich, on FlickrA few Pro Set autos Kevin helped me with.
20/21 Pro Set 1990-91 Hockey Autographs Yellow #A90LM1 Larry Murphy 2/10 by primetimepawich, on FlickrAnd one that our own Ranfordfan Sean helped me with.
1987 Washington Capitals Fan Appreciation Day Kodak Team Photo 10.00 by primetimepawich, on FlickrAnother Kevin special, a Caps team photo from Kodak that both goes with some previous acquisitions of mine and adds more Caps content (you're welcome, CJ)
These were all listed at the same time from the same seller a few weeks ago. I already own enough of Murphy's show cards that it's a rare thrill to find ones I need (or have never even heard of) after all these years.
Earlier pickups from the same seller. I already had copies of both, so why did I bother? The Sportsfest is LA jersey-numbered and the stick is a nice colorful, easily identifiable piece of a Koho, which I always dig. 'Nuff said.
98/99 Be A Player Toronto Fall Expo #48 Larry Murphy 2/5 10.00 by primetimepawich, on FlickrA show card acquired with Kevin's help because I wanted to save on shipping and didn't think I'd see another anytime soon. Would you believe the last (unrelated) seller listed 2 of the other copies?
18/19 Chronology Diamond Relics #55 Larry Murphy 26/36 by primetimepawich, on FlickrWanted one of these for a while but always lost out until I snagged this one through the offer system.
17/18 Artifacts Black #136 Larry Murphy 5/5 by primetimepawich, on Flickr17/18 Artifacts cards have been the bane of my existence. The last record I have of this exact copy selling showed it going for far more than I was willing to pony up for one, so when I saw it pop up on Ebay Canada at auction with a low starting bid, free shipping and a few watchers, I wasn't very optimistic. But wouldn't you know it, I won. I've gone back to the Artifacts well a few times since then and lost each time, so maybe this one was a one-hit wonder.
15/16 ITG Final Vault Be A Player Autographs Gold #48 Larry Murphy by primetimepawich, on FlickrI consider Vault autographs to be unique autographs for my collecting purposes and own many of them. Had no idea if this variation existed or not until I saw it a few weeks ago and grabbed it for a good price.
Sketch Card Limited 6/50 Edward Vela Signed by primetimepawich, on FlickrI'd seen these custom art cards making the rounds for a while now. I'm not one to target customs that I haven't commissioned, but these looked neat, and I figured if I could get one cheap enough, I would. Thanks to Kevin's help again, I did.
17/18 Leaf The Sensational Swatch #SS02 Larry Murphy 3/6 30.00 by primetimepawich, on FlickrLast but not least from the "Kevin's Help" files is this beauty. With the exception of certain GU cards, I don't often go for multiples of cards anymore. Well this is one of those exceptions. Goes well with a pickup facilitated by our own "HammerHawks" Eric a few years ago:
17/18 Leaf The Sensational Swatch #SS02 Larry Murphy 4/6 by primetimepawich, on FlickrWas the middle of this tag used on one of these cards? If so, I'd love to see it, and if I see it, I want it.
***
Still with me?
Y'all might remember this one from our illustrious Richard Ho:
15/16 SP Home Edition Retro Custom Supreme Stick #PA-LM Larry Murphy 1/1 front by primetimepawich, on FlickrStill love it, still think he did a great job, still don't regret a thing about it. But for the longest time, it looked like this custom card would end up being my best "pickup" of 2022.
Or would it?
In June of 2020, the checklist for an upcoming Upper Deck release hit the boards here. My boy Larry made a few appearances in it, but it was one of those appearances in particular that really got me excited. If it was made, and was actually what it said it was, it immediately jumped to #1 on my wantlist.
This was a more obscure lesser product though, so would much of this product be broken? Would this card see the light of day? With no way to know, I waited. And in January of last year, the card was listed on Ebay. Hallelujah, right?
Not so fast. The price? $1200 US BIN/OBO. Bummer.
Not one to be deterred though, I contacted the seller with the intent of making friends with them. What kind of price range were they realistically hoping to achieve? What were their plans for it? I had to know.
The seller responded politely and we had a very cordial conversation over a few messages. They told me what they were looking for, what they wouldn't let it go for less than, that they would take offers for a few weeks but were open to negotiation. Now knowing their expectations though, I didn't feel there was much room for negotiation because any offer I could make, while more realistic, wouldn't sound fair. So I vowed to keep an eye on it and they vowed to give me an opportunity if they got any traction on it.
Over time, the price was lowered and early this year I tossed an offer in on Ebay to throw my name in the hat. It was auto-rejected, but I was keeping steady tabs on its offer history on watchcount.com and it seemed like all other offers were suffering the same fate. Was he close to anything? How much had his price expectations changed? Again, I had to know and reached out. And again, he sounded open to liquidating it for a fair price. But when I tried to engage him in discussion about it, he went radio silent. So I continued to covet it from afar and monitor the offer action on it, afraid each new offer could be the last but mildly hopeful he'd at least tell me the Ebay ID of the eventual winner for my own population report purposes.
It seemed each new month after that brought increased activity and at least one new offer. I knew I could be blown out of the water at any time, but as long as it hadn't happened yet, I may still have a horse in the race. A few months back, I reached out again, heard nothing in response, assumed they were tired of hearing from me and just kind of forgot about it. Still coveted the card, but without a conversation, there wasn't much I could do. Then early last month, he replied.
He was in the process of liquidating most of his collection and had received an offer on the card. He was debating the offer or sending it to auction but wanted to give me an opportunity too. Now I should mention that this is a US-based seller, using the dreaded Global Shipping Program, which comes with its associated import charges, a crummy exchange rate and the new Ebay authentication program (which I am skeptical of and have read mixed things about). In short, there are a number of factors making cross-border transactions difficult for both sides, and getting into a bidding war on Ebay would come with costs above and beyond the card that would price it out of my range. I basically had one play - take it off Ebay, save myself from the bells and whistles, save him from the fees and put more real dollars in his pocket. I left my e-mail, and a few weeks later, he followed the breadcrumbs. Once we were e-mailing directly, it came together fast. Early last week the deal was done, and today it was in my hands.
Thanks to UD for making it, and thanks to Dan C. for being great to work with. He could've confined his dealings to the US, but he didn't, and I think we got something we were both happy with. I just couldn't let this land in someone else's hands and disappear into a PC abyss, never to be seen again. I had to step up. Mike Gartner's presence on this card really does nothing for me. I had no problems with him as a player, he just complicated things and probably made it more expensive than a solo Murphy. But it is what it is, and my apologies to any Gartner collectors out there. For all his time with Washington, Murphy has very few GU cards picturing him with them. This is as premium as they come, and I may not see another like it in a long time, or ever. I've had bad luck with the big fish on my wantlist in recent years, so it was an immense sense of joy and accomplishment to reel this in. I've probably made more from selling PC cards than I've spent on PC cards the past few years, so I've been good and could splurge this time. If I land nothing else in 2022, I think I'm good.
19/20 Engrained Dual Stick Nameplates #DSNGM Mike Gartner/Larry Murphy 1/1 by primetimepawich, on FlickrThanks for the look and read.
-Joe Pawich
) I aways think of you when I get new Caps content to chase. It isn't as often as I'd like, but kudos to Leaf in particular for upping their game in that regard. And credit where it's due to UD for coming up with this beauty, which will be tough to beat as a cornerstone Caps GU piece for me.