The Great Zo
Verified Trader,
I recently returned from a two-week-plus vacation to the south, spending a week in Disney World with my family, as well as time on my own in Georgia and the Carolinas. In all, I've done very little with regards to hockey cards in the month of June, but now that things have settled down it's time to get back into the flow.
Mail Post #13 for 2012
-------------------------------------------------------
2008 Disney Pins -- Survey Marker (Hidden Mickey Pin 2 of 5)
Anyone familiar with the Disney parks is probably also familiar with the popularity of collecting and trading pins. I'm not really into it as a whole, but I found one pin on ebay just before I left for the trip that I had to purchase -- and for $3 and change delivered, why not?
This pin is of special interest for the geographically-inclined Disney visitor. Survey markers are metal discs embedded into the ground by entities responsible for geography and civil engineering (most commonly, in this country, by the US Geological Survey). Disney has their own system of survey markers, which are sought out by strange people like me (and the author of the linked website). Though there are over 70, I found around 10 or 15 during my visit.
This pin is a near-exact representation of what the survey markers in the parks look like.
-------------------------------------------------------
2012 Panini Molson / Coors Stanley Cup Collection 2004 Tampa Bay Lightning
On to the cards -- I'll begin with a neat item from a Panini cross-promotion with Molson and Coors. These "banner" cards highlight the Stanley Cup Championships since the beginning of the NHL. They feature foil and dufex, and look really nice.
A Lightning fan, however, will notice a significant problem with this card. When the team won the cup in 2004, they did it with this logo. If you wanted to go for the team's current logo, you'd have to use this one. So why on earth would Panini put the dreaded Oren Koules / Len Barrie era logo on the card?
-------------------------------------------------------
05-06 Upper Deck UD Masterpiece Press Plate Yellow Matt Foy (1/1)
05-06 remains my favorite year for the Upper Deck Masterpiece print plates, simply because it was the only year the plates came with a unique border. I picked up this Foy plate (my first YG plate from 05-06) for a ridiculously dirt cheap price on ebay.
-------------------------------------------------------
Base Cards -- 02-03 Topps Heritage
Base Cards -- 03-04 Crown Royale Hobby
Base Cards -- 03-04 Crown Royale Retail
I'm doing a bit of work right now on my yearly binder project -- trying to finish off as much as I can from the past, since it will always be a project that keeps moving forward. These cards get me closer to completion for the current century. They arrived in a deal with Paul (pwag31).
-------------------------------------------------------
Base Cards -- 11-12 SP Game Used
Base Cards -- 11-12 Upper Deck Ice
Base Cards -- 11-12 SPx
Base Cards -- 03-04 Private Stock Reserve Hobby
Base Cards -- 03-04 Private Stock Reserve Retail
Here are some more base cards from Paul.
-------------------------------------------------------
Base Cards -- 11-12 Between the Pipes
11-12 Between the Pipes 10th Anniversary Jimmy Howard
Here are a few more cards from Paul, including an insert from BTP.
-------------------------------------------------------
02-03 Upper Deck Mask Collection D. Tarnstrom RC (0272/1750)
03-04 Crown Royale Retail Sean Bergenheim RC (485/899)
05-06 Upper Deck Rookie Update Martin St. Pierre RC (1671/1999)
07-08 Ultra Gold Medallion Yutaka Fukufuji
08-09 Black Diamond Brian Lee RC (Triple Diamond)
10-11 UD Artifacts Charles Linglet RC (589/999)
I also received these rookie cards from Paul. They will be going into my rookie collection. The Linglet is my favorite, since he's one of the rare players to earn just one rookie card!
Paul, thank you for the transaction!
-------------------------------------------------------
Base Cards -- 96-97 Playoff One-on-One
Base Cards -- 11-12 Panini Elite
I received these cards from Kevin Mitchell, easily one of my favorite trading partners. Kevin really helped me out with these 96-97 Playoff cards -- I've had a really hard time finding those. There are far fewer cards in the 96-97 set as opposed to the 95-96 set.
-------------------------------------------------------
01-02 Atomic Radek Martinek RC (288/500)
02-03 Crown Royale Hobby Curtis Sanford RC (1211/2299)
00-01 SPx Serge Aubin RC (0019/1500)
01-02 SPx Raffi Torres RC (394/999)
02-03 BAP Signature Series Curtis Sanford RC
07-08 SP Game Used Jack Johnson RC (421/999)
10-11 Score Evan Oberg RC (SP)
Kevin also sent me a bunch of rookie cards -- and these were not part of the original transaction! Just another display of generosity from somebody known for that kind of thing.
Perhaps most interesting about these cards is the Serge Aubin SPx rookie -- numbered 0019/1500. That's a very low-numbered card to be given away by someone who collects low-numbered cards from that set. So, Kevin, how low is the Aubin in your permanent collection?
-------------------------------------------------------
97-98 Zenith 5x7 Manny Malhotra RC (UNCUT)
Kevin also sent me two Zenith 5x7 RCs for my rookie collection. The Malhotra RC finishes my collection of his rookies.
-------------------------------------------------------
97-98 Zenith 5x7 Marco Sturm RC (UNCUT)
Here's a Sturm as well. The 5x7 cards are tough to find in uncut condition.
Kevin, thanks for all these great cards!
-------------------------------------------------------
11-12 SP Game Used Brett Connolly RC (99/99)
I enjoy cards with special serial numbers too -- such as this tough Connolly RC, which is the last copy printed.
-------------------------------------------------------
Tim Thomas Vermont Catamounts (Custom Card)
I have long held that the first Tim Thomas card ever created is the 99-00 Detroit Vipers IHL team issue -- a card I own at least 40 copies of, and at one time owned many more than that. So, I was a bit perturbed when I found one seller on ebay listing these Vermont Catamounts Tim Thomas cards. The seller listed them one-at-a-time, claiming to have found them in somebody's collection and believing them to be legitimate. They sold steadily for $20 a piece for quite a while, before the demand finally dried up and the seller began selling them for $10. I didn't make the purchase until I was able to get an offer in for $5. I was very skeptical of the nature of the card, but for a low cost, I was willing to take the chance and at least get the card in my own hands to investigate.
The verdict: I can say with virtual certainty that this is a custom card that was produced many years after Tim Thomas actually played in Vermont in the mid 90s. The card back contains no proper copyright information; just a single URL: http://www.custom-tradingcards.com/ . That's a company that claims to have been around for over 10 years, but certainly not the 15 that would be implied to make a 1997 Vermont Catamounts set. The site claims they won't do prints for under 100 copies, which implies that there's at least that many copies of this Tim Thomas card available. Of course, common sense would have dictated that this card was a sham even before I purchased it -- I've never seen another player from this supposed Vermont Catamounts set, and why would a card from a mid 90s set suddenly show up in large quantities in 2012?
What disturbs me is that this seller made hundreds of dollars passing off a custom card as something legitimate.
-------------------------------------------------------
11-12 Panini Limited Crease Cleaners Gold Tim Thomas (12/25)
Hey! Here's a legitimate Tim Thomas card -- with only 25 copies printed, too. Just another card off the endless Panini Limited wantlist.
-------------------------------------------------------
11-12 Panini Limited Crease Cleaners Silver Corey Crawford (29/49)
11-12 Panini Limited Crease Cleaners Niklas Backstrom (182/199)
2012 Topps Baseball Kershaw / Halladay / Lee
11-12 SeReal KHL Silver Georgy Belousov (/500)
The preceding Thomas card arrived with these as well. They'll be going to my tradelist. The Belousov is a very strange card to just randomly receive from an ebay purchase (it was included as an extra). Those KHL cards aren't easy to find, much less the parallel versions. However, it does make a nice segue to the next card in the post.
-------------------------------------------------------
11-12 SeReal KHL Silver Martin Cibak (/500)
Here's another of the KHL Silver Parallel cards. This one features Stanley Cup Champion Martin Cibak, a player I collect. I still need the Gold version (/100) and the base version as well.
-------------------------------------------------------
11-12 Pinnacle Game Night Signatures (Redemption) Tim Thomas (/25)
I've seen only two (maybe three) copies of this redemption card. Compared to the prices for other Tim Thomas autograph cards #/25, I feel like I got a very good deal on this one, especially considering the secondary market percentage for Pinnacle has been lower than other sets like Certified or Limited.
I'll be submitting the code soon.
-------------------------------------------------------
11-12 Upper Deck UD Exclusives (084/100)
-- Milan Lucic / Tim Thomas / Zdeno Chara
I would have loved to have this card off the wantlist 6 months ago, but for the most part, they were selling pretty well for a card out of 100 copies. With some age on the product, and people focused elsewhere, I was finally able to purchase this one for next to nothing.
-------------------------------------------------------
11-12 O-Pee-Chee 2011 Rookie Update Matt Hackett
11-12 O-Pee-Chee Johnny Bucyk (SP)
These two cards, headed to my tradelist, were thrown in with the next one.
-------------------------------------------------------
11-12 Panini Certified Champions Mirror Gold Tim Thomas (24/25)
The Mirror Gold insert parallels in Certified pretty much look outstanding across the board -- a real significant contrast to the very bland base versions. Speaking of base versions, however, I do still need the regular version of this card!
-------------------------------------------------------
11-12 Upper Deck Biography of a Season Phil Kessel
11-12 Upper Deck Biography of a Season Jonathan Quick
11-12 Upper Deck Biography of a Season Joffrey Lupul
11-12 Upper Deck Biography of a Season Tyler Seguin
11-12 Upper Deck Biography of a Season Ryan Nugent-Hopkins
11-12 Upper Deck Biography of a Season Sidney Crosby
11-12 Upper Deck Biography of a Season Jonathan Toews
11-12 Upper Deck Biography of a Season Zdeno Chara
11-12 Upper Deck Biography of a Season Jimmy Howard
11-12 Upper Deck Biography of a Season Claude Giroux
I'm going to single out ebay seller cardboardmemories_ca here. Our transaction was for the next card below, but I was sent an entire 10-card batch of UD Biography of a Season cards as a free bonus. I recently completed another transaction with the same seller, for a card that will appear in a future mail post, and got another batch of free stuff too.
-------------------------------------------------------
2012 Panini Spring Expo All-Star Game Autographs Tim Thomas (/5)
Here is the card I purchased in the deal with the Bio cards. This card is from the 2012 Spring Expo, and although it is not serial numbered, Panini's website stated that only 5 copies of each All-Star Game Autograph card were made. The sticker is stamped over with an embossed "Expo 12" logo.
Since this is a special card with a unique design, and not just a show-stamped version of a previously-available card, I do count it for my collection.
-------------------------------------------------------
07-08 O-Pee-Chee Premier Remnants Quadruple Jersey
-- Sergei Samsonov (22/25)
Finally, I own all four versions of the Sergei Samsonov memorabilia cards from 07-08 O-Pee-Chee! This card has four jersey swatches -- dark blue, black and yellow, black, and white. The jersey swatches probably come from a combination of Samsonov Bruins and Oilers jerseys. Upper Deck must have acquired a dozen Samsonov Bruins jerseys over the years, but probably only one from the Oilers.
-------------------------------------------------------
Base cards (including an unauthorized Gretzky magazine issue)
01-02 Stadium Club Gallery Brendan Shanahan
Here is more random stuff thrown in with an ebay transaction -- with one halfway respectable insert for the tradelist. These card were included with the Samsonov below.
-------------------------------------------------------
01-02 BAP Signature Series He Shoots He Scores Prizes
From a scarcity standpoint (discounting the Foy 1/1 early in the post), this is my favorite card in this batch of mail. This is Samsonov's only solo entry into the HSHS program (he had two dual cards with Cam Neely in the ITG Original 6 product). It's card #24, and is numbered 3/20 on the back. The card features a white swatch.
I seriously wonder how many of these cards were actually distributed. ITG never released numbers on that sort of thing. The fact that the only copy I've seen of this card in many years is only #3 sequentially leads me to wonder if only a fraction of the 20 copies made it out.
It's also worth noting (just as a curiosity) that while Samsonov was in the jersey redemption set, he wasn't in the decoy/point card set placed in packs.
-------------------------------------------------------
80-81 O-Pee-Chee Ray Bourque RC
I'll close the mail post with one of the best rookie cards of the 80s, and a card that has been on my most-wanted list for a while now. This is Ray Bourque, one of the best defenseman ever to play the game.
I purchased this card from Dave (warsawknuckles). The card's condition is what I'd call a typical "good" for that year. There is some minor edge roughness, it's off-centered slightly, and one or two corners are a little bit soft. However, there are no stains, bends, creases, scratches, or dents. Basically, it's in the exact condition I was looking for.
With this card in hand, the last key 80s rookie card on my wantlist is the Mark Messier from the same set. Aside from Messier, I own every RC from the 80s with a BV of $10 or higher, and I recently added the rest of the listed cards to my wantlist. I'm not counting 79-80, of course, because I have no plans to add a Gretzky RC to my collection in the near future.
Dave, thanks for the deal, and for adding one of the most important RCs to my Topps/OPC-era collection!
-------------------------------------------------------
News and notes:
** While I was gone, I missed the release of Titanium, and I'm getting spun back up just as Rookie Anthology is being released. Both of those sets are huge messes for my rookie wantlist, especially the latter, which is almost as bothersome and redundant as 05-06 UD Rookie Update was. Anthology's a better selection of cards than UDRU, for sure, but I don't really know if Allen York needs a rookie card in every set (and a SP #/99 in Certified).
** I also see that Upper Deck planned SP Authentic RC preview set for the Universal Summit. I'm going to be interested in some of those cards, but I'm not finding much on the secondary market. Does anyone have a lead on them? I also have no idea how UD plans to legitimately continue with their planned releases for 2011-12, when SP Authentic isn't going to be out until some time in July.
** Is Upper Deck planning any special card sets for the Los Angeles Kings? If so, I'll need to watch out for Alec Martinez cards. The Stanley Cup victory will probably mean he'll get a little bit more attention in 12-13 card sets anyway.
** Those items aside, by far the biggest news for my collection was that Tim Thomas' career as a Bruin is over, and that he may in fact sit out the entire 2012-13 season. It's not out of the question to think that his hockey career may be done. Given his contract with Panini, I don't know how much that will actually whittle down his card offerings for next season, but some relief for my collection may be on the way.
That'll be it. Thanks everyone!
--Andy
http://www.thegreatzo.com/cards/
-------------------------------------------------------
Mail Post #13 for 2012
-------------------------------------------------------
2008 Disney Pins -- Survey Marker (Hidden Mickey Pin 2 of 5)
Anyone familiar with the Disney parks is probably also familiar with the popularity of collecting and trading pins. I'm not really into it as a whole, but I found one pin on ebay just before I left for the trip that I had to purchase -- and for $3 and change delivered, why not?
This pin is of special interest for the geographically-inclined Disney visitor. Survey markers are metal discs embedded into the ground by entities responsible for geography and civil engineering (most commonly, in this country, by the US Geological Survey). Disney has their own system of survey markers, which are sought out by strange people like me (and the author of the linked website). Though there are over 70, I found around 10 or 15 during my visit.
This pin is a near-exact representation of what the survey markers in the parks look like.
-------------------------------------------------------
2012 Panini Molson / Coors Stanley Cup Collection 2004 Tampa Bay Lightning
On to the cards -- I'll begin with a neat item from a Panini cross-promotion with Molson and Coors. These "banner" cards highlight the Stanley Cup Championships since the beginning of the NHL. They feature foil and dufex, and look really nice.
A Lightning fan, however, will notice a significant problem with this card. When the team won the cup in 2004, they did it with this logo. If you wanted to go for the team's current logo, you'd have to use this one. So why on earth would Panini put the dreaded Oren Koules / Len Barrie era logo on the card?
-------------------------------------------------------
05-06 Upper Deck UD Masterpiece Press Plate Yellow Matt Foy (1/1)
05-06 remains my favorite year for the Upper Deck Masterpiece print plates, simply because it was the only year the plates came with a unique border. I picked up this Foy plate (my first YG plate from 05-06) for a ridiculously dirt cheap price on ebay.
-------------------------------------------------------
Base Cards -- 02-03 Topps Heritage
Base Cards -- 03-04 Crown Royale Hobby
Base Cards -- 03-04 Crown Royale Retail
I'm doing a bit of work right now on my yearly binder project -- trying to finish off as much as I can from the past, since it will always be a project that keeps moving forward. These cards get me closer to completion for the current century. They arrived in a deal with Paul (pwag31).
-------------------------------------------------------
Base Cards -- 11-12 SP Game Used
Base Cards -- 11-12 Upper Deck Ice
Base Cards -- 11-12 SPx
Base Cards -- 03-04 Private Stock Reserve Hobby
Base Cards -- 03-04 Private Stock Reserve Retail
Here are some more base cards from Paul.
-------------------------------------------------------
Base Cards -- 11-12 Between the Pipes
11-12 Between the Pipes 10th Anniversary Jimmy Howard
Here are a few more cards from Paul, including an insert from BTP.
-------------------------------------------------------
02-03 Upper Deck Mask Collection D. Tarnstrom RC (0272/1750)
03-04 Crown Royale Retail Sean Bergenheim RC (485/899)
05-06 Upper Deck Rookie Update Martin St. Pierre RC (1671/1999)
07-08 Ultra Gold Medallion Yutaka Fukufuji
08-09 Black Diamond Brian Lee RC (Triple Diamond)
10-11 UD Artifacts Charles Linglet RC (589/999)
I also received these rookie cards from Paul. They will be going into my rookie collection. The Linglet is my favorite, since he's one of the rare players to earn just one rookie card!
Paul, thank you for the transaction!
-------------------------------------------------------
Base Cards -- 96-97 Playoff One-on-One
Base Cards -- 11-12 Panini Elite
I received these cards from Kevin Mitchell, easily one of my favorite trading partners. Kevin really helped me out with these 96-97 Playoff cards -- I've had a really hard time finding those. There are far fewer cards in the 96-97 set as opposed to the 95-96 set.
-------------------------------------------------------
01-02 Atomic Radek Martinek RC (288/500)
02-03 Crown Royale Hobby Curtis Sanford RC (1211/2299)
00-01 SPx Serge Aubin RC (0019/1500)
01-02 SPx Raffi Torres RC (394/999)
02-03 BAP Signature Series Curtis Sanford RC
07-08 SP Game Used Jack Johnson RC (421/999)
10-11 Score Evan Oberg RC (SP)
Kevin also sent me a bunch of rookie cards -- and these were not part of the original transaction! Just another display of generosity from somebody known for that kind of thing.
Perhaps most interesting about these cards is the Serge Aubin SPx rookie -- numbered 0019/1500. That's a very low-numbered card to be given away by someone who collects low-numbered cards from that set. So, Kevin, how low is the Aubin in your permanent collection?
-------------------------------------------------------
97-98 Zenith 5x7 Manny Malhotra RC (UNCUT)
Kevin also sent me two Zenith 5x7 RCs for my rookie collection. The Malhotra RC finishes my collection of his rookies.
-------------------------------------------------------
97-98 Zenith 5x7 Marco Sturm RC (UNCUT)
Here's a Sturm as well. The 5x7 cards are tough to find in uncut condition.
Kevin, thanks for all these great cards!
-------------------------------------------------------
11-12 SP Game Used Brett Connolly RC (99/99)
I enjoy cards with special serial numbers too -- such as this tough Connolly RC, which is the last copy printed.
-------------------------------------------------------
Tim Thomas Vermont Catamounts (Custom Card)
I have long held that the first Tim Thomas card ever created is the 99-00 Detroit Vipers IHL team issue -- a card I own at least 40 copies of, and at one time owned many more than that. So, I was a bit perturbed when I found one seller on ebay listing these Vermont Catamounts Tim Thomas cards. The seller listed them one-at-a-time, claiming to have found them in somebody's collection and believing them to be legitimate. They sold steadily for $20 a piece for quite a while, before the demand finally dried up and the seller began selling them for $10. I didn't make the purchase until I was able to get an offer in for $5. I was very skeptical of the nature of the card, but for a low cost, I was willing to take the chance and at least get the card in my own hands to investigate.
The verdict: I can say with virtual certainty that this is a custom card that was produced many years after Tim Thomas actually played in Vermont in the mid 90s. The card back contains no proper copyright information; just a single URL: http://www.custom-tradingcards.com/ . That's a company that claims to have been around for over 10 years, but certainly not the 15 that would be implied to make a 1997 Vermont Catamounts set. The site claims they won't do prints for under 100 copies, which implies that there's at least that many copies of this Tim Thomas card available. Of course, common sense would have dictated that this card was a sham even before I purchased it -- I've never seen another player from this supposed Vermont Catamounts set, and why would a card from a mid 90s set suddenly show up in large quantities in 2012?
What disturbs me is that this seller made hundreds of dollars passing off a custom card as something legitimate.
-------------------------------------------------------
11-12 Panini Limited Crease Cleaners Gold Tim Thomas (12/25)
Hey! Here's a legitimate Tim Thomas card -- with only 25 copies printed, too. Just another card off the endless Panini Limited wantlist.
-------------------------------------------------------
11-12 Panini Limited Crease Cleaners Silver Corey Crawford (29/49)
11-12 Panini Limited Crease Cleaners Niklas Backstrom (182/199)
2012 Topps Baseball Kershaw / Halladay / Lee
11-12 SeReal KHL Silver Georgy Belousov (/500)
The preceding Thomas card arrived with these as well. They'll be going to my tradelist. The Belousov is a very strange card to just randomly receive from an ebay purchase (it was included as an extra). Those KHL cards aren't easy to find, much less the parallel versions. However, it does make a nice segue to the next card in the post.
-------------------------------------------------------
11-12 SeReal KHL Silver Martin Cibak (/500)
Here's another of the KHL Silver Parallel cards. This one features Stanley Cup Champion Martin Cibak, a player I collect. I still need the Gold version (/100) and the base version as well.
-------------------------------------------------------
11-12 Pinnacle Game Night Signatures (Redemption) Tim Thomas (/25)
I've seen only two (maybe three) copies of this redemption card. Compared to the prices for other Tim Thomas autograph cards #/25, I feel like I got a very good deal on this one, especially considering the secondary market percentage for Pinnacle has been lower than other sets like Certified or Limited.
I'll be submitting the code soon.
-------------------------------------------------------
11-12 Upper Deck UD Exclusives (084/100)
-- Milan Lucic / Tim Thomas / Zdeno Chara
I would have loved to have this card off the wantlist 6 months ago, but for the most part, they were selling pretty well for a card out of 100 copies. With some age on the product, and people focused elsewhere, I was finally able to purchase this one for next to nothing.
-------------------------------------------------------
11-12 O-Pee-Chee 2011 Rookie Update Matt Hackett
11-12 O-Pee-Chee Johnny Bucyk (SP)
These two cards, headed to my tradelist, were thrown in with the next one.
-------------------------------------------------------
11-12 Panini Certified Champions Mirror Gold Tim Thomas (24/25)
The Mirror Gold insert parallels in Certified pretty much look outstanding across the board -- a real significant contrast to the very bland base versions. Speaking of base versions, however, I do still need the regular version of this card!
-------------------------------------------------------
11-12 Upper Deck Biography of a Season Phil Kessel
11-12 Upper Deck Biography of a Season Jonathan Quick
11-12 Upper Deck Biography of a Season Joffrey Lupul
11-12 Upper Deck Biography of a Season Tyler Seguin
11-12 Upper Deck Biography of a Season Ryan Nugent-Hopkins
11-12 Upper Deck Biography of a Season Sidney Crosby
11-12 Upper Deck Biography of a Season Jonathan Toews
11-12 Upper Deck Biography of a Season Zdeno Chara
11-12 Upper Deck Biography of a Season Jimmy Howard
11-12 Upper Deck Biography of a Season Claude Giroux
I'm going to single out ebay seller cardboardmemories_ca here. Our transaction was for the next card below, but I was sent an entire 10-card batch of UD Biography of a Season cards as a free bonus. I recently completed another transaction with the same seller, for a card that will appear in a future mail post, and got another batch of free stuff too.
-------------------------------------------------------
2012 Panini Spring Expo All-Star Game Autographs Tim Thomas (/5)
Here is the card I purchased in the deal with the Bio cards. This card is from the 2012 Spring Expo, and although it is not serial numbered, Panini's website stated that only 5 copies of each All-Star Game Autograph card were made. The sticker is stamped over with an embossed "Expo 12" logo.
Since this is a special card with a unique design, and not just a show-stamped version of a previously-available card, I do count it for my collection.
-------------------------------------------------------
07-08 O-Pee-Chee Premier Remnants Quadruple Jersey
-- Sergei Samsonov (22/25)
Finally, I own all four versions of the Sergei Samsonov memorabilia cards from 07-08 O-Pee-Chee! This card has four jersey swatches -- dark blue, black and yellow, black, and white. The jersey swatches probably come from a combination of Samsonov Bruins and Oilers jerseys. Upper Deck must have acquired a dozen Samsonov Bruins jerseys over the years, but probably only one from the Oilers.
-------------------------------------------------------
Base cards (including an unauthorized Gretzky magazine issue)
01-02 Stadium Club Gallery Brendan Shanahan
Here is more random stuff thrown in with an ebay transaction -- with one halfway respectable insert for the tradelist. These card were included with the Samsonov below.
-------------------------------------------------------
01-02 BAP Signature Series He Shoots He Scores Prizes
From a scarcity standpoint (discounting the Foy 1/1 early in the post), this is my favorite card in this batch of mail. This is Samsonov's only solo entry into the HSHS program (he had two dual cards with Cam Neely in the ITG Original 6 product). It's card #24, and is numbered 3/20 on the back. The card features a white swatch.
I seriously wonder how many of these cards were actually distributed. ITG never released numbers on that sort of thing. The fact that the only copy I've seen of this card in many years is only #3 sequentially leads me to wonder if only a fraction of the 20 copies made it out.
It's also worth noting (just as a curiosity) that while Samsonov was in the jersey redemption set, he wasn't in the decoy/point card set placed in packs.
-------------------------------------------------------
80-81 O-Pee-Chee Ray Bourque RC
I'll close the mail post with one of the best rookie cards of the 80s, and a card that has been on my most-wanted list for a while now. This is Ray Bourque, one of the best defenseman ever to play the game.
I purchased this card from Dave (warsawknuckles). The card's condition is what I'd call a typical "good" for that year. There is some minor edge roughness, it's off-centered slightly, and one or two corners are a little bit soft. However, there are no stains, bends, creases, scratches, or dents. Basically, it's in the exact condition I was looking for.
With this card in hand, the last key 80s rookie card on my wantlist is the Mark Messier from the same set. Aside from Messier, I own every RC from the 80s with a BV of $10 or higher, and I recently added the rest of the listed cards to my wantlist. I'm not counting 79-80, of course, because I have no plans to add a Gretzky RC to my collection in the near future.
Dave, thanks for the deal, and for adding one of the most important RCs to my Topps/OPC-era collection!
-------------------------------------------------------
News and notes:
** While I was gone, I missed the release of Titanium, and I'm getting spun back up just as Rookie Anthology is being released. Both of those sets are huge messes for my rookie wantlist, especially the latter, which is almost as bothersome and redundant as 05-06 UD Rookie Update was. Anthology's a better selection of cards than UDRU, for sure, but I don't really know if Allen York needs a rookie card in every set (and a SP #/99 in Certified).
** I also see that Upper Deck planned SP Authentic RC preview set for the Universal Summit. I'm going to be interested in some of those cards, but I'm not finding much on the secondary market. Does anyone have a lead on them? I also have no idea how UD plans to legitimately continue with their planned releases for 2011-12, when SP Authentic isn't going to be out until some time in July.
** Is Upper Deck planning any special card sets for the Los Angeles Kings? If so, I'll need to watch out for Alec Martinez cards. The Stanley Cup victory will probably mean he'll get a little bit more attention in 12-13 card sets anyway.
** Those items aside, by far the biggest news for my collection was that Tim Thomas' career as a Bruin is over, and that he may in fact sit out the entire 2012-13 season. It's not out of the question to think that his hockey career may be done. Given his contract with Panini, I don't know how much that will actually whittle down his card offerings for next season, but some relief for my collection may be on the way.
That'll be it. Thanks everyone!
--Andy
http://www.thegreatzo.com/cards/
-------------------------------------------------------
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