The Great Zo
Verified Trader,
In my last mail post, I ran through five months' worth of Tim Thomas cards. Well, I saved a few for part two -- my last mail post of 2014!
The Final Mail Post (#19) for 2014
-------------------------------------------------------
2014 Topps Allen and Ginter The World's Capitals WC03 Moscow Russia
2014 Topps Allen and Ginter The World's Capitals WC04 Beijing China
I'll begin the post with three pictures of extra items I received with the Thomas cards pictured below. I really like these first two, as world capitals have always been something that caught my geopolitical interests.
-------------------------------------------------------
2013 Upper Deck Notre Dame Football base cards
On the other hand, I have zero interest in football or college sports. These items may as well have been plain pieces of cardboard.
-------------------------------------------------------
13-14 National Treasures Silver Jonas Hiller (20/25)
This one, though, will head to my tradelist. It's a decent parallel from a high-end set, with a goalie who has exceeded expectations in 2014.
So, here's how the rest of this mail post is going to work. Tim Thomas, thanks to his willingness to sign for Panini, was included in a plethora of their products. It makes sense, then, that he would have some cards in their final NHL release -- 2013-14 National Treasures. Every Tim Thomas card in this post is from National Treasures, but Tim Thomas actually only had six cards on the checklist. So, where are the rest going to come from?
Yup, it had to be press plates! Ever since 2005-06 Upper Deck, I've been a fan of well-executed plate sets, and I think Panini did a great job with the biggest press plate release of all time!
I have very little commentary on what's to follow, so I'll just get to it, and save a few notes for the end. Get your scroll wheels ready.
-------------------------------------------------------
13-14 National Treasures Press Plates (1/1)
-- 10-11 Playoff Contenders 22 Tim Thomas (Cyan Plate)
-------------------------------------------------------
13-14 National Treasures Press Plates (1/1)
-- 10-11 Panini Luxury Suite 5 Tim Thomas (Black Plate)
-------------------------------------------------------
13-14 National Treasures Press Plates (1/1)
-- 10-11 Panini Luxury Suite 5 Tim Thomas (Cyan Plate)
-------------------------------------------------------
13-14 National Treasures Press Plates (1/1)
-- 11-12 Zenith 29 Tim Thomas (Magenta Plate)
-------------------------------------------------------
13-14 National Treasures Press Plates (1/1)
-- 10-11 Zenith Crease is the Word 2 Tim Thomas (Cyan Plate)
-------------------------------------------------------
13-14 National Treasures Press Plates (1/1)
-- 10-11 Zenith Z-Team 4 Tim Thomas (Black Plate)
-------------------------------------------------------
13-14 National Treasures Press Plates (1/1)
-- 11-12 Crown Royale Coat of Arms 2 Tim Thomas (Cyan Plate)
-------------------------------------------------------
13-14 National Treasures Press Plates (1/1)
-- 11-12 Crown Royale Coat of Arms 2 Tim Thomas (Yellow Plate)
-------------------------------------------------------
13-14 National Treasures Press Plates (1/1)
-- 11-12 Crown Royale Silhouettes 7 Tim Thomas (Yellow Plate)
-------------------------------------------------------
13-14 National Treasures Press Plates (1/1)
-- 11-12 Dominion Peerless Patches 4 Tim Thomas (Yellow Plate)
-------------------------------------------------------
13-14 National Treasures Press Plates (1/1)
-- 11-12 Dominion Quad Jerseys 33 (Cyan Plate)
-- Tim Thomas / Zdeno Chara / Daniel Sedin / Roberto Luongo
-------------------------------------------------------
13-14 National Treasures Press Plates (1/1)
-- 11-12 Panini Certified 96 Tim Thomas (Cyan Plate)
-------------------------------------------------------
13-14 National Treasures Press Plates (1/1)
-- 11-12 Panini Certified 96 Tim Thomas (Magenta Plate)
-------------------------------------------------------
13-14 National Treasures Press Plates (1/1)
-- 11-12 Panini Certified 96 Tim Thomas (Yellow Plate)
-------------------------------------------------------
13-14 National Treasures Press Plates (1/1)
-- 11-12 Panini Contenders 43 Tim Thomas (Yellow Plate)
-------------------------------------------------------
13-14 National Treasures Press Plates (1/1)
-- 11-12 Panini Contenders 105 Tim Thomas (Cyan Plate)
-------------------------------------------------------
13-14 National Treasures Press Plates (1/1)
-- 11-12 Panini Contenders 105 Tim Thomas (Magenta Plate)
-------------------------------------------------------
13-14 National Treasures Press Plates (1/1)
-- 11-12 Panini Prime 6 Tim Thomas (Cyan Plate)
-------------------------------------------------------
13-14 National Treasures Press Plates (1/1)
-- 11-12 Panini Rookie Anthology 79 Tim Thomas (Yellow Plate)
-------------------------------------------------------
13-14 National Treasures Press Plates (1/1)
-- 11-12 Titanium 53 Tim Thomas (Cyan Plate)
-------------------------------------------------------
13-14 National Treasures Press Plates (1/1)
-- 11-12 Titanium Game-Worn Gear 7 Tim Thomas (Black Plate)
-------------------------------------------------------
13-14 National Treasures Press Plates (1/1)
-- 12-13 Panini Certified Fabric of the Game 99 Tim Thomas (Black Plate)
-------------------------------------------------------
13-14 National Treasures Press Plates (1/1)
-- 12-13 Panini Certified Fabric of the Game 99 Tim Thomas (Magenta Plate)
-------------------------------------------------------
13-14 National Treasures Press Plates (1/1)
-- 12-13 Panini Certified Path to the Cup 29 Karl Alzner / Tim Thomas (Black Plate)
-------------------------------------------------------
13-14 National Treasures Press Plates (1/1)
-- 12-13 Panini Certified Path to the Cup 29 Karl Alzner / Tim Thomas (Cyan Plate)
-------------------------------------------------------
13-14 National Treasures Press Plates (1/1)
-- 13-14 Panini Playbook 34 Tim Thomas (Black Plate)
-------------------------------------------------------
13-14 National Treasures Press Plates (1/1)
-- 13-14 Panini Playbook 34 Tim Thomas (Yellow Plate)
-------------------------------------------------------
13-14 National Treasures Press Plates (1/1)
-- 13-14 Panini Playbook Autobiography 29 Tim Thomas (Black Plate)
Almost there! Just four more, but they're probably my favorites of all!
-------------------------------------------------------
13-14 National Treasures Press Plates (1/1)
-- 11-12 Pinnacle 250 Tim Thomas (Black Plate)
-- 11-12 Pinnacle 250 Tim Thomas (Cyan Plate)
-- 11-12 Pinnacle 250 Tim Thomas (Magenta Plate)
-- 11-12 Pinnacle 250 Tim Thomas (Yellow Plate)
Time to take a breath. Yes, that's a grand total of 32 Tim Thomas press plates, spanning products from 10-11 to 13-14.
Among my favorites are the two plates from the 11-12 Crown Royale Coat of Arms insert set. The very detailed design element at the top left of the card was completely cut out for a memorabilia swatch in the finished product. The only way to know for sure what it looks like would be to assemble a complete set of four Coat of Arms plates.
I only have two Coat of Arms plates, but I did manage to pick up three plates from 11-12 Panini Certified. That's the closest I've come to a set completion...
...if you don't count the Pinnacle plates I posted at the end, of course! Those four were all inserted into the same pack of National Treasures, and on a plate-per-plate basis, the set of four cost me more than any of the other plates in this post. I think it was worth it, in order to get them all together.
So, of course, I had to give my Photoshop skills a workout, and go for another plate reconstruction.
-------------------------------------------------------
Scans of all four plates were imported into Photoshop.
After compositing them via CMYK channel inputs, a faded version of the original card image was produced.
With the help of some contrast/color adjustments, an image approximating that of the original card was generated.
Here's a scan of the actual card. I didn't get this one looking quite as close as the 08-09 UD plates I put together in June, but it's not that far off. Just a little bit washed out for some reason.
Here's some statistical information on the Tim Thomas plates in National Treasures, which I've put together to the best of my ability, knowing that no checklist was ever released by Panini.
* Total Plates Produced: 100
* Total Unique Plates: 25
* Total Plates Confirmed to Exist: 49
* Total Plates Owned: 32 (32%)
My one minor complaint about the National Treasures plates is that insert sets are not specified. However, based on the card numbers, they aren't tough to figure out. The fronts are in a little bit worse shape than the UD plates over the years, but the backs are much nicer, with all the details printed on a glossy coating.
Obviously, I only went crazy with these plates due to the extraordinarily cheap prices -- many of these did not even break $10 delivered. The market has been flooded, and the prices responded fittingly.
These aren't my only cards from National Treasures. As I mentioned, Thomas was featured on six actual cards in the product, and I've picked up three of them.
-------------------------------------------------------
13-14 National Treasures Timeline Jersey Tim Thomas (07/99)
Tim Thomas was included in the Timelines insert set, which has three tiers. Here's the easiest tier, with a single-color jersey swatch (yellow) and a print run of 99 copies. This version uses regular silver foil on the card front.
-------------------------------------------------------
13-14 National Treasures Timeline Prime Tim Thomas (34/50)
The next tier up features a prime jersey swatch (black seam / white jersey), with a print run of only 50 copies. This one uses silver holofoil on the card front.
The highest tier features a patch swatch, regular gold foil, and a print run of 25. I have yet to acquire one of those.
The theme of the set isn't exactly what I'd expect from something called "Timelines" -- rather than focusing on a player's evolution through a period of time, each card simply highlights a single event. The Tim Thomas card discusses a game on March 8, 2014. After Kari Lehtonen was hurt, Thomas came on in relief to make six saves, preserving a 4-3 Dallas Stars win against the Minnesota Wild. Yes, apparently a six-save effort is enough to make it into a "Timelines" insert set in the most high-end hockey card product of the year!
Tim Thomas was also included in an autographed trophy winner insert set, with two versions produced -- one limited to 25 copies, as well as a 1/1 version. The 1/1 did surface, but I wasn't able to get it. The #/25 version has been selling for some pretty crazy prices too, so I haven't picked that one up yet either.
That leaves just one more Tim Thomas card in National Treasures, and just one more card for this mail post. I've owned this card for a few months, and it was hard to wait to share it until now, but I've saved the big one for last!
-------------------------------------------------------
13-14 National Treasures Signature Shields SH-TTH Tim Thomas (One of One)
Here it is -- the first autographed shield card in my collection! True, it's not my first shield card, as I own the 09-10 The Cup Dual Shield card of Tim Thomas and Tuukka Rask. However, as I have no interest in any other Bruins players (outside of Sergei Samsonov), I think that a single-player auto/shield has a better spot in my collection than dual shield without a signature. Thus, this card has instantly become one of the crown jewels of my entire Tim Thomas collection. It also came at only a fraction of the cost of the Thomas/Rask shield, which is nice, to say the least.
I like the simple design on this one, and the big white area for the signature, which really pops off the card. The gold holofoil highlights are a nice touch as well. I wish the shield were centered better in the window, but that's a minor complaint. The only thing that's a little bit contrasting is something well outside of Panini's control -- the yellow Boston Bruins jersey swatch behind the NHL shield does not match the green Dallas Stars jersey worn by Thomas in the picture. As this was Thomas' third team in under a year, it's not a surprise that he'd be mixed up a little on some of his final pieces of cardboard.
One of the other reasons this card is an important one is that I believe it's likely to be the final high-end Tim Thomas card to ever be produced. Actually, it's virtually guaranteed to be one of his final cards in general, at least as an active player. Since National Treasures was released, Thomas' only appearance has been in the base set of 14-15 O-Pee-Chee. Since Thomas isn't playing anywhere right now, it's unlikely he'll appear in any more products this year. Thomas has never had an autograph agreement with UD, though he appeared in many memorabilia sets over the years. Thomas had a good relationship with Panini, but Panini is now out of the market. Finally, though Thomas also appeared in many ITG products, the only cards they've made of him in the past season or two have been unauthorized picture-less memorabilia cards.
The end of my active Tim Thomas collection is in sight, which might finally motivate me to update the several-years-outdated checklist on my website. When I do, I'll very much enjoy marking this outstanding card as "owned."
The Final Mail Post (#19) for 2014
-------------------------------------------------------
2014 Topps Allen and Ginter The World's Capitals WC03 Moscow Russia
2014 Topps Allen and Ginter The World's Capitals WC04 Beijing China
I'll begin the post with three pictures of extra items I received with the Thomas cards pictured below. I really like these first two, as world capitals have always been something that caught my geopolitical interests.
-------------------------------------------------------
2013 Upper Deck Notre Dame Football base cards
On the other hand, I have zero interest in football or college sports. These items may as well have been plain pieces of cardboard.
-------------------------------------------------------
13-14 National Treasures Silver Jonas Hiller (20/25)
This one, though, will head to my tradelist. It's a decent parallel from a high-end set, with a goalie who has exceeded expectations in 2014.
So, here's how the rest of this mail post is going to work. Tim Thomas, thanks to his willingness to sign for Panini, was included in a plethora of their products. It makes sense, then, that he would have some cards in their final NHL release -- 2013-14 National Treasures. Every Tim Thomas card in this post is from National Treasures, but Tim Thomas actually only had six cards on the checklist. So, where are the rest going to come from?
Yup, it had to be press plates! Ever since 2005-06 Upper Deck, I've been a fan of well-executed plate sets, and I think Panini did a great job with the biggest press plate release of all time!
I have very little commentary on what's to follow, so I'll just get to it, and save a few notes for the end. Get your scroll wheels ready.
-------------------------------------------------------
13-14 National Treasures Press Plates (1/1)
-- 10-11 Playoff Contenders 22 Tim Thomas (Cyan Plate)
-------------------------------------------------------
13-14 National Treasures Press Plates (1/1)
-- 10-11 Panini Luxury Suite 5 Tim Thomas (Black Plate)
-------------------------------------------------------
13-14 National Treasures Press Plates (1/1)
-- 10-11 Panini Luxury Suite 5 Tim Thomas (Cyan Plate)
-------------------------------------------------------
13-14 National Treasures Press Plates (1/1)
-- 11-12 Zenith 29 Tim Thomas (Magenta Plate)
-------------------------------------------------------
13-14 National Treasures Press Plates (1/1)
-- 10-11 Zenith Crease is the Word 2 Tim Thomas (Cyan Plate)
-------------------------------------------------------
13-14 National Treasures Press Plates (1/1)
-- 10-11 Zenith Z-Team 4 Tim Thomas (Black Plate)
-------------------------------------------------------
13-14 National Treasures Press Plates (1/1)
-- 11-12 Crown Royale Coat of Arms 2 Tim Thomas (Cyan Plate)
-------------------------------------------------------
13-14 National Treasures Press Plates (1/1)
-- 11-12 Crown Royale Coat of Arms 2 Tim Thomas (Yellow Plate)
-------------------------------------------------------
13-14 National Treasures Press Plates (1/1)
-- 11-12 Crown Royale Silhouettes 7 Tim Thomas (Yellow Plate)
-------------------------------------------------------
13-14 National Treasures Press Plates (1/1)
-- 11-12 Dominion Peerless Patches 4 Tim Thomas (Yellow Plate)
-------------------------------------------------------
13-14 National Treasures Press Plates (1/1)
-- 11-12 Dominion Quad Jerseys 33 (Cyan Plate)
-- Tim Thomas / Zdeno Chara / Daniel Sedin / Roberto Luongo
-------------------------------------------------------
13-14 National Treasures Press Plates (1/1)
-- 11-12 Panini Certified 96 Tim Thomas (Cyan Plate)
-------------------------------------------------------
13-14 National Treasures Press Plates (1/1)
-- 11-12 Panini Certified 96 Tim Thomas (Magenta Plate)
-------------------------------------------------------
13-14 National Treasures Press Plates (1/1)
-- 11-12 Panini Certified 96 Tim Thomas (Yellow Plate)
-------------------------------------------------------
13-14 National Treasures Press Plates (1/1)
-- 11-12 Panini Contenders 43 Tim Thomas (Yellow Plate)
-------------------------------------------------------
13-14 National Treasures Press Plates (1/1)
-- 11-12 Panini Contenders 105 Tim Thomas (Cyan Plate)
-------------------------------------------------------
13-14 National Treasures Press Plates (1/1)
-- 11-12 Panini Contenders 105 Tim Thomas (Magenta Plate)
-------------------------------------------------------
13-14 National Treasures Press Plates (1/1)
-- 11-12 Panini Prime 6 Tim Thomas (Cyan Plate)
-------------------------------------------------------
13-14 National Treasures Press Plates (1/1)
-- 11-12 Panini Rookie Anthology 79 Tim Thomas (Yellow Plate)
-------------------------------------------------------
13-14 National Treasures Press Plates (1/1)
-- 11-12 Titanium 53 Tim Thomas (Cyan Plate)
-------------------------------------------------------
13-14 National Treasures Press Plates (1/1)
-- 11-12 Titanium Game-Worn Gear 7 Tim Thomas (Black Plate)
-------------------------------------------------------
13-14 National Treasures Press Plates (1/1)
-- 12-13 Panini Certified Fabric of the Game 99 Tim Thomas (Black Plate)
-------------------------------------------------------
13-14 National Treasures Press Plates (1/1)
-- 12-13 Panini Certified Fabric of the Game 99 Tim Thomas (Magenta Plate)
-------------------------------------------------------
13-14 National Treasures Press Plates (1/1)
-- 12-13 Panini Certified Path to the Cup 29 Karl Alzner / Tim Thomas (Black Plate)
-------------------------------------------------------
13-14 National Treasures Press Plates (1/1)
-- 12-13 Panini Certified Path to the Cup 29 Karl Alzner / Tim Thomas (Cyan Plate)
-------------------------------------------------------
13-14 National Treasures Press Plates (1/1)
-- 13-14 Panini Playbook 34 Tim Thomas (Black Plate)
-------------------------------------------------------
13-14 National Treasures Press Plates (1/1)
-- 13-14 Panini Playbook 34 Tim Thomas (Yellow Plate)
-------------------------------------------------------
13-14 National Treasures Press Plates (1/1)
-- 13-14 Panini Playbook Autobiography 29 Tim Thomas (Black Plate)
Almost there! Just four more, but they're probably my favorites of all!
-------------------------------------------------------
13-14 National Treasures Press Plates (1/1)
-- 11-12 Pinnacle 250 Tim Thomas (Black Plate)
-- 11-12 Pinnacle 250 Tim Thomas (Cyan Plate)
-- 11-12 Pinnacle 250 Tim Thomas (Magenta Plate)
-- 11-12 Pinnacle 250 Tim Thomas (Yellow Plate)
Time to take a breath. Yes, that's a grand total of 32 Tim Thomas press plates, spanning products from 10-11 to 13-14.
Among my favorites are the two plates from the 11-12 Crown Royale Coat of Arms insert set. The very detailed design element at the top left of the card was completely cut out for a memorabilia swatch in the finished product. The only way to know for sure what it looks like would be to assemble a complete set of four Coat of Arms plates.
I only have two Coat of Arms plates, but I did manage to pick up three plates from 11-12 Panini Certified. That's the closest I've come to a set completion...
...if you don't count the Pinnacle plates I posted at the end, of course! Those four were all inserted into the same pack of National Treasures, and on a plate-per-plate basis, the set of four cost me more than any of the other plates in this post. I think it was worth it, in order to get them all together.
So, of course, I had to give my Photoshop skills a workout, and go for another plate reconstruction.
-------------------------------------------------------
Scans of all four plates were imported into Photoshop.
After compositing them via CMYK channel inputs, a faded version of the original card image was produced.
With the help of some contrast/color adjustments, an image approximating that of the original card was generated.
Here's a scan of the actual card. I didn't get this one looking quite as close as the 08-09 UD plates I put together in June, but it's not that far off. Just a little bit washed out for some reason.
Here's some statistical information on the Tim Thomas plates in National Treasures, which I've put together to the best of my ability, knowing that no checklist was ever released by Panini.
* Total Plates Produced: 100
* Total Unique Plates: 25
* Total Plates Confirmed to Exist: 49
* Total Plates Owned: 32 (32%)
My one minor complaint about the National Treasures plates is that insert sets are not specified. However, based on the card numbers, they aren't tough to figure out. The fronts are in a little bit worse shape than the UD plates over the years, but the backs are much nicer, with all the details printed on a glossy coating.
Obviously, I only went crazy with these plates due to the extraordinarily cheap prices -- many of these did not even break $10 delivered. The market has been flooded, and the prices responded fittingly.
These aren't my only cards from National Treasures. As I mentioned, Thomas was featured on six actual cards in the product, and I've picked up three of them.
-------------------------------------------------------
13-14 National Treasures Timeline Jersey Tim Thomas (07/99)
Tim Thomas was included in the Timelines insert set, which has three tiers. Here's the easiest tier, with a single-color jersey swatch (yellow) and a print run of 99 copies. This version uses regular silver foil on the card front.
-------------------------------------------------------
13-14 National Treasures Timeline Prime Tim Thomas (34/50)
The next tier up features a prime jersey swatch (black seam / white jersey), with a print run of only 50 copies. This one uses silver holofoil on the card front.
The highest tier features a patch swatch, regular gold foil, and a print run of 25. I have yet to acquire one of those.
The theme of the set isn't exactly what I'd expect from something called "Timelines" -- rather than focusing on a player's evolution through a period of time, each card simply highlights a single event. The Tim Thomas card discusses a game on March 8, 2014. After Kari Lehtonen was hurt, Thomas came on in relief to make six saves, preserving a 4-3 Dallas Stars win against the Minnesota Wild. Yes, apparently a six-save effort is enough to make it into a "Timelines" insert set in the most high-end hockey card product of the year!
Tim Thomas was also included in an autographed trophy winner insert set, with two versions produced -- one limited to 25 copies, as well as a 1/1 version. The 1/1 did surface, but I wasn't able to get it. The #/25 version has been selling for some pretty crazy prices too, so I haven't picked that one up yet either.
That leaves just one more Tim Thomas card in National Treasures, and just one more card for this mail post. I've owned this card for a few months, and it was hard to wait to share it until now, but I've saved the big one for last!
-------------------------------------------------------
13-14 National Treasures Signature Shields SH-TTH Tim Thomas (One of One)
Here it is -- the first autographed shield card in my collection! True, it's not my first shield card, as I own the 09-10 The Cup Dual Shield card of Tim Thomas and Tuukka Rask. However, as I have no interest in any other Bruins players (outside of Sergei Samsonov), I think that a single-player auto/shield has a better spot in my collection than dual shield without a signature. Thus, this card has instantly become one of the crown jewels of my entire Tim Thomas collection. It also came at only a fraction of the cost of the Thomas/Rask shield, which is nice, to say the least.
I like the simple design on this one, and the big white area for the signature, which really pops off the card. The gold holofoil highlights are a nice touch as well. I wish the shield were centered better in the window, but that's a minor complaint. The only thing that's a little bit contrasting is something well outside of Panini's control -- the yellow Boston Bruins jersey swatch behind the NHL shield does not match the green Dallas Stars jersey worn by Thomas in the picture. As this was Thomas' third team in under a year, it's not a surprise that he'd be mixed up a little on some of his final pieces of cardboard.
One of the other reasons this card is an important one is that I believe it's likely to be the final high-end Tim Thomas card to ever be produced. Actually, it's virtually guaranteed to be one of his final cards in general, at least as an active player. Since National Treasures was released, Thomas' only appearance has been in the base set of 14-15 O-Pee-Chee. Since Thomas isn't playing anywhere right now, it's unlikely he'll appear in any more products this year. Thomas has never had an autograph agreement with UD, though he appeared in many memorabilia sets over the years. Thomas had a good relationship with Panini, but Panini is now out of the market. Finally, though Thomas also appeared in many ITG products, the only cards they've made of him in the past season or two have been unauthorized picture-less memorabilia cards.
The end of my active Tim Thomas collection is in sight, which might finally motivate me to update the several-years-outdated checklist on my website. When I do, I'll very much enjoy marking this outstanding card as "owned."
