The Great Zo
Verified Trader,
This is a post that is over a month in the making -- some of these cards have been sitting on my desk for about that long. It's not a theme I've ever really done before, but it's going to work pretty well this time.
Essentially, there's nothing but Tim Thomas in this mail post (aside from a few ancillary cards that came to me in deals involving Thomas cards as well). Inside this post is nearly 2% of my entire player collections -- of all players combined. It's a bit high-end for my standards, but none of these cards were impulse purchases -- for many of them, I waited until the price was right.
Enjoy all the black and gold!
This is mail post #5 on the year.
-------------------------------------------------------
08-09 Upper Deck Sergei Samsonov
08-09 Upper Deck Andrew Murray RC (SP)
08-09 Upper Deck Victory Derek Dorsett (Update)
08-09 Upper Deck Victory Nikita Filatov (Update)
08-09 Upper Deck Victory Janne Niskala (Update)
08-09 Upper Deck Victory Jakub Voracek (Update)
Here are cards I received in a trade with Nik (tragicallynik). The RCs are keepers for my RC collection, while the Samsonov goes toward my Samsonov player collection. Of course, the transaction involved one more card.
-------------------------------------------------------
08-09 SP Game Used Authentic Fabrics Dual Tim Thomas
It's the first of many Tim Thomas cards in the mail post -- and also his easiest card from SP Game Used. Tim Thomas was granted an obscene total of 16 cards in SP Game Used this season.
Thanks for the deal, Nik!
-------------------------------------------------------
08-09 Upper Deck Favourite Sons Ryan Smyth
08-09 Upper Deck Favourite Sons Jonathan Cheechoo
08-09 Upper Deck Favourite Sons Devin Setoguchi
08-09 Upper Deck Favourite Sons Brenden Morrow
08-09 Upper Deck Favourite Sons Jonathan Toews
08-09 Upper Deck Favourite Sons Martin St. Louis
08-09 Upper Deck Favourite Sons Vincent Lecavalier
I received these cards in a purchase from Kirk (davekeon). Upon pulling a Brad Richards card from the set, I decided to complete all 14 cards. I have another three incoming, and just three more to go.
Of course, I did discover an error card of a different kind. Smyth's card highlights Banff, Alberta, his hometown. The card incorrectly states that Banff is the highest point in Canada -- an obvious error to anyone with half a sense of geography, but probably one that slipped right by the fine folks at UD. Banff has an elevation of 4,800 feet, and is actually the highest incorporated town in the nation. However, the highest point in Canada is Mount Logan -- with a height of 19,551 feet, it's the second-highest point in all of North America.
-------------------------------------------------------
08-09 UD Collector's Choice Tim Thomas
08-09 UD Collector's Choice Marc Savard / Tim Thomas / Zdeno Chara
08-09 UD Collector's Choice Reserve Tim Thomas
08-09 UD Collector's Choice Reserve Marc Savard / Tim Thomas / Zdeno Chara
Here's the final four cards from the deal with Kirk. The set design here is definitely a throwback to the mid-90s sets -- with the tilted lines of the 96-97 set, and the text formatting of the 95-96 set. Though the parallels borrow names from the 98-99 set, they are structured more similarly to the 95-96 version. Either way, I can tell it's a set I'd probably like, and I plan to pick up a few packs at some point down the road.
Kirk, thanks for the transaction!
From here on out, every card in the post will feature Tim Thomas -- sometimes, among other players. Unless otherwise noted, all of the remaining cards came in from ebay.
-------------------------------------------------------
06-07 Hot Prospects Hot Materials Red Hot Tim Thomas (/100)
This is a card I already owned for my collection, but with a boring black swatch. I was able to pick up this two-color upgrade fairly inexpensively.
-------------------------------------------------------
05-06 ITG Heroes and Prospects Game-Used Jersey Tim Thomas (/100)
This card came to me in a trade with Anthony (Moose#11). This one is a double, and will be added to my tradelist. The purpose for the transaction was another card, which will appear later on in the mail post.
-------------------------------------------------------
08-09 SP Game Used Authentic Fabrics Duos Erik Cole / Tim Thomas (/100) (x2)
This was a rare mistake on my part -- I purchased two of these cards on accident! It's not like these were expensive -- so one will head to the tradelist, and the other will rest in my collection.
Seriously though -- why Erik Cole? The sole thing the two players have in common is that they are from the USA. I hardly think that's enough to justify a pairing on a dual jersey card.
-------------------------------------------------------
08-09 SP Game Used Authentic Fabrics Duos Tim Thomas / Tuukka Rask (/100)
Here's a nicer (and more logical) combination -- and the two-color Thomas swatch just makes it even better. I had to wait a bit to pick up one of these, as the first few were a little more expensive than I would have liked.
-------------------------------------------------------
08-09 SP Game Used Authentic Fabrics Dual Platinum Jersey/Patch Tim Thomas (02/25)
Looking simply to add to the collection -- I decided not to worry about finding a nice patch piece on this one. The card cost me about as much as the regular jersey cards from the same set are going for, while the short print run ensures that getting one now was still the right idea.
-------------------------------------------------------
08-09 SP Game Used Authentic Fabrics Triple Tim Thomas
These cards are not serial numbered, but I can't imagine that there are more than 100 copies of each triple. The Thomas triple, anyway, has shown up about as often as the dual jerseys featured above.
From here on out... we'll count down the top 10 cards remaining in the mail post!
-------------------------------------------------------
CARD #10) 08-09 SP Game Used Authentic Fabrics Triple Gold Tim Thomas (03/25)
To continue the theme of the last picture -- here's the gold version. I still need to find one of the platinum versions, which is limited to 10 copies and features two patch pieces. Two have shown up on ebay so far, but judging by the prices being asked, one of the sellers is high, and the other is drunk and high.
-------------------------------------------------------
CARD #9) 08-09 Black Diamond Quad Jerseys Gold Tim Thomas (17/25)
I like the design of these cards quite a bit. I also have kept in mind that Black Diamond wasn't broken as well as SP Game Used, so cards limited to 25 from one set are not quite equal to cards limited to 25 from the other set.
Of course, in another proofreading blunder, the back of the card states that it's the Ruby version. The back of the Ruby version states that it's the Gold version. Oh well.
-------------------------------------------------------
CARD #8) 08-09 SP Game Used Authentic Fabrics Duos Gold Patch Tim Thomas / Tuukka Rask (01/25)
Here is the other card I received in the trade with Anthony (Moose#11). The patches are not great, although the Thomas does have a bit of yellow sneaking through. However, it's the first copy printed, which I think makes it worth it.
The first few copies of this card on ebay sold for insane money. One copy sold for $99. That's not a typo. I believe two others also broke $30 or $40. The last few settled into more reasonable territory, but by then, I already had the deal worked out for this one.
Anthony, thanks very much for our trade!
-------------------------------------------------------
CARD #7) 08-09 UD Trilogy Rivals
-- Carey Price / Alex Kovalev / Saku Koivu
-- Phil Kessel / Tim Thomas / Michael Ryder
I'm not a huge fan of this card in particular, mainly because I really don't like Montreal at all. Still, from a typical hobby standpoint, it's a very nice one. There's no print run, but I've seen around eight copies -- and would think there's at least 40 copies; probably a little higher.
-------------------------------------------------------
CARD #6) 08-09 Black Diamond Quad Jerseys Onyx Tim Thomas (04/10)
I'll jump back to Black Diamond now, for the best of the Quad Jersey parallels. This one looks really nice in person -- with the dark design elements and the three swatch colors. Definitely among the most aesthetically pleasing Thomas cards from this season.
-------------------------------------------------------
CARD #5) 08-09 UD Artifacts Tundra Trios Patches Patrice Bergeron / Marc Savard / Tim Thomas (07/10)
Well, I guess I can't do much better than these swatches for a copy of this card! All three are nicely layered -- and the print run is nice too. Strange that I pick this one up before coming anywhere near completing Thomas' base set parallels from Artifacts. I still need four of those, and I don't think I've seen a single copy of any of the ones I still need.
-------------------------------------------------------
CARD #4) 08-09 SP Game Used Authentic Fabrics Sixes (6/6)
-- Marty Turco / Chris Osgood / Evgeni Nabokov
-- Tim Thomas / Rick DiPietro / Tomas Vokoun
It has been amazing to me just how much less expensive the multi-jersey cards from SPGU have been, in comparison to their multi-patch parallels. The print runs are not all that different, so I was expecting only a small premium for the patch cards. However, in reality, the premium has been up to 3x the price.
Ultimately, they'll all be impossible to find in a year or so, so why not pick off the less-expensive ones now?
Here's a card of six goalies -- the final copy printed of six. I figured it would be a cold day in hell before a Chris Osgood jersey card was canonized into my collection.
-------------------------------------------------------
CARD #3) 07-08 Be A Player Signatures Foursomes (07/10)
-- Marc Savard / Tim Thomas / Milan Lucic / Phil Kessel
While the preceding card is rarer, it's not the first six-swatch card I own -- that would be the two versions of the 06-07 Between The Pipes Shooting Gallery Bruins card. This, however, is the first four-signature card in my collection. It was nearly a year before I found a single copy of this card -- before one was pulled on Hobby Insider. The seller wasn't terribly cooperative, and the next one to hit ebay sold for a rather ridiculous price I wanted nothing to do with. This one was listed with a Best Offer option, and I'm glad to say that my offer was accepted -- for significantly less than either of the two preceding copies sold for.
-------------------------------------------------------
CARD #2) 06-07 Between The Pipes Game-Used Number Autographed Tim Thomas (08/10)
By all regular logic, this card would have been back a few spots in the top-ten list. However, special circumstances have forced me to put it in second place.
I won the auction for this card from north-of-7, and it was mailed to me on September 20, 2008. It went missing, but Robyn was happy to refund my purchase.
On February 26, 2009, the card arrived in my mailbox. It was over five months since it was mailed.
My main concern with this card was just that I'd never see another one -- given that it is limited to ten copies, and that the product was given a light break. So, the big relief (and surprise) of having a card presumed lost forever suddenly arrive in the mail...
...brings this one to the #2 spot on my list...
...and provides a perfect segue to its closely related sibling, the #1 card in the post...
-------------------------------------------------------
CARD #1) 06-07 Between The Pipes Game-Used Number Gold Tim Thomas (1/1)
With all of the low-numbered stuff in this mail post, it seems fitting to close with the one card that's as rare as they come!
This is the 11th Tim Thomas 1/1 in my collection, and the 23rd in all of my player collections combined. It's also the first 1/1 I've added for one of my player collections since June of 2008.
My wantlist for 06-07 Tim Thomas cards is down to just four, and one is incoming. One of the other three cards is the Autographed Emblem card from Between The Pipes -- the final of 21 Between The Pipes cards on my wantlist. The other two are 1/1s.
My Thomas collection is up to 84.3% completion. Once upon a time, it was above 90% -- and one day I hope to get it back up there.
-------------------------------------------------------
News and notes:
** I'm actually just about ready for another mail post -- which will contain virtually nothing of Tim Thomas. Expect that within a week.
** Other plans include a trip home next weekend, and a visit to the Gibraltar show on Saturday the 28th. Also, the large package from Dave Rearick that I still just haven't gotten to sorting through!
** Just in case anyone still thinks Stamkos is a bust -- might want to check his stats for the past 10 or 15 games.
That'll be it. Thanks everyone!
LINKS:
Andy's Hockey Cards - Player Collection Website
Vipers Best-RCs Project - Lightning Best-RCs Project
Wantlist - Tradelist
-------------------------------------------------------
Essentially, there's nothing but Tim Thomas in this mail post (aside from a few ancillary cards that came to me in deals involving Thomas cards as well). Inside this post is nearly 2% of my entire player collections -- of all players combined. It's a bit high-end for my standards, but none of these cards were impulse purchases -- for many of them, I waited until the price was right.
Enjoy all the black and gold!
This is mail post #5 on the year.
-------------------------------------------------------
08-09 Upper Deck Sergei Samsonov
08-09 Upper Deck Andrew Murray RC (SP)
08-09 Upper Deck Victory Derek Dorsett (Update)
08-09 Upper Deck Victory Nikita Filatov (Update)
08-09 Upper Deck Victory Janne Niskala (Update)
08-09 Upper Deck Victory Jakub Voracek (Update)
Here are cards I received in a trade with Nik (tragicallynik). The RCs are keepers for my RC collection, while the Samsonov goes toward my Samsonov player collection. Of course, the transaction involved one more card.
-------------------------------------------------------
08-09 SP Game Used Authentic Fabrics Dual Tim Thomas
It's the first of many Tim Thomas cards in the mail post -- and also his easiest card from SP Game Used. Tim Thomas was granted an obscene total of 16 cards in SP Game Used this season.
Thanks for the deal, Nik!
-------------------------------------------------------
08-09 Upper Deck Favourite Sons Ryan Smyth
08-09 Upper Deck Favourite Sons Jonathan Cheechoo
08-09 Upper Deck Favourite Sons Devin Setoguchi
08-09 Upper Deck Favourite Sons Brenden Morrow
08-09 Upper Deck Favourite Sons Jonathan Toews
08-09 Upper Deck Favourite Sons Martin St. Louis
08-09 Upper Deck Favourite Sons Vincent Lecavalier
I received these cards in a purchase from Kirk (davekeon). Upon pulling a Brad Richards card from the set, I decided to complete all 14 cards. I have another three incoming, and just three more to go.
Of course, I did discover an error card of a different kind. Smyth's card highlights Banff, Alberta, his hometown. The card incorrectly states that Banff is the highest point in Canada -- an obvious error to anyone with half a sense of geography, but probably one that slipped right by the fine folks at UD. Banff has an elevation of 4,800 feet, and is actually the highest incorporated town in the nation. However, the highest point in Canada is Mount Logan -- with a height of 19,551 feet, it's the second-highest point in all of North America.
-------------------------------------------------------
08-09 UD Collector's Choice Tim Thomas
08-09 UD Collector's Choice Marc Savard / Tim Thomas / Zdeno Chara
08-09 UD Collector's Choice Reserve Tim Thomas
08-09 UD Collector's Choice Reserve Marc Savard / Tim Thomas / Zdeno Chara
Here's the final four cards from the deal with Kirk. The set design here is definitely a throwback to the mid-90s sets -- with the tilted lines of the 96-97 set, and the text formatting of the 95-96 set. Though the parallels borrow names from the 98-99 set, they are structured more similarly to the 95-96 version. Either way, I can tell it's a set I'd probably like, and I plan to pick up a few packs at some point down the road.
Kirk, thanks for the transaction!
From here on out, every card in the post will feature Tim Thomas -- sometimes, among other players. Unless otherwise noted, all of the remaining cards came in from ebay.
-------------------------------------------------------
06-07 Hot Prospects Hot Materials Red Hot Tim Thomas (/100)
This is a card I already owned for my collection, but with a boring black swatch. I was able to pick up this two-color upgrade fairly inexpensively.
-------------------------------------------------------
05-06 ITG Heroes and Prospects Game-Used Jersey Tim Thomas (/100)
This card came to me in a trade with Anthony (Moose#11). This one is a double, and will be added to my tradelist. The purpose for the transaction was another card, which will appear later on in the mail post.
-------------------------------------------------------
08-09 SP Game Used Authentic Fabrics Duos Erik Cole / Tim Thomas (/100) (x2)
This was a rare mistake on my part -- I purchased two of these cards on accident! It's not like these were expensive -- so one will head to the tradelist, and the other will rest in my collection.
Seriously though -- why Erik Cole? The sole thing the two players have in common is that they are from the USA. I hardly think that's enough to justify a pairing on a dual jersey card.
-------------------------------------------------------
08-09 SP Game Used Authentic Fabrics Duos Tim Thomas / Tuukka Rask (/100)
Here's a nicer (and more logical) combination -- and the two-color Thomas swatch just makes it even better. I had to wait a bit to pick up one of these, as the first few were a little more expensive than I would have liked.
-------------------------------------------------------
08-09 SP Game Used Authentic Fabrics Dual Platinum Jersey/Patch Tim Thomas (02/25)
Looking simply to add to the collection -- I decided not to worry about finding a nice patch piece on this one. The card cost me about as much as the regular jersey cards from the same set are going for, while the short print run ensures that getting one now was still the right idea.
-------------------------------------------------------
08-09 SP Game Used Authentic Fabrics Triple Tim Thomas
These cards are not serial numbered, but I can't imagine that there are more than 100 copies of each triple. The Thomas triple, anyway, has shown up about as often as the dual jerseys featured above.
From here on out... we'll count down the top 10 cards remaining in the mail post!
-------------------------------------------------------
CARD #10) 08-09 SP Game Used Authentic Fabrics Triple Gold Tim Thomas (03/25)
To continue the theme of the last picture -- here's the gold version. I still need to find one of the platinum versions, which is limited to 10 copies and features two patch pieces. Two have shown up on ebay so far, but judging by the prices being asked, one of the sellers is high, and the other is drunk and high.
-------------------------------------------------------
CARD #9) 08-09 Black Diamond Quad Jerseys Gold Tim Thomas (17/25)
I like the design of these cards quite a bit. I also have kept in mind that Black Diamond wasn't broken as well as SP Game Used, so cards limited to 25 from one set are not quite equal to cards limited to 25 from the other set.
Of course, in another proofreading blunder, the back of the card states that it's the Ruby version. The back of the Ruby version states that it's the Gold version. Oh well.
-------------------------------------------------------
CARD #8) 08-09 SP Game Used Authentic Fabrics Duos Gold Patch Tim Thomas / Tuukka Rask (01/25)
Here is the other card I received in the trade with Anthony (Moose#11). The patches are not great, although the Thomas does have a bit of yellow sneaking through. However, it's the first copy printed, which I think makes it worth it.
The first few copies of this card on ebay sold for insane money. One copy sold for $99. That's not a typo. I believe two others also broke $30 or $40. The last few settled into more reasonable territory, but by then, I already had the deal worked out for this one.
Anthony, thanks very much for our trade!
-------------------------------------------------------
CARD #7) 08-09 UD Trilogy Rivals
-- Carey Price / Alex Kovalev / Saku Koivu
-- Phil Kessel / Tim Thomas / Michael Ryder
I'm not a huge fan of this card in particular, mainly because I really don't like Montreal at all. Still, from a typical hobby standpoint, it's a very nice one. There's no print run, but I've seen around eight copies -- and would think there's at least 40 copies; probably a little higher.
-------------------------------------------------------
CARD #6) 08-09 Black Diamond Quad Jerseys Onyx Tim Thomas (04/10)
I'll jump back to Black Diamond now, for the best of the Quad Jersey parallels. This one looks really nice in person -- with the dark design elements and the three swatch colors. Definitely among the most aesthetically pleasing Thomas cards from this season.
-------------------------------------------------------
CARD #5) 08-09 UD Artifacts Tundra Trios Patches Patrice Bergeron / Marc Savard / Tim Thomas (07/10)
Well, I guess I can't do much better than these swatches for a copy of this card! All three are nicely layered -- and the print run is nice too. Strange that I pick this one up before coming anywhere near completing Thomas' base set parallels from Artifacts. I still need four of those, and I don't think I've seen a single copy of any of the ones I still need.
-------------------------------------------------------
CARD #4) 08-09 SP Game Used Authentic Fabrics Sixes (6/6)
-- Marty Turco / Chris Osgood / Evgeni Nabokov
-- Tim Thomas / Rick DiPietro / Tomas Vokoun
It has been amazing to me just how much less expensive the multi-jersey cards from SPGU have been, in comparison to their multi-patch parallels. The print runs are not all that different, so I was expecting only a small premium for the patch cards. However, in reality, the premium has been up to 3x the price.
Ultimately, they'll all be impossible to find in a year or so, so why not pick off the less-expensive ones now?
Here's a card of six goalies -- the final copy printed of six. I figured it would be a cold day in hell before a Chris Osgood jersey card was canonized into my collection.
-------------------------------------------------------
CARD #3) 07-08 Be A Player Signatures Foursomes (07/10)
-- Marc Savard / Tim Thomas / Milan Lucic / Phil Kessel
While the preceding card is rarer, it's not the first six-swatch card I own -- that would be the two versions of the 06-07 Between The Pipes Shooting Gallery Bruins card. This, however, is the first four-signature card in my collection. It was nearly a year before I found a single copy of this card -- before one was pulled on Hobby Insider. The seller wasn't terribly cooperative, and the next one to hit ebay sold for a rather ridiculous price I wanted nothing to do with. This one was listed with a Best Offer option, and I'm glad to say that my offer was accepted -- for significantly less than either of the two preceding copies sold for.
-------------------------------------------------------
CARD #2) 06-07 Between The Pipes Game-Used Number Autographed Tim Thomas (08/10)
By all regular logic, this card would have been back a few spots in the top-ten list. However, special circumstances have forced me to put it in second place.
I won the auction for this card from north-of-7, and it was mailed to me on September 20, 2008. It went missing, but Robyn was happy to refund my purchase.
On February 26, 2009, the card arrived in my mailbox. It was over five months since it was mailed.
My main concern with this card was just that I'd never see another one -- given that it is limited to ten copies, and that the product was given a light break. So, the big relief (and surprise) of having a card presumed lost forever suddenly arrive in the mail...
...brings this one to the #2 spot on my list...
...and provides a perfect segue to its closely related sibling, the #1 card in the post...
-------------------------------------------------------
CARD #1) 06-07 Between The Pipes Game-Used Number Gold Tim Thomas (1/1)
With all of the low-numbered stuff in this mail post, it seems fitting to close with the one card that's as rare as they come!
This is the 11th Tim Thomas 1/1 in my collection, and the 23rd in all of my player collections combined. It's also the first 1/1 I've added for one of my player collections since June of 2008.
My wantlist for 06-07 Tim Thomas cards is down to just four, and one is incoming. One of the other three cards is the Autographed Emblem card from Between The Pipes -- the final of 21 Between The Pipes cards on my wantlist. The other two are 1/1s.
My Thomas collection is up to 84.3% completion. Once upon a time, it was above 90% -- and one day I hope to get it back up there.
-------------------------------------------------------
News and notes:
** I'm actually just about ready for another mail post -- which will contain virtually nothing of Tim Thomas. Expect that within a week.
** Other plans include a trip home next weekend, and a visit to the Gibraltar show on Saturday the 28th. Also, the large package from Dave Rearick that I still just haven't gotten to sorting through!
** Just in case anyone still thinks Stamkos is a bust -- might want to check his stats for the past 10 or 15 games.
That'll be it. Thanks everyone!
LINKS:
Andy's Hockey Cards - Player Collection Website
Vipers Best-RCs Project - Lightning Best-RCs Project
Wantlist - Tradelist
-------------------------------------------------------
Wow, those are quite the cards! Congrats on landing so many high-end Thomas cards recently. Very impressive!
Hope you have the patch version on the way too.
