The Great Zo
Verified Trader,
It's my first mail post since the expo, and I'm actually still not done with getting everything filed away from the big show in Toronto. Can't ignore the mail, though -- not with some good cards coming in!
Mail Post #27 for 2011
-------------------------------------------------------
First, I want to share the end result of a set I completed while at the expo. It only took me a year or two to complete the 98-99 Black Diamond set -- with all the short prints falling at 1:4 packs, they were not especially difficult to locate.
Complete scans of the base set can be found here: 01, 02, 03, 04, 05, 06, 07, 08, 09, 10
Here are the 30 cards in the short print tier. Try to find more than a handful of players who had any sort of impactful NHL career!
Now, continuing with the mail.
-------------------------------------------------------
97-98 Donruss Studio Press Proof Silver Anson Carter (1 of 1000)
98-99 SP Authentic Power Shift Teemu Selanne (279/500)
99-00 Stadium Club One of a Kind Valeri Kamensky (097/150)
01-02 Private Stock Gold Krystofer Kolanos (034/106)
02-03 Vanguard Jeff Taffe RC (0654/1650)
02-03 Titanium Blue Patrick Lalime (057/450)
I'll start the mail with some cards I got in a trade with Joni (oolaf, on Korttifriikit). These items will probably head to my tradelist. I really like the Studio artist proof cards.
-------------------------------------------------------
02-03 BAP Memorabilia The National Eric Brewer (07/10)
03-04 BAP Memorabilia Ruby Patrice Bergeron (053/200)
07-08 SP Authentic Bobby Orr (1882/1999)
07-08 SP Authentic Phil Esposito (0757/1999)
09-10 SP Game Used Silver Spectrum Martin St. Louis (02/10)
10-11 Panini Certified Champions Eric Staal (469/500)
These cards are also from Joni. My favorite card from the whole batch is the Martin St. Louis card. With only 10 copies available, I may just keep it. I also own the gold version #/100 of the same card.
-------------------------------------------------------
86-87 Topps Wendel Clark RC
92-93 Upper Deck Andrei Trefilov RC
92-93 Upper Deck Michael Nylander RC
99-00 BAP Memorabilia Glen Metropolit RC
99-00 Topps Premier Plus Glen Metropolit RC
01-02 Bowman Young Stars Radek Martinek RC
These rookie cards were received as an add-on to an ebay transaction. They are all being entered into my rookie collections. I have now completed rookie collections of Wendel Clark (2 cards) and Andrei Trefilov (2 cards).
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10-11 Upper Deck Victory Gold Mark Dekanich
10-11 ITG Heroes and Prospects Brock Beukeboom
10-11 ITG Heroes and Prospects Ryan Johansen
10-11 ITG Heroes and Prospects Brett Connolly
10-11 ITG Heroes and Prospects John Moore
These cards are also going to be keepers. I'm almost done with 10-11 ITG H&P, but I still need one base card from the update set (Namestnikov). The Dekanich was supposed to be the regular version, but the gold was sent instead. I'll keep it for my collection anyway, and try to track down a regular one later.
There was one more card in this purchase, but I'll save it for a little bit later in the post.
-------------------------------------------------------
09-10 Upper Deck MVP Winter Classic City of Boston
09-10 Upper Deck Rookie Headliners Matt Gilroy (x2)
09-10 Upper Deck Rookie Headliners Victor Hedman
10-11 Pinnacle City Lights Victor Hedman (146/499)
These cards were received in a trade with Luc (lemieuxl66). The Hedman card completes the whole batch of Lightning players (seven in all) from the City Lights set. I also picked up the similarly-themed Winter Classic insert -- that's a great shot of Boston!
The Gilroy and Hedman rookie-year inserts will also be keepers.
-------------------------------------------------------
10-11 Upper Deck 20th Anniversary Dustin Tokarski (SP)
Here is the final card from the deal with Luc. This Tokarski card is from the high-numbered, very-short-printed end of the 20th Anniversary set. I lost out on a few copies of this card at auction, and I'm very glad I was able to pick one up in a trade -- no more dealing with ebay for it!
Thank you for the trade, Luc!
-------------------------------------------------------
10-11 Panini Luxury Suite Brandon Yip RC (044/499) (Redemption)
This entry into my Brandon Yip RC collection is a redeemed card sent out by Panini. I now own 21 of Yip's 22 RCs -- and yes, the only one I am missing is UD Victory.
-------------------------------------------------------
07-08 The Cup Cody Bass RC (051/199)
Cody Bass is a new addition to the Blue Jackets this year. He was originally assigned to the AHL, but was recalled and seems to have stuck with the team for now. Bass only has three RCs, and this is my first. He's also in SP Authentic and Ultimate Collection.
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02-03 Upper Deck Rookie Update Adam Hall RC / Jarome Iginla (1158/1200) (/400)
My Adam Hall RC collection is now just two shy of completion! The 02-03 UD Rookie Update dual jersey RCs were numbered to 1200, but each chunk of 400 cards featured a different veteran. Finding a particular combination isn't all that easy.
The last two Adam Hall RCs on my wantlist are Pacific Calder and UD Rookie Update version "A" (with John LeClair).
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06-07 Ultimate Collection Michael Blunden RC (230/299)
This Michael Blunden RC finishes the collection at 12-for-12. It's his second-best RC, with only The Cup on top.
-------------------------------------------------------
02-03 Pacific Quest for the Cup D. Tarnstrom RC (561/950)
10-11 Playoff Contenders Lottery Winners Steven Stamkos
Base Cards
These cards (plus the next four) came in from an ebay deal. I like the Stamkos card because it highlights his drafting by the Lightning.
-------------------------------------------------------
02-03 Private Stock Reserve Hobby D. Tarnstrom RC (15/99)
10-11 O-Pee-Chee Retro Rainbow Brandon Yip
Tarnstrom is a player whose RCs I don't specifically try to track down, but when I run across rare cards, I usually pick them up. He was briefly a member of the Blue Jackets.
-------------------------------------------------------
09-10 Collector's Choice Choice Reserve Alec Martinez
09-10 O-Pee-Chee Retro Rainbow Sean Collins (098/100)
Finally, these two cards will be headed to my player collections. The Martinez card completes the Collector's Choice rainbow. More importantly, it leaves me with just one more non-1/1 Martinez card on my entire wantlist -- the Champ's Parkhurst Back. I suppose it's rather unlikely I'll run across one of those.
My Collins collection was started rather late, so I still need a lot of his rookie parallels. This O-Pee-Chee card is a step in the right direction.
-------------------------------------------------------
02-03 Private Stock Reserve Hobby Alexander Svitov (01/99)
I'm making progress on my Svitov RC collection, and this card was the toughest one still on the wantlist! This card had been listed on ebay on multiple occasions for over a year, but for a price that was a bit higher than I was willing to pay. After watching it for a while, I contacted the seller, and we worked out a deal for a little less than the original price. It was certainly a fair sale, especially given that the card is the first copy numbered.
I list over 450 players as part of my rookie card project. Rick Nash and Alexander Svitov share the record for the most rookie cards, with 43 each. I am now up to 39/43 for Svitov, and I expect that I will finish the collection before too much longer. That will be one of my main collecting goals for 2012.
-------------------------------------------------------
00-01 Private Stock Hobby Jani Hurme RC (087/155)
Speaking of rare RCs -- here's another one! This was the final card received in an earlier lot (Wendel Clark RC). Rookie cards from 00-01 Private Stock are really tough to find in either version. I now have both versions of the Hurme RC, bringing my Hurme rookie checklist to 18/25.
-------------------------------------------------------
11-12 UD Artifacts Green Tomas Kubalik (49/99)
Though I don't focus on rookie parallels, I also won't turn them down if the price is right! I purchased this Kubalik card in a deal with the next card in the post.
-------------------------------------------------------
11-12 UD Artifacts Tundra Trios Blue (Jersey) (143/149)
-- Tuukka Rask / Tim Thomas / Zdeno Chara
The only Tim Thomas card in this mail post sets me up with both of his 11-12 Tundra Trios cards (the other one has Chara and Seguin). I don't own any of the parallel versions, which have been selling very well on ebay.
-------------------------------------------------------
02-03 SPx Winning Materials Sergei Samsonov (02/99)
The final three cards in this mail post make up a trifecta of awesome Sergei Samsonov additions!
I already own the silver parallel to this card (#/50), but the stick swatch is far better on this one. It has black, white, and yellow paint -- all on top of an Easton two-tone shaft piece. The jersey swatch is all black.
-------------------------------------------------------
03-04 Upper Deck MVP Canadian Exclusives Sergei Samsonov (11/25)
This card earns major points for scarcity! I'm pretty happy to get it in hand just a month or so after picking up the 03-04 Black Diamond Red parallel (#/50), quickly eliminating two of the outstanding base-set parallels on my wantlist from that product year.
Player collectors with guys in 03-04 MVP are probably aware that the Canadian Exclusives cards are not the toughest parallel in the set. Although they share the same print run as the Gold Script parallel, they are a bit easier to find. The Gold Script cards were available in both the US and Canadian releases of MVP, spreading out the print run. The Canadian Exclusives were, well, exclusive to Canada -- and it is no coincidence that the Canadian release was busted in higher quantities. The end result is that a greater percentage of these parallels hit the market, as opposed to the gold cards.
For as much as these two cards were big additions to my Samsonov collection, I think the last one is my favorite. It's been on my most-wanted list for a while, and I considered it a high priority. It's off the wantlist now!
-------------------------------------------------------
98-99 Topps Finest Centurions Refractor Sergei Samsonov (24/75)
TOO SHINY!
My Samsonov wantlist from 98-99 is very small, which is probably why I consider the remaining cards to be quite important. Samsonov had 14 cards in the Topps Finest set -- four base set parallels, two Centurions versions, and eight in the Mystery Finest set. While I still need one of the Mystery Finest refractor cards, it has been a major goal of mine to complete the Samsonov-only cards from the set. This is by far the toughest card of those, with only 75 copies made.
Now, as for the shiny part -- the picture of the back is not an error! That's actually how the card looks with a camera flash going off. The refractive coating on the card back is rather strange, and quite bright. The effect is also made more prominent by the fact that the card back is concave (the front is convex, i.e. bending outward).
Since adding the card to my collection, I've peeled the protector off the front -- which simply makes it even more attractive!
This is one of the highest-numbered cards I've used as a featured item all year, but it absolutely deserves its spot.
-------------------------------------------------------
News and notes:
** I updated the wantlist in my signature, because three cards on the list were received in the past few months (74-75 O-Pee-Chee NHL Rick Wilson RC, and the two 03-04 Samsonov cards mentioned in this post). To replace those cards, I added:
*** 00-01 BAP Memorabilia Johan Hedberg RC (a SSP, and the last Hedberg rookie on my wantlist)
*** 99-00 UD Ovation Standing Ovation Samsonov #/50 (an awesome, shiny parallel that I'd love to find)
*** 97-98 Pinnacle Certified Rookie Redemption Mirror Gold Sergei Samsonov (very rare, very shiny, and one of the last 97-98 cards on my wantlist)
That'll be it. Thanks everyone!
--Andy
http://www.thegreatzo.com/cards/
-------------------------------------------------------
Mail Post #27 for 2011
-------------------------------------------------------
First, I want to share the end result of a set I completed while at the expo. It only took me a year or two to complete the 98-99 Black Diamond set -- with all the short prints falling at 1:4 packs, they were not especially difficult to locate.
Complete scans of the base set can be found here: 01, 02, 03, 04, 05, 06, 07, 08, 09, 10
Here are the 30 cards in the short print tier. Try to find more than a handful of players who had any sort of impactful NHL career!
Now, continuing with the mail.
-------------------------------------------------------
97-98 Donruss Studio Press Proof Silver Anson Carter (1 of 1000)
98-99 SP Authentic Power Shift Teemu Selanne (279/500)
99-00 Stadium Club One of a Kind Valeri Kamensky (097/150)
01-02 Private Stock Gold Krystofer Kolanos (034/106)
02-03 Vanguard Jeff Taffe RC (0654/1650)
02-03 Titanium Blue Patrick Lalime (057/450)
I'll start the mail with some cards I got in a trade with Joni (oolaf, on Korttifriikit). These items will probably head to my tradelist. I really like the Studio artist proof cards.
-------------------------------------------------------
02-03 BAP Memorabilia The National Eric Brewer (07/10)
03-04 BAP Memorabilia Ruby Patrice Bergeron (053/200)
07-08 SP Authentic Bobby Orr (1882/1999)
07-08 SP Authentic Phil Esposito (0757/1999)
09-10 SP Game Used Silver Spectrum Martin St. Louis (02/10)
10-11 Panini Certified Champions Eric Staal (469/500)
These cards are also from Joni. My favorite card from the whole batch is the Martin St. Louis card. With only 10 copies available, I may just keep it. I also own the gold version #/100 of the same card.
-------------------------------------------------------
86-87 Topps Wendel Clark RC
92-93 Upper Deck Andrei Trefilov RC
92-93 Upper Deck Michael Nylander RC
99-00 BAP Memorabilia Glen Metropolit RC
99-00 Topps Premier Plus Glen Metropolit RC
01-02 Bowman Young Stars Radek Martinek RC
These rookie cards were received as an add-on to an ebay transaction. They are all being entered into my rookie collections. I have now completed rookie collections of Wendel Clark (2 cards) and Andrei Trefilov (2 cards).
-------------------------------------------------------
10-11 Upper Deck Victory Gold Mark Dekanich
10-11 ITG Heroes and Prospects Brock Beukeboom
10-11 ITG Heroes and Prospects Ryan Johansen
10-11 ITG Heroes and Prospects Brett Connolly
10-11 ITG Heroes and Prospects John Moore
These cards are also going to be keepers. I'm almost done with 10-11 ITG H&P, but I still need one base card from the update set (Namestnikov). The Dekanich was supposed to be the regular version, but the gold was sent instead. I'll keep it for my collection anyway, and try to track down a regular one later.
There was one more card in this purchase, but I'll save it for a little bit later in the post.
-------------------------------------------------------
09-10 Upper Deck MVP Winter Classic City of Boston
09-10 Upper Deck Rookie Headliners Matt Gilroy (x2)
09-10 Upper Deck Rookie Headliners Victor Hedman
10-11 Pinnacle City Lights Victor Hedman (146/499)
These cards were received in a trade with Luc (lemieuxl66). The Hedman card completes the whole batch of Lightning players (seven in all) from the City Lights set. I also picked up the similarly-themed Winter Classic insert -- that's a great shot of Boston!
The Gilroy and Hedman rookie-year inserts will also be keepers.
-------------------------------------------------------
10-11 Upper Deck 20th Anniversary Dustin Tokarski (SP)
Here is the final card from the deal with Luc. This Tokarski card is from the high-numbered, very-short-printed end of the 20th Anniversary set. I lost out on a few copies of this card at auction, and I'm very glad I was able to pick one up in a trade -- no more dealing with ebay for it!
Thank you for the trade, Luc!
-------------------------------------------------------
10-11 Panini Luxury Suite Brandon Yip RC (044/499) (Redemption)
This entry into my Brandon Yip RC collection is a redeemed card sent out by Panini. I now own 21 of Yip's 22 RCs -- and yes, the only one I am missing is UD Victory.
-------------------------------------------------------
07-08 The Cup Cody Bass RC (051/199)
Cody Bass is a new addition to the Blue Jackets this year. He was originally assigned to the AHL, but was recalled and seems to have stuck with the team for now. Bass only has three RCs, and this is my first. He's also in SP Authentic and Ultimate Collection.
-------------------------------------------------------
02-03 Upper Deck Rookie Update Adam Hall RC / Jarome Iginla (1158/1200) (/400)
My Adam Hall RC collection is now just two shy of completion! The 02-03 UD Rookie Update dual jersey RCs were numbered to 1200, but each chunk of 400 cards featured a different veteran. Finding a particular combination isn't all that easy.
The last two Adam Hall RCs on my wantlist are Pacific Calder and UD Rookie Update version "A" (with John LeClair).
-------------------------------------------------------
06-07 Ultimate Collection Michael Blunden RC (230/299)
This Michael Blunden RC finishes the collection at 12-for-12. It's his second-best RC, with only The Cup on top.
-------------------------------------------------------
02-03 Pacific Quest for the Cup D. Tarnstrom RC (561/950)
10-11 Playoff Contenders Lottery Winners Steven Stamkos
Base Cards
These cards (plus the next four) came in from an ebay deal. I like the Stamkos card because it highlights his drafting by the Lightning.
-------------------------------------------------------
02-03 Private Stock Reserve Hobby D. Tarnstrom RC (15/99)
10-11 O-Pee-Chee Retro Rainbow Brandon Yip
Tarnstrom is a player whose RCs I don't specifically try to track down, but when I run across rare cards, I usually pick them up. He was briefly a member of the Blue Jackets.
-------------------------------------------------------
09-10 Collector's Choice Choice Reserve Alec Martinez
09-10 O-Pee-Chee Retro Rainbow Sean Collins (098/100)
Finally, these two cards will be headed to my player collections. The Martinez card completes the Collector's Choice rainbow. More importantly, it leaves me with just one more non-1/1 Martinez card on my entire wantlist -- the Champ's Parkhurst Back. I suppose it's rather unlikely I'll run across one of those.
My Collins collection was started rather late, so I still need a lot of his rookie parallels. This O-Pee-Chee card is a step in the right direction.
-------------------------------------------------------
02-03 Private Stock Reserve Hobby Alexander Svitov (01/99)
I'm making progress on my Svitov RC collection, and this card was the toughest one still on the wantlist! This card had been listed on ebay on multiple occasions for over a year, but for a price that was a bit higher than I was willing to pay. After watching it for a while, I contacted the seller, and we worked out a deal for a little less than the original price. It was certainly a fair sale, especially given that the card is the first copy numbered.
I list over 450 players as part of my rookie card project. Rick Nash and Alexander Svitov share the record for the most rookie cards, with 43 each. I am now up to 39/43 for Svitov, and I expect that I will finish the collection before too much longer. That will be one of my main collecting goals for 2012.
-------------------------------------------------------
00-01 Private Stock Hobby Jani Hurme RC (087/155)
Speaking of rare RCs -- here's another one! This was the final card received in an earlier lot (Wendel Clark RC). Rookie cards from 00-01 Private Stock are really tough to find in either version. I now have both versions of the Hurme RC, bringing my Hurme rookie checklist to 18/25.
-------------------------------------------------------
11-12 UD Artifacts Green Tomas Kubalik (49/99)
Though I don't focus on rookie parallels, I also won't turn them down if the price is right! I purchased this Kubalik card in a deal with the next card in the post.
-------------------------------------------------------
11-12 UD Artifacts Tundra Trios Blue (Jersey) (143/149)
-- Tuukka Rask / Tim Thomas / Zdeno Chara
The only Tim Thomas card in this mail post sets me up with both of his 11-12 Tundra Trios cards (the other one has Chara and Seguin). I don't own any of the parallel versions, which have been selling very well on ebay.
-------------------------------------------------------
02-03 SPx Winning Materials Sergei Samsonov (02/99)
The final three cards in this mail post make up a trifecta of awesome Sergei Samsonov additions!
I already own the silver parallel to this card (#/50), but the stick swatch is far better on this one. It has black, white, and yellow paint -- all on top of an Easton two-tone shaft piece. The jersey swatch is all black.
-------------------------------------------------------
03-04 Upper Deck MVP Canadian Exclusives Sergei Samsonov (11/25)
This card earns major points for scarcity! I'm pretty happy to get it in hand just a month or so after picking up the 03-04 Black Diamond Red parallel (#/50), quickly eliminating two of the outstanding base-set parallels on my wantlist from that product year.
Player collectors with guys in 03-04 MVP are probably aware that the Canadian Exclusives cards are not the toughest parallel in the set. Although they share the same print run as the Gold Script parallel, they are a bit easier to find. The Gold Script cards were available in both the US and Canadian releases of MVP, spreading out the print run. The Canadian Exclusives were, well, exclusive to Canada -- and it is no coincidence that the Canadian release was busted in higher quantities. The end result is that a greater percentage of these parallels hit the market, as opposed to the gold cards.
For as much as these two cards were big additions to my Samsonov collection, I think the last one is my favorite. It's been on my most-wanted list for a while, and I considered it a high priority. It's off the wantlist now!
-------------------------------------------------------
98-99 Topps Finest Centurions Refractor Sergei Samsonov (24/75)
TOO SHINY!
My Samsonov wantlist from 98-99 is very small, which is probably why I consider the remaining cards to be quite important. Samsonov had 14 cards in the Topps Finest set -- four base set parallels, two Centurions versions, and eight in the Mystery Finest set. While I still need one of the Mystery Finest refractor cards, it has been a major goal of mine to complete the Samsonov-only cards from the set. This is by far the toughest card of those, with only 75 copies made.
Now, as for the shiny part -- the picture of the back is not an error! That's actually how the card looks with a camera flash going off. The refractive coating on the card back is rather strange, and quite bright. The effect is also made more prominent by the fact that the card back is concave (the front is convex, i.e. bending outward).
Since adding the card to my collection, I've peeled the protector off the front -- which simply makes it even more attractive!
This is one of the highest-numbered cards I've used as a featured item all year, but it absolutely deserves its spot.
-------------------------------------------------------
News and notes:
** I updated the wantlist in my signature, because three cards on the list were received in the past few months (74-75 O-Pee-Chee NHL Rick Wilson RC, and the two 03-04 Samsonov cards mentioned in this post). To replace those cards, I added:
*** 00-01 BAP Memorabilia Johan Hedberg RC (a SSP, and the last Hedberg rookie on my wantlist)
*** 99-00 UD Ovation Standing Ovation Samsonov #/50 (an awesome, shiny parallel that I'd love to find)
*** 97-98 Pinnacle Certified Rookie Redemption Mirror Gold Sergei Samsonov (very rare, very shiny, and one of the last 97-98 cards on my wantlist)
That'll be it. Thanks everyone!
--Andy
http://www.thegreatzo.com/cards/
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