The Great Zo
Verified Trader,
This mail post is a bit of a mix of stuff, as I end yet another brief (and unplanned) break from trading. When things get busy, or if I have to travel, I find that cards are one of the first things to take a back seat. Once things settle down, I'm happily back into it!
Mail Post #16 for 2013
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02-03 BAP All-Star Edition Carlo Colaiacovo RC (45/100)
This card is arguably Colaiacovo's best RC. I don't specifically collect his rookie cards, and he's never been a member of the Lightning or Blue Jackets. I do have another reason for acquiring this card -- I'll explain below.
First, a trivia question for this mail post. Who can explain why the base (blue) versions of the BAP All-Star rookies have holographic stickers for the serial numbers, while the parallel versions are printed directly on the card? I'll see if anyone can figure it out before I give away the answer. No, you don't win anything for getting it right!
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02-03 BAP All-Star Edition Silver Carlo Colaiacovo (9/20)
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02-03 BAP All-Star Edition Silver Carlo Colaiacovo (1/20)
02-03 BAP All-Star Edition Silver Carlo Colaiacovo (7/20)
Over the past month or two, I've been able to pick up three copies of Colaiacovo's silver parallel on ebay. With only 20 made, that's a pretty good chunk of the print run.
The reason I purchased these? The rainbow is now complete -- I own the Gold 1/1 (and in fact, I've owned it twice). None of these cards are available for trade.
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2002-03 AHL Top Prospects 17 Darren Haydar
2002-03 AHL Top Prospects 24 Pascal Leclaire
2002-03 AHL Top Prospects 31 Filip Novak
2003-04 AHL Top Prospects 20 David LeNeveu
2003-04 AHL Top Prospects 39 Fedor Tyutin
2003-04 Drummondville Voltigeurs Frederic St. Denis
2004-05 AHL Top Prospects 4 Antoine Vermette
2004-05 AHL Top Prospects 6 Sean Bergenheim
2004-05 AHL Top Prospects 38 R.J. Umberger
I recently purchased a big lot of minor league / junior league cards from Armchair Sports. The impetus for the purchase was the incredible sale on cards from the AHL Top Prospects sets -- every card was just ten cents! The cards from other sets were generally in the $1-$2 range each.
The first card in this picture is a mistake -- I meant to purchase Antoine Vermette, but picked Darren Haydar on accident.
Most of the cards in this part of the post were released before the players earned a true NHL RC. Frederic St. Denis earned his first RCs in 2011-12, a gap of 8 seasons!
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2004-05 AHL Top Prospects 49 Nathan Horton
2004-05 AHL Top Prospects 54 Alexander Svitov
2004-05 AHL Top Prospects 55 David LeNeveu
2004-05 AHL Top Prospects 56 Michel Ouellet
2004-05 Sudbury Wolves 5 Nicholas Foligno
2005-06 AHL Top Prospects 8 Ryan Craig
2005-06 AHL Top Prospects 12 Dan Ellis
2005-06 AHL Top Prospects 16 Bruno Gervais
2005-06 AHL Top Prospects 20 Jean-Francois Jacques
The Nathan Horton card here actually came out the year after his RCs (and for Svitov, two years after). Horton was walking around on one of the main plazas at Nationwide Arena before the Blue Jackets home opener, and I (among hundreds of others) got to meet him briefly as he greeted the fans and was welcomed to Columbus.
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2005-06 AHL Top Prospects 28 Nathan Paetsch
2005-06 AHL Top Prospects 30 Alexandre Picard
2005-06 AHL Top Prospects 32 Geoff Platt
2005-06 AHL Top Prospects 37 Ryan Shannon
2005-06 AHL Top Prospects 39 Martin St. Pierre
2005-06 AHL Top Prospects 44 Lauri Tukonen
2005-06 AHL Top Prospects 48 Noah Welch
2006-07 AHL Top Prospects 7 Blake Comeau
2006-07 AHL Top Prospects 17 Benoit Pouliot
Of all nine of these cards, only one player is still in the organization of a team I collect -- Blake Comeau with Columbus.
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2006-07 AHL Top Prospects 31 Curtis McElhinney
2006-07 AHL Top Prospects 35 Ryan Shannon
2006-07 AHL Top Prospects 37 Matt Lashoff
2006-07 AHL Top Prospects 41 Blair Jones
2007-08 Manitoba Moose Pierre-Cedric Labrie
2007-08 Quebec Remparts 16 Jonathan Audy-Marchessault
Labrie is currently playing on the Lightning's fourth line, and doing a pretty good job.
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2007-08 AHL Top Prospects 3 Nick Foligno
2007-08 AHL Top Prospects 5 Blake Comeau
2007-08 AHL Top Prospects 12 Greg Moore
2007-08 AHL Top Prospects 42 Jack Skille
2007-08 AHL Top Prospects 45 Marc-Antoine Pouliot
2007-08 AHL Top Prospects 46 Derick Brassard
07-08 was the only year in which the AHL Top Prospects set used a horizontal layout.
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2007-08 Upper Deck Rookie Class 9 Nick Foligno
2008-09 AHL Top Prospects 4 Trevor Smith
2008-09 AHL Top Prospects 6 Spencer Machacek
2008-09 AHL Top Prospects 11 Artem Anisimov
2008-09 AHL Top Prospects 29 Ben Bishop
2008-09 AHL Top Prospects 40 Chad Kolarik
2009-10 AHL Top Prospects 19 Colton Gillies
2009-10 AHL Top Prospects 29 Ty Wishart
2009-10 AHL Top Prospects 43 Maksim Mayorov
I did also purchase one NHL card -- the Nick Foligno entry from the UD Rookie Class box set.
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2008-09 Barrie Colts 4 Dalton Prout
2009-10 Barrie Colts 4 Dalton Prout
2009-10 Brandon Wheat Kings Matt Calvert
2010-11 AHL Top Prospects 17 Blake Geoffrion
2010-11 AHL Top Prospects 18 Colton Gillies
2010-11 AHL Top Prospects 29 Alec Martinez
2010-11 AHL Top Prospects 34 Aaron Palushaj
2010-11 Brampton Battalion 6 Dylan Blujus
2010-11 Guelph Storm Richard Panik
Some minor league card sets recreate the designs from NHL sets. Here, Matt Calvert gets his very own 09-10 Young Guns card. The Richard Panik 10-11 card (bottom-right) is a near-exact copy of the 09-10 SP Game Used design. The Dalton Prout 09-10 (top-center) looks like a NHL design as well, though I can't place which set it's trying to mirror.
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2011-12 Owen Sound Attack 3 Jake Dotchin
2011-12 Saginaw Spirit 11 Nick Moutrey
2011-12 AHL Top Prospects 12 Tim Erixon
2011-12 AHL Top Prospects 16 Frederic St. Denis
2011-12 AHL Top Prospects 25 Jeremy Smith
The 11-12 AHL Top Prospects set is one of the most famous of all tribute designs -- closely matching 90-91 Pro Set.
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2012-13 AHL Top Prospects Mika Zibanejad / Justin Schultz (Checklist)
2012-13 Brampton Battalion 18 Dylan Blujus
2012-13 London Knights 22 Josh Anderson
2012-13 Owen Sound Attack 3 Jake Dotchin
2012-13 Plymouth Whalers 19 Gianluca Curcuruto
I like checklist cards, so even though I have no interest in Zibanejad or Schultz, it was worth the ten cents to pick it up.
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2012-13 AHL Top Prospects 29 Linden Vey
2012-13 AHL Top Prospects 30 Tyler Toffoli
2012-13 AHL Top Prospects 56 Cam Atkinson
2012-13 AHL Top Prospects 57 Tim Erixon
2012-13 AHL Top Prospects 58 Ryan Johansen
2012-13 AHL Top Prospects 61 Alex Killorn
2012-13 AHL Top Prospects 62 Brett Connolly
2012-13 AHL Top Prospects 63 Cory Conacher
2012-13 AHL Top Prospects 64 Vladislav Namestnikov
Finally, the 12-13 AHL Top Prospects set closely matches the 08-09 Upper Deck MVP set. In addition to Lightning and Blue Jackets prospects, I also picked up the cards of a couple players I watched for a game in Manchester last season.
-------------------------------------------------------
Base Cards
Moving into the rest of the mail, here are a few base cards that arrived with the next batch of items (a deal I completed on SCF).
-------------------------------------------------------
10-11 SPx Finite Rookies Anders Lindback (181/499)
11-12 Panini Contenders Frederic St. Denis RC (171/999)
Aside from the Lindback insert here, the focus of the deal was on RCs from 11-12 Panini Contenders.
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11-12 Panini Contenders Allen York RC (314/800)
These cards are seriously under-appreciated, with a good design and hard signatures.
-------------------------------------------------------
11-12 Panini Contenders Brett Connolly RC (191/800)
The deal I got for these autographed RCs was very good.
-------------------------------------------------------
11-12 Panini Contenders Ryan Johansen RC (273/800)
Connolly and Johansen are my highest-end players to collect in the 11-12 rookie year, so getting both of those cards at the same time is a nice boost for a neglected part of my collection.
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94-95 Score Team Canada Allain Roy
This card is an interesting addition to my no-RC collection.
Corey Hirsch was the goaltender of choice for Team Canada at the 1994 Olympics in Lillehammer. Allain Roy, the backup goaltender, did not see any action. He was drafted 69th overall by Winnipeg in 1989, but never made it to the NHL.
The Score Team Canada set highlighted the Canadian team, which won Silver at the games. This insert card is from a tough-to-find set, and it's very attractive. The fully-holographic card features a stationary image of Allain Roy, with different 3D hologram effects in the background. The main background image changes from the words "LILLEHAMMER" to a grid of Score logos and Maple Leaf icons.
Allain Roy never earned another card in an NHL set. I still need the card of Wally Schreiber, who also appeared in this Team Canada insert set without appearing in another NHL product. Unlike Roy, Schreiber did play in the NHL -- 41 games for the North Stars.
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2012 Panini Toronto Spring Expo Rookie Patch Autographs Ryan Johansen (/50)
This card was released at the 2012 Spring Expo in Toronto, and was a continuation of a similar (possibly identical) set released for the 2011 Fall Expo. The Spring Expo version was an eight-card set, with print runs ranging from 24 to 79. The full details were released in a Panini America blog post.
Although I prefer cards that have the entire autograph visible (either fully on the sticker or not covered up by parts of the card design), I can at least confirm that the entire autograph is contained on the card. The far top-right portion is simply covered up by the top layer of the card. The card borders are very slightly holographic, with horizontal lines similar to the vertical lines in 11-12 Certified, but more subdued.
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09-10 Upper Deck MVP Gold Script Sean Collins (047/100)
Finally, here's a parallel for my Sean Collins version 1 collection. Yes, I guess I have to differentiate between the two players named Sean Collins, who will both find a home in my stash.
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13-14 O-Pee-Chee Team Logo Patches 143 Tampa Bay Lightning
I was glad to see that the original Lightning logo was included in the OPC patch set. However, this card contains an uncorrected error. The card says that this logo was used from 1992-93 to 2000-01, but this is not correct. The original Lightning logo was actually used through the 2006-07 season, with the Lightning's second logo in use from 2007-08 to 2010-11.
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03-04 Titanium Hobby Nikolai Zherdev RC (87/99)
I'll close the post with two tough Blue Jackets rookie cards. My Nikolai Zherdev RC collection is down to needing just two cards -- ITG Used and Crown Royale Hobby. There are people on ebay trying to sell this card for $60 -- it might have been worth that much in 2004. I believe I stayed in the high single digits for this one.
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08-09 SP Authentic Nikita Filatov RC (120/999)
From one failed Blue Jackets prospect to another, my featured item for this mail post is another tough rookie card. However, this one is going to take some explaining, as a card with a print run of 999 isn't usually considered a "tough" addition to a collection.
When 08-09 SP Authentic was released, Filatov was only available via redemption card. It was obvious, even early on, that a very small number of redemption cards had been released in packs. Eventually, the Filatov cards started showing up on ebay in redeemed form, but the quantities remained very limited. Distribution concerns aside, the only conclusion that I can draw -- after watching this card for years -- is that it's an extreme short print. Although the card is numbered to 999 copies, I would estimate that the actual print run of cards distributed is not even a quarter of that (shot in the dark: 150-200 copies). Because of this, and the popularity of the SP Authentic set, sales for this Filatov card have been strong -- even as Filatov's other RCs have seen their floors drop out.
This card wasn't a cheap addition to my collection, but it's one I'm really happy to finally get. It's sort of an unknown gem for a Blue Jackets rookie collection, even if it features an utterly forgettable player.
-----------------
News and notes:
** For as important as I think this Filatov card is for my collection, I can guarantee that it's the least impressive featured item I'll have in a mail post for quite a while. I have some cards on the way that I'm rather excited about, and I'm hoping to put together some player-themed mail posts to show them off.
** I'd love to know where this Andrew Joudrey patch from Dominion comes from -- certainly not a Columbus jersey. Every other Joudrey patch in Prime and Dominion (even from this same auto/path insert set) features a typical-looking Blue Jackets swatch.
That'll be it. Thanks everyone!
--Andy
http://www.thegreatzo.com/cards/
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Mail Post #16 for 2013
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02-03 BAP All-Star Edition Carlo Colaiacovo RC (45/100)
This card is arguably Colaiacovo's best RC. I don't specifically collect his rookie cards, and he's never been a member of the Lightning or Blue Jackets. I do have another reason for acquiring this card -- I'll explain below.
First, a trivia question for this mail post. Who can explain why the base (blue) versions of the BAP All-Star rookies have holographic stickers for the serial numbers, while the parallel versions are printed directly on the card? I'll see if anyone can figure it out before I give away the answer. No, you don't win anything for getting it right!
-------------------------------------------------------
02-03 BAP All-Star Edition Silver Carlo Colaiacovo (9/20)
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02-03 BAP All-Star Edition Silver Carlo Colaiacovo (1/20)
02-03 BAP All-Star Edition Silver Carlo Colaiacovo (7/20)
Over the past month or two, I've been able to pick up three copies of Colaiacovo's silver parallel on ebay. With only 20 made, that's a pretty good chunk of the print run.
The reason I purchased these? The rainbow is now complete -- I own the Gold 1/1 (and in fact, I've owned it twice). None of these cards are available for trade.
-------------------------------------------------------
2002-03 AHL Top Prospects 17 Darren Haydar
2002-03 AHL Top Prospects 24 Pascal Leclaire
2002-03 AHL Top Prospects 31 Filip Novak
2003-04 AHL Top Prospects 20 David LeNeveu
2003-04 AHL Top Prospects 39 Fedor Tyutin
2003-04 Drummondville Voltigeurs Frederic St. Denis
2004-05 AHL Top Prospects 4 Antoine Vermette
2004-05 AHL Top Prospects 6 Sean Bergenheim
2004-05 AHL Top Prospects 38 R.J. Umberger
I recently purchased a big lot of minor league / junior league cards from Armchair Sports. The impetus for the purchase was the incredible sale on cards from the AHL Top Prospects sets -- every card was just ten cents! The cards from other sets were generally in the $1-$2 range each.
The first card in this picture is a mistake -- I meant to purchase Antoine Vermette, but picked Darren Haydar on accident.
Most of the cards in this part of the post were released before the players earned a true NHL RC. Frederic St. Denis earned his first RCs in 2011-12, a gap of 8 seasons!
-------------------------------------------------------
2004-05 AHL Top Prospects 49 Nathan Horton
2004-05 AHL Top Prospects 54 Alexander Svitov
2004-05 AHL Top Prospects 55 David LeNeveu
2004-05 AHL Top Prospects 56 Michel Ouellet
2004-05 Sudbury Wolves 5 Nicholas Foligno
2005-06 AHL Top Prospects 8 Ryan Craig
2005-06 AHL Top Prospects 12 Dan Ellis
2005-06 AHL Top Prospects 16 Bruno Gervais
2005-06 AHL Top Prospects 20 Jean-Francois Jacques
The Nathan Horton card here actually came out the year after his RCs (and for Svitov, two years after). Horton was walking around on one of the main plazas at Nationwide Arena before the Blue Jackets home opener, and I (among hundreds of others) got to meet him briefly as he greeted the fans and was welcomed to Columbus.
-------------------------------------------------------
2005-06 AHL Top Prospects 28 Nathan Paetsch
2005-06 AHL Top Prospects 30 Alexandre Picard
2005-06 AHL Top Prospects 32 Geoff Platt
2005-06 AHL Top Prospects 37 Ryan Shannon
2005-06 AHL Top Prospects 39 Martin St. Pierre
2005-06 AHL Top Prospects 44 Lauri Tukonen
2005-06 AHL Top Prospects 48 Noah Welch
2006-07 AHL Top Prospects 7 Blake Comeau
2006-07 AHL Top Prospects 17 Benoit Pouliot
Of all nine of these cards, only one player is still in the organization of a team I collect -- Blake Comeau with Columbus.
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2006-07 AHL Top Prospects 31 Curtis McElhinney
2006-07 AHL Top Prospects 35 Ryan Shannon
2006-07 AHL Top Prospects 37 Matt Lashoff
2006-07 AHL Top Prospects 41 Blair Jones
2007-08 Manitoba Moose Pierre-Cedric Labrie
2007-08 Quebec Remparts 16 Jonathan Audy-Marchessault
Labrie is currently playing on the Lightning's fourth line, and doing a pretty good job.
-------------------------------------------------------
2007-08 AHL Top Prospects 3 Nick Foligno
2007-08 AHL Top Prospects 5 Blake Comeau
2007-08 AHL Top Prospects 12 Greg Moore
2007-08 AHL Top Prospects 42 Jack Skille
2007-08 AHL Top Prospects 45 Marc-Antoine Pouliot
2007-08 AHL Top Prospects 46 Derick Brassard
07-08 was the only year in which the AHL Top Prospects set used a horizontal layout.
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2007-08 Upper Deck Rookie Class 9 Nick Foligno
2008-09 AHL Top Prospects 4 Trevor Smith
2008-09 AHL Top Prospects 6 Spencer Machacek
2008-09 AHL Top Prospects 11 Artem Anisimov
2008-09 AHL Top Prospects 29 Ben Bishop
2008-09 AHL Top Prospects 40 Chad Kolarik
2009-10 AHL Top Prospects 19 Colton Gillies
2009-10 AHL Top Prospects 29 Ty Wishart
2009-10 AHL Top Prospects 43 Maksim Mayorov
I did also purchase one NHL card -- the Nick Foligno entry from the UD Rookie Class box set.
-------------------------------------------------------
2008-09 Barrie Colts 4 Dalton Prout
2009-10 Barrie Colts 4 Dalton Prout
2009-10 Brandon Wheat Kings Matt Calvert
2010-11 AHL Top Prospects 17 Blake Geoffrion
2010-11 AHL Top Prospects 18 Colton Gillies
2010-11 AHL Top Prospects 29 Alec Martinez
2010-11 AHL Top Prospects 34 Aaron Palushaj
2010-11 Brampton Battalion 6 Dylan Blujus
2010-11 Guelph Storm Richard Panik
Some minor league card sets recreate the designs from NHL sets. Here, Matt Calvert gets his very own 09-10 Young Guns card. The Richard Panik 10-11 card (bottom-right) is a near-exact copy of the 09-10 SP Game Used design. The Dalton Prout 09-10 (top-center) looks like a NHL design as well, though I can't place which set it's trying to mirror.
-------------------------------------------------------
2011-12 Owen Sound Attack 3 Jake Dotchin
2011-12 Saginaw Spirit 11 Nick Moutrey
2011-12 AHL Top Prospects 12 Tim Erixon
2011-12 AHL Top Prospects 16 Frederic St. Denis
2011-12 AHL Top Prospects 25 Jeremy Smith
The 11-12 AHL Top Prospects set is one of the most famous of all tribute designs -- closely matching 90-91 Pro Set.
-------------------------------------------------------
2012-13 AHL Top Prospects Mika Zibanejad / Justin Schultz (Checklist)
2012-13 Brampton Battalion 18 Dylan Blujus
2012-13 London Knights 22 Josh Anderson
2012-13 Owen Sound Attack 3 Jake Dotchin
2012-13 Plymouth Whalers 19 Gianluca Curcuruto
I like checklist cards, so even though I have no interest in Zibanejad or Schultz, it was worth the ten cents to pick it up.
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2012-13 AHL Top Prospects 29 Linden Vey
2012-13 AHL Top Prospects 30 Tyler Toffoli
2012-13 AHL Top Prospects 56 Cam Atkinson
2012-13 AHL Top Prospects 57 Tim Erixon
2012-13 AHL Top Prospects 58 Ryan Johansen
2012-13 AHL Top Prospects 61 Alex Killorn
2012-13 AHL Top Prospects 62 Brett Connolly
2012-13 AHL Top Prospects 63 Cory Conacher
2012-13 AHL Top Prospects 64 Vladislav Namestnikov
Finally, the 12-13 AHL Top Prospects set closely matches the 08-09 Upper Deck MVP set. In addition to Lightning and Blue Jackets prospects, I also picked up the cards of a couple players I watched for a game in Manchester last season.
-------------------------------------------------------
Base Cards
Moving into the rest of the mail, here are a few base cards that arrived with the next batch of items (a deal I completed on SCF).
-------------------------------------------------------
10-11 SPx Finite Rookies Anders Lindback (181/499)
11-12 Panini Contenders Frederic St. Denis RC (171/999)
Aside from the Lindback insert here, the focus of the deal was on RCs from 11-12 Panini Contenders.
-------------------------------------------------------
11-12 Panini Contenders Allen York RC (314/800)
These cards are seriously under-appreciated, with a good design and hard signatures.
-------------------------------------------------------
11-12 Panini Contenders Brett Connolly RC (191/800)
The deal I got for these autographed RCs was very good.
-------------------------------------------------------
11-12 Panini Contenders Ryan Johansen RC (273/800)
Connolly and Johansen are my highest-end players to collect in the 11-12 rookie year, so getting both of those cards at the same time is a nice boost for a neglected part of my collection.
-------------------------------------------------------
94-95 Score Team Canada Allain Roy
This card is an interesting addition to my no-RC collection.
Corey Hirsch was the goaltender of choice for Team Canada at the 1994 Olympics in Lillehammer. Allain Roy, the backup goaltender, did not see any action. He was drafted 69th overall by Winnipeg in 1989, but never made it to the NHL.
The Score Team Canada set highlighted the Canadian team, which won Silver at the games. This insert card is from a tough-to-find set, and it's very attractive. The fully-holographic card features a stationary image of Allain Roy, with different 3D hologram effects in the background. The main background image changes from the words "LILLEHAMMER" to a grid of Score logos and Maple Leaf icons.
Allain Roy never earned another card in an NHL set. I still need the card of Wally Schreiber, who also appeared in this Team Canada insert set without appearing in another NHL product. Unlike Roy, Schreiber did play in the NHL -- 41 games for the North Stars.
-------------------------------------------------------
2012 Panini Toronto Spring Expo Rookie Patch Autographs Ryan Johansen (/50)
This card was released at the 2012 Spring Expo in Toronto, and was a continuation of a similar (possibly identical) set released for the 2011 Fall Expo. The Spring Expo version was an eight-card set, with print runs ranging from 24 to 79. The full details were released in a Panini America blog post.
Although I prefer cards that have the entire autograph visible (either fully on the sticker or not covered up by parts of the card design), I can at least confirm that the entire autograph is contained on the card. The far top-right portion is simply covered up by the top layer of the card. The card borders are very slightly holographic, with horizontal lines similar to the vertical lines in 11-12 Certified, but more subdued.
-------------------------------------------------------
09-10 Upper Deck MVP Gold Script Sean Collins (047/100)
Finally, here's a parallel for my Sean Collins version 1 collection. Yes, I guess I have to differentiate between the two players named Sean Collins, who will both find a home in my stash.
-------------------------------------------------------
13-14 O-Pee-Chee Team Logo Patches 143 Tampa Bay Lightning
I was glad to see that the original Lightning logo was included in the OPC patch set. However, this card contains an uncorrected error. The card says that this logo was used from 1992-93 to 2000-01, but this is not correct. The original Lightning logo was actually used through the 2006-07 season, with the Lightning's second logo in use from 2007-08 to 2010-11.
-------------------------------------------------------
03-04 Titanium Hobby Nikolai Zherdev RC (87/99)
I'll close the post with two tough Blue Jackets rookie cards. My Nikolai Zherdev RC collection is down to needing just two cards -- ITG Used and Crown Royale Hobby. There are people on ebay trying to sell this card for $60 -- it might have been worth that much in 2004. I believe I stayed in the high single digits for this one.
-------------------------------------------------------
08-09 SP Authentic Nikita Filatov RC (120/999)
From one failed Blue Jackets prospect to another, my featured item for this mail post is another tough rookie card. However, this one is going to take some explaining, as a card with a print run of 999 isn't usually considered a "tough" addition to a collection.
When 08-09 SP Authentic was released, Filatov was only available via redemption card. It was obvious, even early on, that a very small number of redemption cards had been released in packs. Eventually, the Filatov cards started showing up on ebay in redeemed form, but the quantities remained very limited. Distribution concerns aside, the only conclusion that I can draw -- after watching this card for years -- is that it's an extreme short print. Although the card is numbered to 999 copies, I would estimate that the actual print run of cards distributed is not even a quarter of that (shot in the dark: 150-200 copies). Because of this, and the popularity of the SP Authentic set, sales for this Filatov card have been strong -- even as Filatov's other RCs have seen their floors drop out.
This card wasn't a cheap addition to my collection, but it's one I'm really happy to finally get. It's sort of an unknown gem for a Blue Jackets rookie collection, even if it features an utterly forgettable player.
-----------------
News and notes:
** For as important as I think this Filatov card is for my collection, I can guarantee that it's the least impressive featured item I'll have in a mail post for quite a while. I have some cards on the way that I'm rather excited about, and I'm hoping to put together some player-themed mail posts to show them off.
** I'd love to know where this Andrew Joudrey patch from Dominion comes from -- certainly not a Columbus jersey. Every other Joudrey patch in Prime and Dominion (even from this same auto/path insert set) features a typical-looking Blue Jackets swatch.
That'll be it. Thanks everyone!
--Andy
http://www.thegreatzo.com/cards/
-------------------------------------------------------
