Friday, September 27, 2013

A Pair of Delvecchios, One Modern and One Vintage

Most NHL stars have photos that tend to be used more than once and with Alex Delvecchio that is certainly no exception. This past year ITG blew the dust off an old photo and used it in their Patch of Honor insert. Check out my Alex Patch!

It should would have been nice to have had an actual GAME USED patch, but I will settle for a manufactured patch for now. If you look closely you will see either Alex has some spinach in his teeth or some serious tooth decay.

57-58 Topps  #34 Alex Delvecchio
Here is an amazing looking 57-58 Topps Alex Delvecchio. Without a doubt the best conditioned card in my Delvecchio collection from the 50's. The auction I landed this from a couple years ago listed it as NrMt++++++. I was skeptical because of all the pluses but I took a chance on a NrMt price. Sure enough I won it for less than a blaster and when it arrived I was floored at the condition. It was phenomenal. I thought it was easily worth what I paid and more. I suspect if I got it graded I might get lucky and get an 8 or 9 on it. Perfect gloss, a little off center but 4 razor corners and a nice aging of the white in the paper.

Here is the backside of the card. Great design, which I think makes this one of the nicest sets from the 50's and really is a steal of a deal if you wanted to try and build it because the book price is a modest $3000 dollars with no card booking for over $500 (Howe).  There are still some awesome rookies like Bucyk, Pilote, Hall and Ullman. This card books for around $50 dollars and is one of my favourites in my PC so far.

Those of you who know vintage might also recognize that photo from this card too!

52-53 Parkhurst #53 Alex Delvecchio 2nd year
Here is where I think the original photo came from. I don't own this card yet, but Parkhurst included this in their 52-53 set. What is interesting is ITG has a zoomed in head shot to avoid the Red Wings logo but for some reason the Topps card has the logo air brushed out! I know Topps has a license to use the American teams in their set so that part doesn't make sense. However, I am guessing maybe Topps had to alter the card to avoid copyright infringement? If someone out there knows why the 57-58 card is airbrushed I would love to know. For now I will continue to enjoy my collection and try and track down a 52-53 Parkie to join my collection. 


5 comments:

  1. Wow you can really tell from the back how fresh that card looks! And man does he look young!

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  2. Both Topps and Parkhurst (but particularly Parkhurst) made heavy use of photos taken either for Bee Hive Corn Syrup or Quaker Oats, so it's likely that they both picked up the rights to use it. Not sure why Topps painted out the logo. I never really noticed that it is missing.

    Both those sets are awesome to put together. The '57-58 has a suprising number of rookies in it beyond the four big ones. There hadn't been cards of the four US teams since 1954-55 and a lot of turnover happened.

    Nice cards!

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  3. Thanks guys!

    @1967ers Very cool info, I never really connected that together with Bee Hive and Quaker. I guess not having much from either set has shielded me from something a little more obvious. The air brushing is an odd thing, and actually adds a little "pink" to the Red Wing uni.

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    1. It's also possible that the picture was a team issue (teams used to shoot stills for media use, etc). I see that sort of thing from time to time on the bay. If you look at the '52 Parkhurst Red Wings, a lot of them are in that exact pose. I wonder whether that might be the source of the picture.

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