11-12 Dominion Keith Kinkaid Auto Rookie /199

Before there was Cory Schneider, I really felt and still think the Keith Kinkaid could be a good option for the Devils. With Cory having done very well this season, it looks like next year it is between Scott Wedgewood and Keith Kinkaid for the back-up job. The early favourite is Keith and he already has NHL cardboard so that makes sense right?

As far as top cardboard goes, UD's The Cup has been king since 2005 but when Panini entered the game in 2010, they took a stab at the top dog with their Dominion brand. In my opinion I find them every bit as nice and little to no difference in design or quality. Both are super think, both have "player worn" patches and autos. Both are very expensive to buy by the pack and both are very limited in print run.

So why do collectors pay that much more of a premium for The Cup over Dominion? Is it familiarity or is there something I am missing? This card set me back 2 bucks!

11-12 Dominion Keith Kinkaid Auto Rookie /199 

Here is the front, nice auto, limited to 199 copies and good balance of foil and photo.

Here is the back, I prefer stats and vitals but still it isn't wasted space because of a huge pointless guarantee. So what am I missing? Why is this card so inferior to The Cup? True, Kinkaid has a player worn swatch on his UD version but apart from that, even common auto rookies from The Cup sell for much more than their Dominion counterparts. Another example is my Brett Connolly Dominion Gold Patch Auto Rookie /25. I paid roughly the same price for my Brett Connolly The Cup Rookie which doesn't have as nice of a patch and has been produced in a much greater quantity, nearly 10 times as many copies. Even recently I have seen others which still aren't as nice selling for 35+ dollars with shipping and still don't feature as nice of a patch.

Idea? Why the hate for Dominion? Or is there just room in the market for one super high-end product and Panini was not renewed due to redundancy.