90-91 Pro Set Mike Krushelnyski Error

If you were a hockey card collector in the early 90's there is a strong chance that you had a few Pro Set cards in your collection and if you collected any sport except baseball from the same time period the same probably could be said as well. Pro Set created sets for the NFL, NHL, PGA, NASCAR and even non-sports sets like Yo! MTV Raps.

Pro Set took all these licenses and approached their production with the more is more approach and thus earned the reputation as being the King (or Queen) (or Genderless leader) of the Junk Wax World. However, in this mass production, there are some gems to be found. If you haven't had the chance yet, please check out the latest issue of Beckett Hockey Monthly because there is a pretty cool article written by Sal from Puckjunk.com which showcases some of these rare gems. For me, one that I needed was this card and I'm glad I was able to add it to my collection.

Hard to think that a 7th year card of am NHL journeyman would be one of the more valuable cards created by any company from 1990-91. The error was likely easily spotted and fixed quickly which adds to the scarcity of the card and is why it's somewhat sought after. Perhaps it is time to comb through your old shoeboxes and bins for 90-91 Pro Set as you could be in possession of some diamonds in the rough. Thanks for stopping by, next post won't be Pro Set related I promise.

Congrats Penguins and 1990-91 Pro Set Stanley Cup Hologram /5000

Another season in the books and this time it is the Penguins that raise the Stanley Cup. This one is their fourth in franchise history and the second in the last decade. In honour of their Cup win, here is a Stanley Cup!

90-91 Pro Set Stanley Cup Hologram NNO /5000

Holy crap, that scanned like.....crap. Well, I am going to say this card isn't mint and really isn't close. But it does look far better than that in person. With that being said, I find the 75th Anniversary Hologram to be a much much better looking card. In person I would say the card is pretty decent and more importantly another one crossed off my bucket list of white whales. Sadly the trade I announced fell through and I didn't let that deter me and I was able to sell the box I was going to trade and buy this card AND others so not bad if you ask me.

Here is the back side of the card. It is hand numbered and you can read a little history on Lord Stanley's Cup.

Thanks for checking in and I hope to share a few fun mail days I received in the past while! Congrats Pens fans, hope it is was a great ride!

"We Have a Trade to Announce".....

Whenever I make a trade I wish I could hire Bettman to make an announcement for me:



I have agree to trade a box of 15-16 UD Series 1 which could possibly contain one of the hottest rookie cards since 05-06 in exchange for what I consider the best card from the 1990's, the Holy Grail if you will.....

Very excited to make this trade with Walt T. I decided to post the trade here so everyone can witness/moderate our trade. Walt isn't apart of any forums etc so rather than go through that painful process we will make our trade public here so he gets piece of mind and so do I. He has agreed to ship first and once it arrives I will post its arrival here and then ship his box to him and both of us will use tracking. Anyway, pleased to be back blogging and very pleased to share this awesome trade in my opinion and I hope he hits a McDavid.

A cardboard tribute to Jaromir Jagr in honour of 700 goals and a rookie auto.

Growing up in the 90's, I have had a chance to really seem Jagr perform through out his career. I was always in awe of his skills and abilities. But since joining the Devils, I have really had a chance to see him as a person and man is he funny! Check out this video for a classic example. Jagr's favourite target is Dainus Zubrus who he has played with a few times. If you don't have the time to watch it, essentially Jagr says Zubrus should have won the Selke Trophy in 01-02.  The reason why is because when he joined the Caps and started playing WITH Zubrus, his own scoring went from 121 points down to 79 points and Zubrus was the one shutting him down. They are hillarious together and Jagr is often the instigator.

But, that isn't what the post is about, its about 700 career goals. That is pretty amazing, and it has only happened 6 other times by guys all in the Hall of Fame. Here is a look at all Jagr's "rookie cards" and a recent pick up, my first and only Jagr auto.

90-91 OPC Premier

 This one is my favourite of all his rookies and it is also the most "valuable". With a book price of 12 bucks, it is head and shoulders above the value of all his other rookies. It is also one of only two rookies with an action shot of him playing.

Here is the back side of the card, very simplistic and no previous season stats. I guess OPC wasn't interested in what he did in Kladno but they did give a good side profile of his mullet.

90-91 Pro Set

The other rookie with an action shot is one what I would consider to be his most underrated rookie. Not sure why I like the one as much as I do, but a good action shot on the front and loads of info on the back make it a pretty decent rookie. Book value is a mere $1.25 the lowest of his rookies. 

Here is the back side of the Pro Set rookie. Very young photo of Jaromir and his two previous seasons with Kladno are also listed.

90-91 Score American

My least favourite rookie of the crop are the the Score ones. Very dull and staged studio shot on the front. The blue writing on the front is one way to tell Score American and Score Canadian apart. Book value on this and the Canadian version are the same and it is about 2 dollars.

On the back, the text is all English in the US version and it actually has more info and different info than the Canadian version. Apparently Jagr isn't real flashy.. I hope that isn't the scout that placed Nedved higher than Jagr because he may have lost his job.

90-91 Score Canadian

Here in Canada we like red eh? Same front just Red text on the Score logo.

Here is the back, much less info but there are some in French too. The additional french is a quote which says that "In addition to handling the puck well, he is patient in heavy traffic." I always like reading the French text because sometimes you do actually get more or different info than the English text tells.

90-91 Score Traded

This isn't considered a rookie but I still like it included because it is what I wished his rookie looked like. Great action shot and the back is very well done as well. The book value on this card is about 2 dollars, a little more rare but lacking the rookie status hurts its attractiveness with some collectors.

Here is the back and there is a short story on Jagr here. Look, first goal against the Devils, 700th goal was for the Devils.

90-91 Upper Deck

This was the first Jagr rookie I ever scored and the one I have the most copies of too. Book value is about 4 dollars which is about what it would cost you given shipping costs online anyway but at cards shows and LCSs you can probably land it for under a dollar.

Here is the back of the card. One of my favourite backs of all time. Well laid out, useful info and good stats. 

90-91 Score Jaromir Jagr Auto Rookie

Bought this online from a dealer who specializes in autos. Got the background story on it, felt it was worth a chance and when it arrived and I checked it out with a magnifying glass I felt very confident it is legit. Very interesting marker was used on this one. It isn't a sharpie but rather a chisel like purple marker. The front looks scuffed but the card is still in the screwdown the dealer sent it in and I haven't changed it yet. Really happen I got this one for  my collection and I was able to pay for it with some money I made from a private sale of a 1/1 card I had pulled a while back. I will share that story and the rest of my loot in my next post. 

Btw I was technically missing two Jagr rookies. There is one extra with Pro Set when you consider he has an Error and a Corrected one and I am missing the 90-91 UD French Rookie. Hope to land the French one some day but I would prefer to do it via trade instead of buying. 

The Most Important Card In My Collection...

Do you remember your first time? A pretty ambiguous question I know, but when it comes to card collecting do you remember? I do. I mentioned in a previous post my first pack of cards was the dubious 90-91 Pro Set and how I actually remember my first card. Since that time I have spent thousands of hours and dollars on the hobby and apart from playing and watching hockey it is one of my favourite ways to relax. Here is the card:

 

The card is now in a top loader and I recently found it prior to the move to my new house. I made a point to track it down because I knew I still had it and it was a matter of just searching.

The card itself is very insignificant in appearance and value. It is in VG shape after much handling and learning how to and how not to maintain mint cards. Funny how that one card lead to me owning the massive collection that currently occupies my man land and the joy that I still feel ripping something new or landing a sweet card via trade. I have actually grown to really love collecting in my adult years (after taking many years off) and I have a new appreciate for many aspects of the hobby and while it isn't perfect I see many more years of collecting in my future and 90-91 Pro Set is to blame.

On a side note I have finished my complete set a little while back and I am going to share a few more posts on 90-91 Pro Set (you have been warned).

90-91 and 91-92 Pro Set Holograms

Growing up there were always cards that you heard about but in many cases you have never actually seen in person. I was pretty young, but I still remember seeing my first Gretzky rookie. I still don't have one in my collection, but I had seen several over the years. The 90-91 and 91-92 Pro Set Holograms were cards I had heard of, but apart from images on the internet, I had never seen one in person before. That was until the other day.

I bought a couple of boxes of 90-91 Pro Set Series 1. Since I already had Series 2 taken care of, I thought what the heck....maybe I will get lucky and at the very least I could hopefully could finish Series 1 and have a complete set. Well I opened two boxes and it brought back some fun memories and rookies of players I had never heard of: (such as Ville Siren) and rookies of players who had gone on to have awesome careers like Jeremy Roenick.

After box one, I had no holograms and 376/405 base cards.

After box two, I had no holograms and 399/405 base cards.

In all not bad, just six cards short of a set, but hopes of getting a Stanley Cup hologram are dashed.....I don't think I had a realistic shot.....so back to images on the internet for me....

However, I did have SOME luck with an auction on ebay. I managed to get the OTHER Pro Set hologram. Sure, I didn't pull it from a pack but for the first time I did get to see the Hologram in person and it isn't a bad looking card.

I felt the card was more than worth the $25 I paid for it. I don't think it was worth $25 because it books for 50, but rather I felt it was worth 25 because it is one of those cards that has always eluded me and to have a chance to pick it up for the 1991 price of a box of Pro Set IMHO you can't go wrong. Do any of you have a card you bought despite what its "value" was and consider yourself getting a good deal?

Here is the front side of the card.

The card honours the 75th anniversary of the NHL. It was this season I saw my first NHL game as well.

Here is the back side of the card. A pretty cool message on the back in my opinion.

Each card is hand numbered to /10000 and the icing on my cake is I have one of the last 10 numbered cards which I think is pretty cool. Normally I don't pay much attention to the numbering and I didn't even know which of the 10000 this card was until it arrived at my house last week.

It is funny how much the league has changed over the last 20 years. I almost forget those early and futile days days the Sens and Sharks had in the early going.