Tape Stained Rookies - A Surprise Haul

Life always seems to be full of surprises. I was on my way home from work and I had heard earlier that day that the Devils claimed Ryan Carter off waivers. Well, I remembered my local hobby guy had a Ryan Carter Sweet Shot rookie in his cheapy bin so I thought I would stop off on the way home and buy it. Some I pick up my toddler son and stop off at the shop on my way home. I am in the store for no more than a minute with my son in my arms when the owner Jon calls me over to show me something. He just picked up a lot of cards and wants to unload them cheap.

I walked over and was in heaven. I needed to know the price, he said a price I couldn't refuse. 39 bucks brought the lot home. I will let the cards speak for themselves. All cards are from the 71-72 OPC Set.


Guy La Fleur Rookie
A few tape stains on the front and some corner rounding...but that is it!


Bad scan, but the backside is perfect!

Yvon Cournoyer
Tape and rounding...

Clean back!

Tony Esposito

Best conditioned card, no creases and good corner....and NO tape

Back is perfect again, a little glare from the penny sleave.

#$%#$ Ken Dryden Rookie

Some tape staining for sure....one or two light creases as well.


Back is near perfect!!! I LOVE this card

Marcel Dionne Rookie

This card somehow was spared from the tape fiasco. Some rounding of corners and off-centered but otherwise in decent shape!

- Accidently deleted the backside...I will upload again later....lots very nice, just some discolouration from aging...

Richard Martin Rookie

Even though I already own a mint version of this card, I couldn't leave it behind. It has some corner dings, but no tape or stains and is a good card for trait bait!

- Like Dionne, I accidently deleted the back, but I will upload that later too.

Bobby Orr All Star Card

This card is in the roughest shape. A few stains and some serious creases. Still, my first of two Bobby's and my only Bobby's from his playing days.

Here is the back side.

Bobby Orr Double Award Winner

The nicer of the two Orrs, this one just suffers from some tape staining.

Here is the back side.

Gilbert Perreault 2nd year card

Some tape staining and rounded corners
A light crease on the back, otherwise pretty clean.

There you have it, a deal I couldn't pass up! I didn't own ANY of these cards before, so I feel awesome getting some serious HOF rookies that I don't think normally I would have owned.

Card of the week - Luke Adam

The post is a bit of an experiment with the blogger app for my iPod. I don't know how good the picture will turn out or the blog itself but we shall see when I hit publish.

Luke Adam is off to a great start this year and is going to certainly contend for the Calder and the Sabres are the better for it. 3 goals and 3 assists in 7 games is pretty decent, but of course he did play 19 games last season which still made him eligible for Calder consideration. Logan Couture was in the same situation last year.

Here is the front side of the card

10/11 UD Artifacts - Luke Adam Rookie

Backside of the card

I have always like the Artifacts rookies. The cards traditionally have good write-ups on the backs and the photos are pretty "artistic". In my opinion they look like decent modern rookie cards. The fact that they are numbered is always cool and I think they are a little undervalued compared to other rookies which are in higher quantities so often you can pick these up at a decent price.

I received this card as part of a trade with Tim from The Real DFG a while back as I had a rookies of specific players I was trying to get and he was more than willing to make a swap. I love trading and am always up for more in anyone out there feels the same.

How I received the card: Via Trade

Beckett Value: 6 - 15 dollars

Jonathan Toews - TTM

This kid is easily one of my top 5 favourite current NHL'ers. Super happy to get this return and it was a pretty quick one too (2 months). Auto is a nice black sharpie and he put his number 19 with it. I looked at other autos online and if he ever decides to go with an autopen it will be obvious because I have never seen two of his autos look the same!

Check out the rest of post at Dirty Dangle.com

Would you buy one? What would you pay?

I have always been in love with the 1951-52 Parkhurst set, maybe as long as I have been collecting. However, as I get older, my love remains for those little guys, but I find myself equally interested in the old C56's, 55's and 57's from the early part of the 1910's. I just found someone selling an old pack that had could have had the C57's in it.

CHECK IT OUT!

Now, what would you pay? Does something like that interest you? Of course, there is a chance it is a scam, but assuming it is legit, what is it worth to you?

I know I would pay 100 bucks for a wrapper from 51-52, but I struggle to decide what this is worth....

Value Vintage Sets # 2 - 78-79 Topps

Well it has been a while since I have had time to do a vintage post, so here we go. The number value vintage set of all-time is the 78-79 Topps set. I love the look of this set, maybe not as much as the 81-82 set but this set is classic.


Redeeming Qualities:
The design one front is pleasing to the eye and cool back sides
A decent sized set at 264 cards
(I noticed centering is better on Topps than OPC....can't verify if this is true though)
A number of good veteran players (Dryden, Mikita, Esposito etc)
The set is over 33 years old
28 rookies in the set
MIKE BOSSY ROOKIE
Mint sets can be found on ebay for under 50 bucks


Card Design:
The front side
Here is Bernie going out for a skate without his glove (warm up maybe?). Lots of the cards feature some decent action shots which I always preferred over studio shots.

The back side

Love the backs. The Special Autograph Series aspect of it is pretty cool. It is a shame that Howe and Hull were in the WHA and Orr was not part of the Topps set! Nevertheless, the backs are simple with stats and a write up on some players cards.

Key Cards AND Rookies

Mike Bossy Rookie

Without a doubt, the big card in this set is THIS ONE! I didn't have a Bossy rookie which is one reason why I wanted this set. Second reason is I have sorta always wished I owned this set and it was certainly high on my to-do list. When one popped up on ebay claiming to be NrMt-Mt I was a little skeptical. The set is 33 years old, sometimes things happen. I took a chance and I am ever glad I did. This Bossy is one of the niceset cards in the set and is really and honestly NrMt. I think it might even grade around a 9. The ONLY thing wrong is the centering. 4 sharp corners and a beautiful surface. This card books for 50 bucks and if you can land the set for that price you are essetially getting the other 263 cards for free!

Bernie Federko Rookie

The other 27 rookies in the set are pretty decent. Ranging from talents like Bernie Federko who made the Hall of Fame in 2002 to Pierre Mondou who had some pretty good years with the Habs to Jim Bedard who has had more success as a goalie coach than he did as a player. Lots of decent rookies are in this set. One downer, is Dave Taylor and a few others who have rookies in the OPC set aren't found in the Topps release.

Doug Wilson
Another quality rookie in the set is Doug Wilson. A really good d-man who hasn't made it into the Hall yet, and maybe never will, but there is a facebook group trying to accomplish that. One neat fact about Doug, is in 81-82 he scored 39 goals as a defenseman. That is still the 4th highest total ever by a defenseman.

Other notable cards:

Larry Robinson

Here is one of the cool action shots I was talking about. To make up for a small set, Topps put All-Star team status under the players names if it applied rather than make a second card. This is neat because the OPC version of Larry Robinson's card looks different than the Topps.

Phil Esposito

Here is Phil in the twilight of his career with the Rangers. Rod Gilbert had number 7 so Phil had to wear 77.


Ken Dryden
2nd last Dryden card from his playing days.

SO there you have it. I like this set very much and having only paid 44.99 (56.99 with shipping) I am way ahead on that deal. Keep an eye out if you are looking to pick one up yourself. The good quality sets are out there and they can be had for a pretty decent price. The OPC version is larger and more complete when you think there are 51 rookies and Orr's last card in that set. But cost-wise and bang for your buck, there really aren't many more sets that offer you value than the 78-79 Topps set!

Recap so far

#2 - 78/79 Topps

#3 - 81/82 Topps

#4 - 84/85 Topps

#5 - 89/90 OPC

I hope to get the #1 set up in the next week or so.

98-99 BAP Auto Lot Purchase

It seems like I have been seriously neglecting my blog lately and lots has been happening for me in the collecting world. Here is one nice haul on my part, 42 28 autos from the 98-99 BAP set all for 15 bucks. It was two lots from the same seller, unfortunately it wasn't quite as advertised. Anyway, rather than scan them all, here is a no frills video. Most are available for trade with a few exceptions. Enjoy!

Ron Francis TTM

After a week of nothing, I received Ron Francis in the mail on Monday. Awesome return in only 32 days. Ron has always been a favourite of mine ( I like the quiet superstars) and he was kind enough to sign both cards I sent!

Here is the 90 OPC Premier card and you can read the rest as always on my Dirty Dangle post!

eBay pickup- Jacob Josefson

Here is an eBay pick up I got the other week. My first Dominion cards ever and I must say they aren't that bad. I don't ever see myself spending a huge chunk of my annual hockey card budget on a single pack. However, picking up singles is certainly in my budget especially when you can find a great deal like this one!

10-11 Jacob Josefson Auto Rookie #/199

For some reason, the scan came out a little blurry but you can get the idea of what the card looks like anyway. Simple design on the front with some Silver embossing which really gives the card a classy look and feel. The cards aren't as thick as the base cards from The Cup but still relatively thicker than most cards (roughly the thickness of the typical UD game used card). The auto is nice and is On Card for those of you who appreciate that added touch.

The back side of the card is the highlight in my books.

A good write up, nice stats and a great layout. This is what I expect from a trading card and the extra little photo on the back is well placed and isn't a copy of the front which certainly give the collector a little more bang for their buck. The numbering is done on the card and isn't "stickered" which is typical for Panini.

A great card in all and I landed it for 5.50 plus shipping. I like this kid a lot and he will have a chance to be a top line centre for the Devils while Zajac is on the mend and I think he could be an awesome two-way centre.