Trade with Brett from My Hockey Card Obsession

Sometimes to make progress forwards, you need to take a step back. A while ago, Brett from My Hockey Card Obsession showed off some pretty good trade bait and I was hooked like a fish! While I didn't have any cool Lindens to offer, I knew I had some HOF autos I could give up. Given his prolific rate of accumulating HOF autos the task was a little harder than first thought but I had an ace in the hole and it was enough to make a deal. While I gave up my  only Steve Yzerman auto, I did land another HOF auto and some other cool stuff. My plan for Mr. Yzerman is to try and land a less valuable ITG auto and one hopefully with a game used piece with it to make my HOF trifecta. In the meantime, here is what Steve brought home for me!

   

06-07 Parkhurst Marcel Pronovost Auto

 A hall of fame auto is exactly what I was hoping for and this one is of stay at home defenseman Marcel Pronovost. Not a household name in my house but he does have a pretty rich hockey history and players like him were the backbones of a few Stanley Cups. Marcel won 5 during his 20 year career.

11/12 ITG Ultimate Memorabilia 11th Edition 600th Goal Gartner/Terreri

 These NEVER scan well and I am too lazy to use my camera. This is a gem in person and I now have a Gartner Auto, Rookie and Stick which is pretty great in my books. I also have my first game used Chris Terreri which is equally cool to me and I am guessing there won't be many more featuring old Chris so I was glad to get this one. My only gripe is I was secretly wishing it was the Jersey and Stick from the 600th goal....but I suspect that stick is safe somewhere else.

13/14 Dominion Patch/Auto Ryan Nugent-Hopkins

After landing his auto via TTM, I was still wanting an authentic Nuge auto and one with his current number 93. So this was the card that got me fired up to make a trade and is the centerpiece of the transaction. While I have had custom cards made by Brett before, this is actually our first of what I am hoping will be many trades. Thanks for everything Brett and take care until the next one!

Cheap Game Used Post 3

The last card completes my purchase of three game used for 5 dollars with thing one ringing in for $2. Love Getzlaf and love the Cool Threads Insert series from 05-06 UD Ice set. I probably have 10-12 already so this was a welcome addition

While the swatch is white, and it isn't a true rookie card it does still appeal to me which is all that matters. They also had one with a purple swatch but the card had some damage so it was left behind!

For those interested, this is actually photo shoot worn but then again more rookie year swatches are these days.

Dirt Cheap Game Used Post 2

Here is another quick and simple post. This is another cheap pick up from my LCS. Same price as Joe and should be in the HOF like Joe.

What is amazing about this card is it's Eric Lindros! What isn't amazing about this card is how badly its a franken-card. For start, he is wearing a Rangers uniform. Second, it says he is on the Maple Leafs. Third if you are really keen, you would recognize that white swatch is Philadelphia Flyers white. Ok, maybe that is a stretch, but on the back of the card it does say it is from a Flyers jersey so there are three different teams all on one card. 

But it is still a Lindros game used card and that trumps all its flaws! Once he makes it into the Hall, I will have all three I need because I already have an auto rookie.  

Dirt Cheap Game Used Post 1

Does anyone care about Game Used Cards anymore? If you go to my LCS the answer is no. They are practically giving them away now which is fine by me because I love them! Here is one of HOF member Joe Mullen. 

13-14 UD Series 1 Joe Mullen Game Jersey (Group F)

I have his auto and his rookie many times over. Finally I have the third piece of the puzzle and that is a piece of game used memorabilia. I still have yet to post my list of the HOF project but when I can grab all three I will especially for how cheap this one was ($1.50).

Brett Connolly's Team Canada Fight Strap /15

Most game used collectors out there will tell you plain white is the lowest of the low when it comes to game used. White jersey and white patches often sell for the cheapest and are far inferior to their multicoloured siblings. What about fight straps? They are white, make up the least on the jersey with the exception of tags...in or out on them?

12/13 SP Game Used Team Canada Fabrics Brett Connolly Fight Strap /15

I paid so little for this one I just had to have it. But, if it were a big name star, would it be desirable? Would you rather a Gretzky Strap, Gretzky Swatch or Gretzky Patch?

Either way, more fun for my PC.

Tonnes of Toffoli including a 13/14 Select Rookie /199

Tyler Toffoli is one of those prospects who performed well in junior but many questioned if he would be as dominant in the NHL. Personally I was behind the kid from the get-go and still think he could be something special. Players like Ryan Johansen prove if you take the raw talent and develop it slowly, protect it etc it could be better in the long run. Tyler has been shielded quite significantly but this post-season he is beginning to shine and I am very happy to see that happen. A month ago a seller had a nice Select parallel rookie with a Prizm insert and a very nice price attached. I sent a BO of about half of what he was asking not because I am shrewd or felt he was unfair but because I am trying to get the most of my money. He responded with an amazing counter, an explanation of  book values (which I already knew) and an offer to throw in a third card. I wrote back thanking him and said SOLD!

13/14 Select Tyler Toffoli Rookie /199

 Great looking card, black swatch and sticker auto. I have been watching all the releases so far this year and STILL Select is my favourite. I will miss Panini in the NHL world.

13/14 UD MVP Tyler Toffoli Rookie

 Hate MVP, but it was a throw in and a nice gesture. I will keep it because it didn't cost a thing and is nice enough.

13/14 Prizm Initial Impressions Tyler Toffoli

Here is the insert that came with the rookie initially. Not a bad card either, no value to me but in the end I landed all three for well under the Select cards book value so I felt like a winner no matter what.

The Kings are playing very well this post-season and if they win the Cup, I win the "House of Oglethorpe" contest which is pretty sweet. The Kings lose, then the Hawks will win the Cup and they are my number 2 team so its all good there too. The way I see it, I can't lose.


BTW I do know if an Eastern Conference team wins the Cup it screws my logic up but seriously, will the Eastern Conference win it?

A massive pile of awesome from Shoebox Legends

When I started blogging back in Dec of 2009, I felt as an outsider and really I was. I was newly back into the hobby two years previously, lots had changed and there was a pretty awesome community of card collectors that were blogging. Guys like Mike from Bad Wax, Sal from Puck Junk and Shane from Shoebox were collectors that had cool blogs that motivated me to just give it a try. Then as time passed I found myself slowly being apart of an already established community and that community grows each year. 

I have been very fortunate to have received great things via trade, sale and gratis. Shane most recently has dropped another package of kindness on my door step and I plan on sharing that with you in today's post. As most of you know, I am entirely a hockey collector but thanks to Shane and few others like Jeff from 2x3 heroes I have slowly begun getting a few ball cards in my collection. I even went out recently and finally found a baseball set (exciting I know). 

Shane sent a huge pile of hockey and baseball cards in the most recent package so here are a few of the many that I received.

Bondo!!! During the round years 2002-2005 especially, Bonderman was our lone bright spot. Shame he hasn't been able to pitch as well as he did back then because the Tigers could really use the old Bonderman.

 The card defines what Shane does all the time, X-Tra Effort. Very cool card, another one that I don't own.

 Here is one of many shiny cards from the late 90's. This one is of my doppelganger Pavel Bure. I once dated a girl in high school because she thought I looked like him.
 

 This is one of a few 78 OPC. What a cool set, not sure if it has a fan following or not but I liked the ones I got. Chuck looks like he is all business and his career .190 batting average suggests otherwise.

 These two were classic.

 Mullets! I got myself a few mullets too. I tried rocking one when I was like 9 years old. Didn't last long or look good.

Another shiny of Alex Mogilny. Good memories of him in New Jersey.

There you go a small sampling of the wicked stack that Shane sent my way. I am already working on getting another one going Shane and hopefully it will be in the mail in a month or two.

Back Checking - 1991/92 Pro Set The 1991 NHL Draft CC1

The early 90's was an ever growing world when it came to sports cards and the same could be said for the NHL draft. It slowly grew from a back room activity to an arena event with spectators. 1991 was also the year that everyone was going after Lindros including the card companies. Score owned his exclusive rights but that didn't stop Upper Deck and Pro Set from finding loop holes. Upper Deck put out "Canada's Captains" in their 1990/91 UD High Series and Pro Set came out with CC1.

Pro Set on the heels of their debut, came out with an insert set and autographs inserted into packs. The insert set was not advertised and you could end up with a few of these cards in a box or none. Eventually after the dust settled, the CC (collectable card?) consisted of 9 cards. 4 could be found in series 1 and 5 in series 2. The first four were The Draft, The Mask, Pat Falloon and Scott Niedermayer. The second batch, CC5-9 consisted of leaders from the 90-91 season. 

I actually remember the 1991 draft because the Devils owned Toronto's pick thanks to the Tom Kurvers deal and I was hoping all season they would finish last and the Devils would land Lindros. It never happened of course and Quebec would never get Lindros either despite having the first overall pick. But what Quebec did get was far more than Lindros' value and the Devils did well themselves. Here is the card:

1991/92 Pro Set The 1991 NHL Draft CC1

Look at the hustle and bustle. A far cry from the 1971 NHL draft which was held in a posh Montreal Hotel. This draft would be a pretty impressive one if you considered just the first round alone.

Here is the back and the whole reason for the card was player number 1. Some of the other names aren't too shabby either. Niedermayer, Forsberg, Matvichuk and Rolston. Kovalev wasn't a slouch and neither was Markus Naslund. Everyone one except Brent Bilodeau would play in the NHL. Half of these players would score at least 300 career points and some of the best picks ended up later in the draft. Ray Whitney went 23rd overall and Ziggy Palffy would go 26th.

Looking back on the draft, I am glad we had the third pick as things turned out very well for the Devils.

13/14 Upper Deck Team Canada Brett Connolly Auto

When Upper Deck released their Team Canada set this season I was pretty excited. Sadly, I haven't done much more than purchase a pack or two. I guess I am torn on value. Is it worth buying a box or two? Or should I just buy a complete base set for under 10 dollars and a couple hits and still be better off? True I miss out on a chance to get a big hit. But then again, I am likely not going to hit it big anyway. Tough call, in the meantime...Here's Brett! 

13/14 Upper Deck Team Canada Signatures Brett Connolly

 Check out this picture! Upper Deck did use this one before as part of his Artifacts Team Canada card. Don't believe me, check it out.

Now wouldn't this card and my Team Canada one above look much nicer with the auto from yesterday's post? I think so! Why doesn't Upper Deck manage to plan their stickers better? They are paying players directly or indirectly to sign, you think they would make a request to try and match them up with the right picture. It is minor details like this I would concentrate on if I owned my own card company.

Here is the back side of the card. Again, wish we had some stats back here. Maybe a blurb about his performance for Team Canada in the U17 or U18 tournament. Or talk about his two medal winning performances at the WJHC in 2011 and 2012. Instead, more Richard P McWilliam.

11/12 Artifacts Brett Connolly Auto Rookie Redemption /99

The Connolly Craziness continues. I used some Paypal sales money a while back and landed this beauty. This card is a case hit and I was fortunate enough last year to land a case hit in Brendan Gallagher but when I saw what they were selling for, I unloaded my fast and got more than the value of the box for mine. Lucky for me because Brett has been brought along slowly, many collectors are bailing on him as a prospect and I was able to land the 5th best prospect according to Upper Deck in 11/12 for a little more than the cost of a pack of 11/12 Artifacts! Crazy I know!  

11/12 Artifacts Brett Connolly Auto Rookie Redemption /99 

In person this is a superb looking card. There is dimpling and foil all over this card it is superb. The big reason for my interest is actually the autograph. I have one from junior and NHL with the number 8. I have some with his number 14 and now I finally have one with 28. He wore 8 in junior but some of his NHL cards have them because he signed stickers at the beginning of the season before he was assigned 14. He also signed some stickers while he was in the AHL were he wears the number 28. He also wore 28 at the WJHC which makes this sticker choice odd for this card...more in my next post.

Here is the back of the card showing he was number V in a set of XVI (16). The prospects were ranked by Upper Deck based on desirability (my guess) and that is why Mr. Connolly is number V on the card and number II in my heart. Adam Larsson is the only Devil from the set for some reason, even though Adam Henrique had the better season.

There you have it, my super collection is a little more super. More in the next post!

30 years after its release and 23 years after starting, I finally finished the set.

The title says it all. One of my all-time favourite sets (a guilty pleasure) is the 83-84 OPC set. While it isn't loved by all, I am a big fan and I finally completed it after opening my first pack of the stuff back in 1991. The last card I needed was the one below:

83-84 OPC Wayne Gretzky Record Breaker #212

I tried pulling the trigger a few times on this card but never in the price range I wanted. It actually sold for well over book value a couple of times before I stole this one for 3 bucks with shipping. Seller even threw in a few other Gretzky base cards. There is a great story about my journey on completing this set, hope to get that post up soon.

More Brett Connolly Parallel Rookie Goodness - Its Fight Time!

It is amazing how a card company can do both amazing and careless things all on one card. Panini Prime was a premium product with a price point of 200 dollars a pack. Not exactly The Cup price range but certainly on its way there. 

A recent pick-up for the old PC shows the great and bad things about the product. Come and take a look with me.

11-12 Panini Prime - Brett Connolly Hologold Auto Patch Rookie /25

Here is the holo-gold version which is a neat treatment to a card, but it isn't quite as flashy as Upper Deck's The Cup gold treatment. There is also a holo-silver version which I picked up a while back too.

What I like about this card is with the base you get 4 jersey swatches, with the holo-silver there are two patches on mine and then this card has one 4 colour patch, 1 two colour seam and a piece of the fight-strap with velcro!. The last piece is just a swatch of white jersey with a ripple. In all they are 4 great pieces from different parts of the jersey. The patch and the fight strap are just amazing. But, if you look closer, the seam piece doesn't even take up the whole window. There is actually a gap of NOTHING, that is a downer. Another downer is the signature. It looks like the auto area wasn't prepped properly or there was an issue with the marker. Either way, for a premium product those are both cons about this card.  

Here is the back side of the card. Nothing special here from the other versions except the numbering is to 25 instead of 199, 50, 10 which are the regular, silver and black versions respectively.

So, have you ever bought a premium card and been saddened by the craftsmanship? In all the patches and numbering make up for the signature and seam piece but I would not have been happy if I paid 200 bucks for a box and this was my main hit. But since his is in my PC and I paid very little for the card, its shortcomings can be over looked.

Canada Post Screws Up Again and Panini America Makes It Right

So as many of you know, I moved about a year ago. When you move, there are lots of things to take care of and one of those things is mail forwarding. My wife and I had a debate over how long to forward our mail and I wanted to pay for a YEAR and she wanted to do the minimum of 6 months. Not knowing when some of my TTMs might make it back home to me I felt a year was totally worth it and in fact I was tempted to renew just in case. Well a couple days ago our year was up and I will just have to live with any super long returns just not making it back to me. However, returns from Selanne, Tretiak, and Backes are just a couple of the reasons why I was glad to forward for as long as I did.

Sadly, mail forwarding isn't always perfect because people are involved. I had asked for a product replacement from Panini last summer to replace a redemption that was going to take forever to get back and really was going to be crap anyway. It was a 12-13 Limited Devils Rookie Redemption and it turned out that they weren't going to be signed so I asked for a different card. The great people at Panini America offered me another card and it turned out to be this card.

11-12 Panini Contenders NHL Ink - Adam Larsson

However, what happened was they mailed the above card out and weeks later I wondered, where the heck is it? So I logged on to check the tracking and it turns out the card was delivered. But, I never received it. I then knew why, I FORGOT TO CHANGE MY MAILING ADDRESS. My first thought was, damn I am an idiot for not checking that first. But then I thought, why didn't it get forwarded? Canada Post first blamed me because it was a package and they don't forward packages, just letters. But then after a couple of days of "reviewing my case" they realized they did screw up too and offered me postage products to make up for the mistake. Panini on the other hand said they would wait to see if it came back as a "return to sender" . A few weeks later I contacted Panini again and they said it didn't arrive back but that they would resend a second card and they confirmed my new address with me and a week or two later the above card arrived.

In all, I don't think this could have come out any better for me. I had some stressful moments dealing with Canada Post etc, but in the end I believe Panini was the better of the three parties by stepping up and fixing MY MISTAKE and dealing me a homerun of a card. No stickers here, a nice on-card auto of one of the best Devils defense prospects. If it wasn't for DeBoer, Adam would have been a full-time NHL'er a while back.

Thanks Panini for making it right and that is another reason why you will be missed in the Hockey Card market. Top notch customer service.

A Call To Baseball Card Collectors Who Read My Blog

So a while back I posted that I was interested in getting myself a baseball set. Then what happened was some people shared some ideas and then I went away thinking about their suggestions. The problem ended up being a little more complicated. As a result of your suggestions I have three sets I am interested in.

Set 1
1989 Upper Deck Baseball



Classic set, one I remember my friends collecting.

Set 2
1984 Donruss Baseball



A classic set with some great rookies and maybe Donruss' best offering.

Set 3
1981 Fleer Baseball



This one I came up with on my own. A quirky set that seems to have a bit of a fan base. While there aren't loads of HOF rookies, there are some good rookies and the design is nice IMHO. Also, its over 30 years old which is cool too.

So, here is where you come in. Every free cent I seem to get goes back to collecting hockey cards so if I did have the $30+ dollars to buy any of these sets, something in my head would say "Hey that could have been a Parkie" so rather than spend cash, I am hoping to trade for one of these sets. I can trade another set for it, I can trade some autos, game used whatever the trader wants. SO here is my plan:

If you have an extra one of those listed sets, message me. First one to come to my rescue will get a chance to try and cook a deal with me. If it can't happen then I will try someone else. I totally understand YOUR shipping will be more than mine so I plan to heavily compensate you with more hits in return. This is something I really hope to do so if you have something I want, I will try and more than make it worth your while..

Thanks for your help in advance and I will keep you posted if I have any luck. Thanks for your time.