Casey of House of Oglethorpe Gives Me More Than I Bargained For

Casey of Drop The Gloves House of Oglethorpe had struck a deal with me for a card that he offered up from his collection. I agreed to an awesome deal and when it arrived,  it arrived with some extra coolness. The card which which was the focus of the deal,  I will share at a later date. Here are extras that arrived with it and I can't thank Casey enough for his kindness and generosity.

08-09 UD Masterpieces Alex Delvecchio Brushstrokes Brown Auto

This is the set that sparked the canvas craze in current UD products. Originally Masterpieces was product done all in the style of canvas (base and inserts). Alex has a great on card auto here with a photo that UD has over used but the design of the card more than makes up for it. If you notice Alex's stick, there were clearly rations on hockey tape back in the late 60s and early 70s.


2001-02 BAP Signature Series Igor Larionov

Here is another gift from Casey. NHL HOF'er all round winner Igor Larionov.
Check out this resume:
2 time WJHC Gold medalist
4 time World Champion
1 time Canada Cup Champ
2 time Olympic Gold Medalist
Olympic Bronze Medalist
and 3 time Stanley Cup Champion.

For a player who spent most of his prime playing in Russia, he came over to Canada at the age of 29 and rattled off 14 pretty impressive NHL seasons. This also completes another HOF'er off my RC/Memorabilia list. Like most collectors I have dozens of Larionov rookies it was much harded to land the auto than the rookie here.

Thank you very very much Casey for the beautiful additions and I will soon share the center piece of our deal.

At long last - Bobby Orr Auto

Selling my David Clarkson The Cup Rookie /199 netted me enough money to buy this beast!

10-11 UD Ultimate Bobby Orr Ultimate Signatures

I tried to buy many in the past, I tried trading for one and every time ended in failure. Finally armed with some PayPal cash I went looking specifically for a Orr auto. Patience is fine, but eventually you just need to take the bull by the horns and I did that. I made an offer or two with some BIN options and one seller countered my 40 less than asking with 30 less than asking so I said SOLD. Using no money from my pocket I was able to buy this card!

The thing with Orr autos is sometimes they can get a little sloppy, lets face is Orr signs lots of stuff for Upper Deck and is getting a bit older and sometimes he probably just wants the job done so he can get back to Chevy commercials. I am very pleased that the auto is solid and legible. I wasn't picky about on card, but that is a nice added bonus with this one. I did want him in uniform which did cut out some cheaper Goodwin options but in all this card was perfect for me and the price was right. Another HOF'er to the collection and one less HOF'er I need to land.

BTW please excuse the team bag line on his face, I should have took it out when I scanned it, but I didn't so I apologize.

At long last - Maurice Richard Auto

There are somethings I think all serious collections need and in my case it was a Maurice Richard auto. I also plan on getting his rookie someday as part of my Parkhurst Project, but in the meantime his autos are a bit more affordable than his rookies. With that being said, because he is now playing hockey at the big rink in the sky, his autograph days are pretty much numbered and unless there is a sheet of his autographed stickers out there, no new cards will be out there. (it freaks me out that Bob Probert autos are still being released thanks to sticker technology)

His autographs do demand a pretty steep premium and are often in the 75-300 dollar range depending on the release. Signature rookies had a few releases with his autograph on them which are on the lower end of the range and I was lucky enough to trade a few items in and land this gem. 

I was actually after an auto for quite a while and a blogger out there was nice enough to offer me an uncertified one for a very fair price. However, I had a lot of bills at the time and didn't end up pulling the trigger and then a few months later I found this at the LCS and was able to trade some extra unwanted cards for this beauty.

1995 Signature Rookies Championship Series Maurice Richard Auto /1500

Those quick goal-scorer hands did get a little shaky as Maurice got older, but still a beautiful signature and much nicer than most kids are firing off day in the NHL. 1500 isn't exactly an exclusive release and Signature rookies isn't exactly the gold standard in cards but I feel this card has lots of the good elements I look for in an auto. 

Much like the front, here is a Maurice photo later in his career with an airbrushed jersey because of no NHL license. There is a hologram on the back for authenticity purposes but no "congratulations" write up which I also like. I would be curious to have seen what the Rocket would have done with a FULL modern NHL season in 44-45 when he scored 50 in 50. Could he have hit 80 goals that season?

Very happy to have added this one to my collection! It crosses off one of the greatest NHL players off my to-do list while costing me nothing out of pocket and I will try and do that whenever I can!

The Final Two HOF Autos

Little talk, just show here. My last two autos are ones I have had for over 20 years, but they are new because of what you are going to see. Brett from My Hockey Card Obsession took these two autos:

Then with his amazing talent turned them into these:

A shortage in disk storage space on my scanning computer resulted in a botched scan so I am using the pics that Brett shared on twitter a little while back. These cards are amazing in person and it is truly a skill to take an auto on a piece of paper and turn it into a piece of art. Thank you very much Brett I really really appreciate it. The Howe is my favourite HOF auto addition in the past year and I look forward to sharing more pick ups in the near future!

Btw if case you are curious, I got the Gordie Howe auto the same night I got this Gordie Howe auto.

12-13 ITG Superlative III Vladislav Tretiak Auto

For as long as I can remember, I have been a huge fan of the '72 Series. Even though it happened 7 years before I was born and 15 years before I started watching hockey, I haven't been able to get enough of that Series. Being Canadian, of course I am very pleased that Canada was victorious, but at the same time I have a real appreciate for the talent the Russian players possessed and their approach to preparing and playing hockey. Tretiak is without a doubt one of my all-time favourite players. Several years ago, The Hockey News put out an issue on the Greatest Debates and I still have my issue from 2005 which featured some pretty awesome topics including a "What if?" section with two awesome debates:

"What if New Jersey won the Mario derby?"

and

"What if Tretiak played in the NHL?"

Tretiak is a player who was someone I idolized long after his playing days were pretty much over. Vlad came into the spotlight as the starting goalie for the Russians in the '72 Series and unlike Canada, the Russians played him in all 8 games instead of playing Zinger or Sidelnikov. What the Canadians ran into was a goalie far more capable than they anticipated and for a goalie who never played pro hockey in North America, you would be hard pressed to find any non-NHL goalie more famous than him. He played 15 seasons for CSKA Moscow and he was even drafted by the Montreal Canadiens in 1983 at the age of 31. However, it was never meant to be as he would never defect to CAN/USA so it will always be a guessing game to what he COULD have done in the NHL at that point or in his prime. Vlad has had a huge impact working with many NHL goalies as both a coach with the Blackhawks and on his own with this goalie school. Ed Belfour can thank much of his career as a goalie because of Tretiak who be both idolized and received direct coaching help from the Russian great. Tretiak was inducted into the Hockey Hall of Fame in 1989 making him the first Russian player inducted into the Hall of Fame and arguably the first European. 

12-13 ITG Superlative III Vladislav Tretiak Auto

Is this what a perfect card looks like? I am not sure, but I do think this card is pretty amazing with all the features I look for in a memorabilia card. The photo is great, the swatch is game used team Russia and a good size and the auto is clear and on-card. I have wanted a piece of Vlad for as long as I have been collecting and to get this into my collection is pretty awesome. This card ranks as the second best pick-up in my collection as far as HOF autos go in the last year.

There you have it, another HOF auto, I have two left to share including my number 1 favourite pick-up in the last year before I can end this series and share some more pack and box breaks.

90-91 Score Fern Flaman Auto

Sorry for the little break in posts, I spent the last couple days dealing with our house move which is set to take place this Saturday! Super happy because our little house is just too little and my new home will feature a hockey card room (instead of my tiny closet) and a good sized media room for hockey games and air hockey. Anyway, this post is another in my series of HOF posts and like the Lemieux one, it is a base card signed and JSA certified.

Fern Flaman is far from a household name in today's day. However,  back in the day, he was a very very tough stay-at-home defenseman who could fight, hit and occasionally chip in a point here or there. If you want someone to compare him to, my best guess is think of Adam Foote with the toughness of Chelios. In terms of Devils, think about Scott Stevens being crossed with Ken Daneyko.

Fern didn't tear up the NHL as offensively as he did in the minors, but he did establish himself as a very dependable rear-guard and a player you didn't mess with. Fern was a three-time second team all-star and he appeared in 6 NHL all-star games. Gordie Howe even once said that Fern was the toughest defenseman he ever played against. 910 career games, 34 goals and 210 points are what he did offensively, but it is impossible to measure what Fern did off the scoresheet, but in 1990 he did get the recognition he deserved and was inducted into the Hall of Fame.

1990-91 Score American Fern Flaman Auto

Here is this front side featuring a great autograph in my opinion. Nice and clear, on-card auto with a blue sharpie. The card features a great spot where Fern was able to sign an unobstructed auto next to his picture.

Here is the backside and again a 9 out of 10. What does a 10 signature look like BGS? Anyway, it might not be Super Mario or Steve Yzerman, but it is a HOF'er and I can thank Shane from Shoebox Legends for putting him on my radar. I actually scored this back in the summer for the price of a hobby pack of Artifacts!

09-10 UD Ice Glacial Graphs Steve Yzerman

Continuing the trend of HOF autos, here is the next one I landed in the last year. My first and only Steve Yzerman auto. In hindsight, I probably should have put some white paper on the back when I scanned it because the black top of the scanner cover takes away from the autograph. With that being said, the rest of the card did end up pretty cool too....

This is a 09-10 Glacial Graph which is a busier looking card than my favourite 05-06 Glacial Graphs but I still like the card. Good use of colour and space with an "ice" background. 

Steve signed this card with a blue sharpie and like all Glacial Graphs I have seen, it is an on acetate auto. Steve included his number with this signature which is always a bonus to me. I thought about rescanning to show the auto off better, but the card is now in a one screw screwdown and I don't see it coming out any time soon :)

Whenever I get a chance I will try and chase a player's Glacial Graph, are there any collectors out there who target a specific auto release (Autofacts, Brushstrokes, Signature Sensations etc.)? Normally I do a small write up about the player, but time is a little short today so if you are more curious about Stevie Wonders pro hockey stats, check out this. His 155 point season will always stand out in my mind, but his performance at the 89-90 World Hockey Championships is pretty cool as is his 6th place in all-time regular season points with 1755.