14-15 ITG The Vault Larry Robinson Auto & Jersey 1/1 (Or when a 1/1 is manufactured)

Ok, the hobby does some strange things in order to make a dollar and some times I think it has gone a little too far. I am curious to know your thoughts on this one. ITG had a release in the past year called The Vault where a bunch of cards were bought back, labelled and redistributed with the idea that they were rare and unique (1/1). So here is one example of such card that I picked up this past summer. 

14-15 ITG The Vault Larry Robinson Auto Jersey 1/1

This card was originally from one of the Superlative releases and features a nice on the card auto and a small piece of a Montreal Canadiens sweater. If you look at the upper right you will see the card was defaced with a ruby foil job and the numbering of 1/1. There are 49 other cards out there just like this one but they don't have the ruby foiling. So the question is, does my Larry Robinson card deserve to be more expensive and highly regarded than the other 49 non-ruby foiled copies?

I personally am not sure if it is any more special than it's other brothers but thankfully I was able to purchase this for probably cheaper than the other 49 sold for so I might be inclined to think the foil job actually decreased the value of this card. While I personally don't consider this card a 1/1, I do consider it a nice auto game used card of a Hall of Famer who once coached the Devils to a couple cups and am proud to have it in my collection.  

Fun cards in my collection - 73-74 OPC Larry Robinson Rookie

I am going to take a page from Tim over at the TheRealDFG.com or dogfacedgremlin.blogspot.ca, I am going to share some cards on occasion from my collection which really have nothing to do with anything going on in the hockey world other than I like them a lot and I want to share them with the world and my kids when they are old enough to read this blog.  So my first fun card in my collection is Hall of Fame Defenseman Larry Robinson's rookie.

72-73 OPC #237 Larry Robinson Rookie Light Back

Looking at the front of the card you can see many of the issues that exist with this set. Some choppy cutting, a little off-center and some colour loss on the border. The card also has a little corner wear, but I would be very confident to say that this card is in excellent condition! There are no creases on the card and it is very sharp looking in person. I love the look of Larry's mustache, he seems to be able to sport the handle bars really well. I just think this card is exactly what many cards from the 70's pretty much looked like, lots of studio shots with players not really playing hockey. This is Larry's only rookie since the Topps release was limited to 198 cards. With that being said, this card as a result books for a little higher than it may have if there was a Topps version. Book price as of July 2013 is $80 on the high end and $40 on the low. To be completely honest, when you do see these online there really aren't many steals to be had like other players, and I think it is because there is only one rookie and Montreal players tend to be highly collectible especially when it comes to HOF'ers. I had huge respect for him as a player even though I only saw him at the end of his career and his career as a coach is what really endeared him to me because he won 3 Cup with the Devils as either an assistant or head coach.
  

Here is the back side of the card. Again a very 70's looking back with season totals and a nice write-up with comic. I like the landscape design and I think it is pretty cool that there are two styles of backs with this set. I have a Bill Barber OPC rookie from this set which I thought was a Topps card when I first saw it as a kid, but it turned out it was just a Dark Back version of the 73-74 OPC set. From what I can tell in my limited research there isn't much premium for light or dark backs but some people do prefer one over the other, and others consider a complete set to have both versions.

In all, it may not be a set appreciated by many, but it is one I like and this card is among some of my favourites in my collection.

11-12 ITG Canada Vs The World - Larry Robinson

Here is another ITG Canada Vs The World auto to join my Darren Helm and Brad Park ones. Like Park, Robinson was a HOF defenseman who played well in both ends of the ice, but unlike Park, won a load of Stanley Cups. As of right now, Larry aka "Big Bird" has his name on the Cup 9 times and nearly a tenth this past June. Larry was at the end of his playing career when I started watching hockey, but I do remember him playing and I remember him on cardboard too, most notably this one:

I honestly don't know why I always think of this card when I think of Larry, maybe it is because I was still young and impressionable and this card features a pretty cool photo of Larry battling it out with Adam Oates. The cool thing is these two guys would be coaches on the same team last season for the Devils before both landing coaching gigs elsewhere in the off-season.

11-12 ITG Canada Vs The World - Larry Robinson Auto

Here is the focus of the post, a nice beautiful signature of one of the best defensemen of all-time and I think he is an excellent coach as well. Larry was very classy as a player and as a coach and really hard to find anyone say a bad word about him. He represented Canada on numerous occasions including three Canada Cups. I was able to land this card along with Park and one other in a pretty awesome self-made three card lot deal.

Now all I need is his rookie.....might be a while for that one since I don't have one yet :)

Imagine a team with these three on the backend?

Here is a card I came across the other day in my collection and I realized I forgot to post it up online. This little beauty was at my LCS begging to come home with me and as always I bundled it up and save a few more dollars off the already priced to move cost. What did I pay, I don't even remember! However, these are three guys I have LOTS of respect for and they knew how to act, how to lead and how to play the game.

09-10 OPC Premier Trios     Robinson-MacInnis-Bourque /50

I really liked the look of this card and the subjects on it are the finest D-men of my generation. Swatches are all different in colour too which is nice and they just look awesome on cardboard.

92-93 Bowman Mario Lemieux Conn Smythe Foil

Part of the same bundle was this card. I don't own any other 92-93 Bowman cards except this one. I honestly was a bit of a card snob back then and Bowman had a bit of a reputation from 90-92 if you know what I mean...But these cards came out hot and before I knew it prices were far higher than I would ever pay and I just never got myself a pack let alone a set. However, I am older, prices have cooled a bit and if the right price ever came along maybe I will snag one. I have since grown to appreciate the 90-91 Bowman set, maybe it won't be long before I have a 91-92 and a 92-93.

However, this card is pretty neat and simple, features Mario and he looks like he is about to announce his pending trip to Disney World and he is very thrilled....Actually it looks more like it has been several hours since his last smoke and he could use another. Either way, I figured the price was right and my collection could use at least one 92-93 Bowman card!

76-77 OPC Update...Then there were 7

After all my mystery box fun with the 76-77 OPC stuff, I was down to just 10 cards that I didn't have and a few I wanted to upgrade at some point. However, my focus is to get the 10 I need, and then upgrade later in life...or save that for my son to do someday.

Anyway, my LCS have many of the ones I need for this set and I have just been picking away at the slowly and working out deals when I can. I did manage over the last few weeks to nail 3 more off the list. Denis Potvin, Larry Robinson and Bobby Clarke. None of those three book for more than 6 bucks so getting those three for 10 bucks was a pretty good deal. They are all near-mint condition which means they won't need to be upgraded and that leaves just 7 more to go.

I was as happy as Denis buying those three!


However, of the remaining 7, there is an Orr and Dryden in that mix which will drive up my final set price, but I still imagine I will be ahead of the game when it is all done. My LCS does have an Orr as well as the Lafleur I need, but I will let them collect some more dust before I go in and beat them up on a price.... :)