13-14 The Cup Brilliance Mike Bossy Auto

The last of my three HI cards is this one. Like what a lot of people are taking about these autographs is true, they look WAY better in person than they do on the scan. These cards are like a shadow box with a The Cup foil underneath an acetate cover which features a signature in blue ink.

The card is as thick as I have ever seen, exceeding the standard 180 pt The Cup cards.  If I were to take a guess I am going to say 240 pt thickness but I only know it isn't 360. The card is pretty impressive in all and I definitely think if you have a chance to buy a player you like, do it. The prices on these are super reasonable and apart from being a little cumbersome to store it isn't too crazy.

13-14 The Cup Brilliance Mike Bossy Auto

I bought a Bossy auto ages ago but it wasn't authenticated so this time around I at least guarantee myself a legit auto. I am a fan of Mike Bossy, maybe not his biggest by any stretch but I do respect what he did and his accomplishments are legendary. I own a couple of his rookie cards too so landing this definitely completes my HOF PC on Bossy. 

78-79 Topps Mike Bossy Rookie

So I happened across a deal that was even more of a deal based on my willing to take a chance. I was in the market for a card, I won't say what card because I will save that for another day. Needless to say, I was looking for a card and it just so happened that there was a lot deal for this card and the one below. There was a starting price that was pretty decent just for the OTHER card alone, but when combined with a near-mint Mike Bossy rookie that price was insanely cheap. There was also a buy-it-now price which was very very low but about 5 bucks more than the starting price. I decided to take a chance and bid rather than do the buy-it-now. The thing was I really wanted the other card, but another Bossy rookie would be cool too for trade bait or just to have. 

There was only about 5 hours left in the auction so things were tense. Even in the final minutes I thought for sure someone would swoop in and snip the cards away. Well luck should have it, that never happened and I landed both cards for a fair bit less than the BV of the Bossy. 

As you can see from the front, 4 sharp corners and pretty good centering. On the back, there is a tiny bit of colour wear on the bottom two corners and the centering is off a bit, but that is pretty much it. Certainly a no-brainer and since I was not desperate to win this particular auction, I could afford to take a risk and I was really glad I did!

Mike Bossy Auto

Buying online, unauthenticated autos can be dangerous and risky business. Not so much dangerous for you personally, but spending hard earned cash on a fake is equivalent to murdering your own money. I have seen countless autos on line that just seem far too fake or far too risky to chance my hard earned money on.

However, over a year ago I wrote Mike Bossy and thus far have had no response. I can't remember if I mentioned Wayne Gretzky in my letter or not, but if I did, rumour has it I will never see those cards again. Anyway, an auto that I did have some confidence in did pop up online from a seller I trust.

So for 99 cents plus shipping, I landed an auto I believe to be authentic of one of the best snipers the game has ever seen!

Oddly enough, there is an actual autographed insert from this set featuring Mike Bossy, but this isn't one of those cards. Those cards are numbered by hand on the front, where this card clearly isn't. I like the auto and you can see the stop points on the signature all make sense and the signature is very similar to most other Bossy autos I have seen online.

I am glad I bought this one and for what I paid it was worth the risk, but upon seeing it in person, I am very confident that it is a legit auto, although if it is a fake....it is a pretty good one!

Does anyone else take the occasional chance on an unauthenticated auto online? If so, what are your success stories?

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.