Back Checking - Sandis Ozolinsh

Wow, it's been ages since I have done some back checking, so here is one that hopefully will make you smile like it did for me!

About a year ago I was at the LCS and I found a box of 93-94 Upper Deck Series 1 and 2 there for 10 dollars a piece. Given I didn't ever complete either of these sets I decided it would be fun to buy them and break them.

The set as a whole is much like early Upper Deck sets, very well designed, good photography and a backside which featured a second photo and all the necessary stats and vitals.

93-94 Upper Deck Series 1 Wayne Gretzky #99

 Here is a good example. Great colour scheme and a fantastic action shot of the Great One.

 Here is the back side. A different game, same Wayne and all the stats for the past 5 years as well as career totals. Sadly one of those seasons is not like the other and we can all thank Gary Suter for that one.

93-94 Upper Deck Series 1 Sandis Ozolinsh #72

Much like the Gretzky, a pretty cool action shot here. Carrying the puck with his heads up and players behind him are on their feet! Then you flip the card over and I am honestly at a loss for words on this one:

Is that Ace Ventura?

Or perhaps it is his impersonation of SJ Sharkie? Either way, when I saw this side of the card I must admit it made me laugh and even now it's still funny and maybe one of the most memorable card backs I have ever come across. I do comment Upper Deck and Sandis on their creativity and while I must say my first thought was WTF, it's actually a fun card and collecting should be all about fun! What are your thoughts? Is this card a winner or a loser for you? Do you have any card backs that stand out as memorable to you?

Thanks for stopping by!

1979-80 Topps Wayne Gretzky RC

Oh boy, I figure it is about time to share this one. I have actually had it for about a year and a half but with my time away and stuff I have finally got around to scanning and sharing this. The unfortunate part is this card is slabbed so scanning it wasn't as successful as I hope and I didn't really feel like playing around with the camera today. So please keep that in mind as you proceed through this post.

1979-80 Topps Wayne Gretzky RC

To say I have wanted this card my whole life would be a bit of hyperbole as I have only been collecting since 1990. However, I have wanted this card ever since then so that pretty much feels like my entire life. Having a pretty tight budget meant that I couldn't drop 2000+ on a PSA 9 or 10 but at the same time I felt life is short why not at least get a decent one for a decent price and then worry about a better one for my OPC set later. As it stands I am not done my Topps set and even with this card I am still about a dozen (give or take) away from the set. While my set is an average of Ex-Mt or better I was willing to let a little go when it came to the Great One.

The card itself is stunning in person. Don't let the grading fool you at first glance it looks like a 7. However, it is truly a 4 and it's flaws are visible if you take a few moments to scan around and tilt the card. You can see corner wear on the upper right and bottom left.Tilt the card and you will see the upper left is a tiny bit soft. On the back by the 1978-79 there is a tiny hairline crease that sometimes takes me a while to find depending on the light etc. Also a tiny bit of browning on the edge of the card make it truly a 4 I suspect. Enough of the bad, this card is all great to me and it a very very fun addition to a collection I always felt needed at least one Gretzky RC.

Here is the back side, the scanning didn't turn out as well as the front but I wanted to share it anyway.


I bought this card knowing it was a PSA 4 and would have its flaws. Given how difficult they are to spot I felt it was an amazing purchase and am so pleased to have it in my collection. I honestly don't ever see myself getting rid of it ever, even if I added more Gretzkys to my collection. My end goal is to have a nice one in the 7 range in both Topps and OPC to go along with my autograph and game used Great Ones.

Thanks for stopping by and seeing one of the most important cards in my collection. Are there any cards in your collection that you would say are keystone cards which you had to have or knew needed to be apart of the collection?

Wow, has it been 800 posts already? Let's celebrate with the best modern day card IMHO.

When I started this blog nearly 7 years ago, I didn't have much in the way of expectations. I thought I might share a few packs, a few finds and perhaps make a few trades. Instead I have exceeded all those expectations of myself and 800 posts and many new friends later I wanted to bring myself back to the point where my collecting really began.  1990-91 Upper Deck.

Modern day cards in my opinion really began in 1990 when there was a huge collecting boom and it wasn't just Topps or OPC as options. In those 26 years, so many different card companies have come and gone and many set ideas and designs have also succeeded and failed. I want to use this post to share my favourite card created since 1990 and perhaps call it the best card in the past 30 years.

1990-91 Upper Deck #241 Wayne Gretzky Promo

When I started collecting cards everyone was gaga for Upper Deck. The little holograms on the back, the insert stereograms and rookies galore were the draw of these cards. Even their "tamper-proof" packs offered something different than previous card companies products. This was a set to be "invested" into to. Time flies and sadly there are more Roenick and Jagr rookies to go around to all who want them and it wasn't exactly the investment people thought. Partially because the number of people collecting cards hasn't really matched what they were back then and secondly production run was probably a "little" higher than the demand. With that being said, I just remember going to store and seeing the 90-91 UD Low series box on the shelf and I would get butterflies in my tummy wondering who I might open in that pack. 400 cards made up the low series and another 150 were added to the high series. Despite all the packs I would open, one card on the box was never in the packs and that was the Wayne Gretzky promo. I remember seeing that card on the box and I thought, wow that is a cool looking card. Wayne in all black almost looked like he was part of "The Empire" and the look on his face is much like the Mona Lisa. Is Wayne smiling? What is he thinking?

The card had me hooked and when I saw the Gretzky in the pack, dressed in his white "home jersey", I was let down. Don't get me wrong, the regular base Gretzky is a nice card but I wanted my all black Gretzky. As time went by, I would add cards and complete both the low and high series sets. I can't remember the last card I needed to complete the high series but the last card I did need to finish the low series was Ed Belfour. Later in life, during my second incarnation as a collector I was able to land my Wayne Gretzky promo. In fact, I was able to pick up two!

What makes this card so perfect in my opinion is the front, there is no fault I could find with the card. It truly is a work of art that I hope to turn into a work of art and someday I hope to share the final product if all goes well! The backside is able to support my claims as well. The photo on the back shows a home game where Wayne emerges from a scrum/war which has John Tonelli being mugged by Dean Kennedy and Wayne leaving with what I believe are his eyes locked on the puck. I even love the view you get of Wayne's iconic Titan TPM 2020 and Daoust skates.

For the keen eyed, there is a small error on the back too which is just icing on the cake if you ask me as the notation for feet and inches are inverted and list Wayne as 6" 0'. Also in view on the back is the greatest regular season point total the NHL has ever seen 215 points in 80 game. When you combine all the factors above, and the fact that there are no "gimmicks", or swatches or anything added to this card, it is one of my absolute favourite cards of all-time and in my opinion the best card made since 1990. What are your thoughts? Do you have a favourite modern day card?

Thanks goes out to all of you who read my posts and an extra special thanks to those who comment and have reached out to me over the years to make trades or chat cards. All the best and here hopes I have another 800+ posts in me!  

83-84 Vachon Foods Wayne Gretzky

Today's post features a card that I found in my LCS about a year ago and was one that I thought I had seen before in my life but completely forgot about it and very well might have never seen more than once. 

When I first saw this card I am pretty impressed, I knew it was from the 80's based on a few obvious characteristics and when I looked at the back I saw a neat fact and that was it was from the 83-84 season. If you are a collector of hockey cards you should recognize that this card design is a tiny bit similar to a pretty important set from the 80's in particular the famous 85-86 OPC/Topps set which is home to Mario Lemieux's rookie. There are differences too which means that one isn't a rip off of the other but there are still enough similarities that made me wonder if OPC/Topps were inspired by this release. Either way, I loved this card and was able to walk out with it for well under the price of a blaster.

83-84 Vachon Foods #26 Wayne Gretzky

On the front you see a nice framed photo of Wayne in action and I find myself drawn right to the photo every time I look at this card. I love the Titan 2020 stick in the photo and the look on Wayne's face as he is preparing to either take a pass or steal the puck. The design on the bottom with his name and number looks great with the rest of this card.

Here is the backside and again you have a well designed card. No yearly stats but two write ups in Canada's official languages and vitals at the top. There really isn't anything I can complain about when I look at this card and I love that I haven't seen hundreds of these in my life which means they are at least reasonably rare.

While I am not typically a collector of cards from random and obscure sets, a Gretzky card from the 80's with a fantastic design was something I couldn't leave behind. Combine that with the fact that this card is pretty much as close to mint as the 80's have to offer at a price less than half of book I knew at the very least it would make great trade bait. However, even as I write this my appreciation for how cool this card is might have been keeping it for good. Thanks for stopping by!

On This Day 28 Years Ago....

The greatest player ever to play hockey was traded and eventually one of the most iconic non-rookie cards from the 80's was born.

For those who aren't in the know, Wayne Gretzky who was smashing just about every NHL offensive record was traded to the LA Kings for a number of players and draft picks and $25 million dollars. The key piece other than the money was Jimmy Carson who in all fairness was a fledgling superstar. Jimmy was the second overall pick in the 1986 and already had a 55 goal season in just his second year in the NHL. Alas poor Jimmy made the mistake of demanding a trade out of Edmonton after putting up great numbers in his first year with the club and his career was never the same after that.

Wayne on the other hand excelled in LA and made stars into superstars.

The above card is often known as the Gretzky sweater card in the 88-89 Topps set. What is most interesting about this card to me is it's place in history and it's place among collectors. Once upon a time, the 88-89 OPC and Topps sets were heavily coveted during the collecting explosion of the early 90's, I remember the Hull Topps rookie trading for about 50 dollars and the OPC pushing 150 dollars. However, thanks to the bubble bursting and the internet, many prices of 80's cards have dropped steadily over the past 20 years instead of increasing in value like so many envisioned and hoped for. What I find very cool is the value of this particular card hasn't changed and is actually the highest listed card in the 88-89 Topps set ($20 dollars). It's more valuable than a Brett Hull rookie, Brendan Shanahan rookie or even a Joe Nieuwendyk rookie. Wayne Gretzky's 9th year card is more valuable than each of those three Hall of Famer's rookie cards.

Here is the back side of the card.

What is also impressive is the Gretzky Sweater card is considered even more valuable than it's OPC counterpart.

 See anything missing on this card? Compare the two and look by the push pin!

OPC decided to run with a different photo than the Topps card and went with a posed photo of Wayne wearing his Kings jersey and forever changed the 88-89 release. Collectors appreciate Wayne in uniform but it seems that the Topps card from the news conference trumps this one and it's pretty much the only case in the 80's where a Topps card is more valuable than it's OPC counterpart (with the exception of the 89-90 sets where OPC was over produced). While I like the above card, the Topps card just seems so much more interesting and magical. It is almost a better representation of the most shocking trade I have ever experienced in my life.

 Here is the backside of the OPC card.

So where were you when the trade happened? Did you collect or try to collect these cards? Personally I remember the trade well and I grew to really like the Oilers during the 87-88 season because after the Devils got bounced I cheered for the Oilers to bounce the Bruins which they were able to do and while they would win again in 1990, the Dynasty was over and things were never the same again.

I have owned the Topps card pictured here since the early/mid 90's when I bought the whole set for 60 dollars which seems silly since they can be had for much less now but the years of enjoyment have been worth it! The OPC version is apart of my OPC set which I bought a couple years ago because I have a pretty big sentimental attachment to the set as a whole which I will hopefully share some day in another post.

Anyway, thanks for stopping by and here's hoping we never see a trade like this again.....ever!

81/82 OPC Wayne Gretzky Super Action

Patience is something I always talk about during my posts and here is yet another case. I probably have been on the title card a dozen times over the last 7 years and never won one. I never sure about the condition, or the price was too high or I didn't have enough in the budget to bundle it with something else. 

A while back I stopped off at my LCS and had a small pile of change I didn't really have ear-marked for much so I went in looking for cheap deals. Sure enough Wayne was in the display case with a very very fair price on it. So after chatting with the boys for a bit I asked if they could do a better deal on Wayne (almost feeling guilty but not quite). Sure enough they slashed the price in half and I said sold!

81/82 OPC Wayne Gretzky Super Action

Rather than go over the things I love about 81/82 OPC/Topps for the 50th time, I am instead going to just focus on this card. For starters you get a cool design with an all action shot of Wayne Gretzky. See that blurry white jersey in the background? Yet another photobomb by Mike Gartner! The backsides of these cards are very well utilized and they give you a different look at a players career rather than the usual regular season stats.

Here is the back side and please excuse the "scan". I have a new desktop and I have been pretty slow at installing software and peripherals so as a result no scanner and no good software to prep the pictures for show. I instead left it in its toploader and took a photo with my camera. But I still think you can catch the gist of what I am saying.

Love the big player in the background and the fact the card is focused entirely on playoff performance and highlights. When Wayne was just a kid he tore up the WHA playoffs, 10 goals, 10 assists in just 13 games in insane. How about 21 points in 9 games? Check out those highlights, I am sensing a theme.

A couple neat facts, Wayne Gretzky was the WHA Rookie of the Year in 1979 as you can plainly see, but he could have easily won the Playoff MVP too as he lead the WHA playoffs in Goals and Points. Wayne's 21 points in 9 games gave him the highest points per game average in the playoffs and given Edmonton only scored 35 the entire playoff means he was directly responsible for 60% of all their goals.

Some day I just need to bit the bullet and get a complete OPC set from 81/82! After I get through the 20 or so posts I have in my mind, I am going to try and do a post about my favourite 10 Gretzky cards. Hopefully I will get there some day.

Appreciation for 83/84 OPC - A labour of love

When it comes to sets from the 80's, some are more memorable or more valuable than others. 83/84 doesn't have droves of fans scrambling to write creative and thoughtful posts heralding its unique traits. Book value isn't high on the set or the cards in the set. With that being said, I love the set. Why you ask?  (but probably didn't)

Well I am going to tell you anyway. For me, I have had an interest in the set ever since I started collecting and it took me nearly 25 years to complete and I enjoyed every moment of it. The set I collated contains cards I pulled from packs, obtained in trade, bought from LCSs and finally a pile I got online in a random box of commons. 

My introduction to this set began when I started to collect Pelle Lindbergh. He was my first PC and the first one I completed when I landed all four of his cards from his playing days in the 80s. I just remember seeing that rookie for the first time and thinking that card is amazing. My LCS as a kid had packs of 83/84 OPC for about 8 bucks a pack so I bought a couple and actually got a Gretzky as a kid which was huge in my world and over twenty years later I bought a few more to help me with the set.  So here is a post about my specific 83/84 set along with some special cards in the set which are cool and/or have meaning to me.  

This set was one of two from the 80's that didn't have a Topps counterpart to so it was the only game in town for hockey cards as far as the masses are concerned. The set itself was 396 cards featuring many cool rookies but for some collectors the rookies aren't worth hundreds of dollars so as a result the set seems to fall through the cracks. However, if you look carefully, a number of rookies in the set are fringe HOF players or player who were all-stars multiple times. 

Here is a shot of a wrapper from the set. I have a couple of these thanks to some packs I opened and thanks to other collectors who know my love for 83/84. I even used a portion of this wrapper for my header on this very blog. 

Card number 2 in the set features a season highlight that many players wish they could experience.  Denis' jersey looks like he and it went through hell to get that Cup. They beat the Oilers that season and it was Gretzky who noticed what it took to win by observing what the Islanders did to win that series. The Oilers would win the Cup next year and so began a new Dynasty. 

Pull this from a pack as a kid and cherished it for many many years. Really happy to have it as apart of the set. Not the best Gretzky card, but I do like the front design of these cards and appreciate the large photo, stick/puck design at the top as well as the cute OPC logo on the bottom right.

The ultimate mustache card? Ray is definitely sporting an unusual look and I really don't know how long he kept that caterpillar alive on his lip but between that and the unibrow, he did look pretty interesting. But did you happen to catch the mustache in the back on Mr Gartner? Yep, this card is awesome.

One of the USA HOF rookies you will find in this set belongs to Phil Housley. While he isn't a member of the main HOF yet, I imagine he will get his call someday. In the meantime, this former Devil (among other teams) is a prime example of some rookies you find in the set. Great players who did very well but are often overlooked among the other greats who played during the same period. For example, Phil was every bit as good as Brad Park if you ask me, however Ray Bourque and Paul Coffey both were in their primes along side Phil and as a result he didn't get the same respect he might have had if he was playing during a different time.

 

Here is a shot of what the backs of these cards look like. Very simple, very awesome in its subtle ways. The colour scheme is just something different that works well together. The player shooting on the goalie at the top is very neat and the fact boxes are fun to read. There is also a pretty good write-up on most cards to go along with full career stats. I am not sure if many are aware of the Def-Center position but Phil did it well.

This card is an example of one that has an interesting history. I was at my Grandma's for a family dinner and as we were waiting for supper to be ready I was wandering down the street her condo was situated on (the same condo as Pentti Lund). During my wandering I came across a little garage sale where a kid was selling some cards. This was in my first year of collecting and my memory and knowledge wasn't that spectacular but I saw the above Savard card and the price 2.50. I thought geez this is an amazing price for a Savard rookie and I snapped it up immediately thinking I got an amazing deal. When I got home I was sadden to see that it was his third year card and worth exactly what I paid for it. This card reminds me of the fact that I don't always know everything and while I didn't get an amazing deal that day, I did have a fun day finding cards in an odd location. The dirt on the scan is from the old page the card was sitting in when I scanned it.

Another player with an excellent career but not good enough to make the Hall. Bernie had a chance to experience the Wayne effect in 88/89. He was a pretty amazing player in his own right but when Gretzky joined the Kings he scored 70 goals (previous high was 46) and 150 points (previous high was 100). This is Bernie's rookie and is another example of the fun gems in the set.

Here is another blast from the past rookie. 50 goal season, yep. 1000 career points, yep. Former top 3 draft pick, yep. But you can still have this card for merely pocket change which seems so wrong to me. Never heard of his stick company before but stuff like that makes this card that much more fun.

While some might view this card as yet ANOTHER solid rookie of a former NHL star, this card as additional meaning to me. Check out the back.

Check out that tan! This baby spent a few years out in the sun, thanks to my step-father. I remember this card sitting in a window sill for a few years with a signed Carbonneau sweatshirt hanging on the wall below the window where this card sat. He was a Habs fan, through and through and he loved his enforcers, Patrick Roy and Guy Carbonneau. I can't remember how I got this card off of him eventually but I knew when I wanted to build this set, this card needed to be apart of that set. While the condition of the card is low thanks to the sun-tan, the value of this card far exceeds what it lists for in the book.

In a set full of Gretzky cards I chose to also share this one because this card was the last one I needed to complete the set.

Garry Howatt isn't a superstar or even a star. But, I chose this card because it features a Devil wearing the number 88 which was the first time that ever happened for the franchise. The following year, Rocky Trottier would don the same number.

Best card in the set in my opinion. I have my Pelle PC which feature all NrMt-Mt or better cards from his career. I picked up a second rookie for the set so I could keep my PC all together in its frame. Sadly this one isn't mint but is somewhere in the Ex-Mt range.

Had to show off the Walt rookie because of my little connection with him as a person.

 

Now for a full-fledged HOF rookie in the set. As far as rookies go, Scott Stevens has had the most successful career of them all. The Lindbergh rookie has the most value ($25 in Sept 2014 Beckett) but Scott Steven has some value ($12 in same issue) and is well within most collector's budgets. As a Devils fan, I already had about 3 or 4 of these so I used one of the non-mint ones for the set.

I find its always fun to check out the checklists from the old sets and here is what it looked like in 83/84. The front was a nice bright reddish-orange and the back uses the same text colours as the other card backs and at the top there is just a goalie instead of a goalie and player. 

So there you go, a set all done and a set well done. With a set book value of 125 dollars, you really can't go wrong with this set and when you consider the fact they can be had for under that price you really can find something to love about this set knowing it isn't going to break the bank. When things are all said and done, I am sure I paid close to full set value with my pack breaks and purchases etc but the journey to the end and the sentimental value these cards have to me far exceeds any book value and I am proud to have checked this one off. Now I should turn my efforts over to some of the other sets. I will share another one I am working on hopefully in a few weeks.

One of the best cards in my collection (from anyone's perspective)

In everyone's collection there are cards you like more than others. That is especially true in my case. I don't have a top 20 or 50 list and I certainly don't have a number 1 favourite card. However, I do have a large number of cards I do appreciate more than others. With that being said, some of those cards are clearly ones I love because they are special to me and others I think can be appreciated by all. 

A while back I shared a few bonus items that Casey from The House of Oglethorpe sent my way, here was the centerpiece of the deal!

2001-02 Top Shelf Wayne Gretzky Auto /95

On card, autograph of Wayne Gretzky while being pictured as a member of the Oilers. How sweet is that? Also, limited production run of 95. While it isn't numbered, I have seen enough literature to believe its limited. I think this is something just about anyone can enjoy!

Thanks again Casey, this will always have a home in my house.

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.

One of the finest pieces of art in my humble opinion...

In case you can't tell, this is a reprint of a Gretzky OPC rookie and even then, it isn't an amazing quality reproduction. I have seen reprints with the printer's mark on the left shoulder which has me scared about ever buying a non-graded OPC version Gretzky. However, I bought this for 3 bucks and I am glad I did because it is as close as I am going to get for a little while but I can still enjoy it for what it is....art.

I am very very tempted to get this scanned at a very high resolution (or find a high res one) and make a poster for my classroom. It is such an amazing looking card that I do consider it art. Would I like the set as much if Gretzky wasn't in it? Probably not. But this is how things turned out so I will enjoy them as they are and in my books, this is one of the top 10 cards ever made in sports and definitely one of the best in hockey.

Here is the back of the card, mistake and all. Took OPC a few years as 67ers pointed out for OPC to change his WHA games to 80 instead of 60.

Just a fun post about hockey art, hope to share the real thing Topps or OPC some day.

1980-81 OPC Wayne Gretzky

I have mentioned in a previous post my admiration for the 80-81 Gretzky card. That was my first ever 80-81 Gretzky and not long after that I landed a second one as part of a complete 80-81 Topps set. So it would only make sense that someday I would land the OPC version right? Lucky for me this past spring my LCS landed a boat load of Gretzkys including his rookie and a few others. I sadly couldn't leave with the Gretzky which was easily in EX-MT condition with a $450 dollar price tag on it but I did manage to get his OPC 2nd year card for a very nice price which was in even better shape than the rookie.

80-81 OPC Wayne Gretzky

Classic photo!

Here is the back, avec texte francais. Currently the card books for $80 which I think is a travesty, but value is determined by whatever collectors will pay and obviously this isn't as desirable as his rookie or even other cards in the set. Still a drop off of 90% from rookie to second year card is pretty steep when you compare it with player cards. For example, Ray Bourque drop from an $80 RC to a $40 2nd year which is a 50% drop; Paul Coffey starts at 50 for a rookie and 12 for a 2nd year card in a very unpopular set. Paul's drop off is only 76% despite those factors. Messier is along the same path with a rookie booking for $100 and a second year at $25. I think the Bourque drop off is less because he is the first card in the set and they typically are higher because condition is sometimes a factor with first and last cards. If you used a Messier or Coffey model you would expect the Gretzky second year card to book closer to $200, but I guess supply and demand doesn't always follow patterns and trends. Personally I love looking at values and trends and this is one that I always found very interesting.

I do regret not trying work out a trade/pay deal for that rookie but I suppose there are many more of those rookies out there and I will someday land one of each (Topps and OPC) and it will be a very sweet day when that happens! 

So you have 80 dollars to burn? Here is how some people did it.

I have mentioned in the past I do have a hobby of watching auctions and I must say if you watch enough you will pretty much see just about anything the hobby has to offer. I have decided to share two gems I found in the last couple months. The first was one I was legitimately thinking of bidding on because I do want an OPC Gretzky reprint rookie (for less than 10 buck shipped of course). However, the bidding went a little crazy on this one: 

Here is the final listing on what is a REPRINT rookie

Like many sellers, all the important information isn't in the title and you can see that there is one important word in the description which is REPRINT. However, if you look at the photo below, that is the close up of the apparent card for sale.

I am not sure if the buyer was thinking they had a legit Gretzky rookie on their hands that the seller wasn't aware was real or they were really in love with the idea of having an expensive reprint. If you look at the photo you can see a dot on the left shoulder of Wayne which does exist on a non-reprint card. But fact is, if a seller of cards with more than 1000 feedbacks is claiming something is a reprint, chances are it is. They buyer has made a grand total of 17 purchases on eBay to this point, I am not sure if they are seasoned themselves but either way, I was staying clear of this purchase at this price. 

The second auction is just too funny.

For the record, this card DID sell and it did sell for 60 dollars I believe, but for some reason they original buy it now price of 80 is listed so either way, a chunk of money was spent on someone's art work. I do like the Gandalf beard on Wayne but I think it may have hurt the card's value slightly. 

 Here is a close up of someone's handiwork.

Apparently the artist's name is Arlindo. Arlindo really had a hate on for the name Wayne and he only wanted to be known by his first name.

So there are two really good examples of how to waste one's money in MY opinion. However, would you have paid anything for those two cards? I might have shelled out 10 bucks on the Wayne reprint including shipping and the Arlindo original I might have paid 5 or 10 for but that is my max there too.

Have you ever come across anything like this in your  travels or even made a crazy purchase that you would come to regret?

Back Checking - 1991-92 UD SP1 Glasnost On Ice

glas·nost
noun \ˈglaz-(ˌ)nōst
- a Soviet policy permitting open discussion of political and social issues and freer dissemination of news and information (a definition given on Merriam-Webster.com for the word "glasnost")

Back in 1991-92 when the NHL had their 75th Annversary and hockey card collecting had exploded to what was likely it's all-time peak in popularity, a special event happened. This event, which I had no idea it has occurred until it was captured on cardboard.

1991-92 UD SP1 Glasnost On Ice

Back in 1991 that would have been EVER kid's dream, step on the ice with Wayne and Brett. If you didn't like one chances are you liked the other. If you didn't like either, then you were a Habs fan or Russian, but don't worry Valeri Kamensky and Denis Savard were there too so only the haters were left in the dark on this one.

I first saw this card when my step-father pulled one like it from a pack of 91-92 UD. It was the first of what would be many "SP" cards, I am not sure how rare they were but after opening at least 5 boxes worth of the stuff, I never pulled one myself. I did build a couple base sets and countless rookies and Hull's Heroes, but no SP1. At the time, it was a pretty "valuable" card but it would be nearly 20 years before I would finally get mine. Last summer I saw it at my LCS and bought it for 2 dollars. Roughly was I was paying for packs back in 1991, almost fitting really.

Now on to the purpose of the post. For years I knew about the card and had even seen it, but what is more important is what it represents. Glasnost was really the end of one era and the beginning of another. When the walls fell in the USSR/Soviet Union, it opened the world to it's inhabitants and that included hockey players. If you look at the NHL today, there may not be as many Russian hockey players as there once was in the 90's, but the ones there are in the NHL are rather significant. Imagine no Ovechkin, Malkin, or Kovalchuk. Even prospects like Yakupov and Grigorenko wouldn't have had the chance to play in the CHL as juniors. Hockey in North American changed very significantly and this card represents that change happening.

The only think missing would be if one of those kids with Wayne, Brett and Valeri would have made the NHL or something cool along those lines, but from what I can tell, they were just participants witnessing some pretty amazing stuff.

A Shiny Wayner - Thanks Casey!

Not much time to post today, but I did want to show off my new Shiny Wayner. This was actually in my LA Kings winning batch compliments of Casey from Drop The Gloves! I am a huge Wayne Gretzky fan and I have never seen this card before and I must say I do like it a lot!

93-94 Topps Premier Black Gold #7 Wayne Gretzky

I have all the Premiers from 90-92, but nothing past and clearly I am missing some gems as a result. Might need to track this one down, or at least the Black Gold insert set.

Sets of Yesteryear - 91-92 Score Hot Cards

Here is another installment of "Sets of Yesteryear", and since we went all the way back to 1991-92 last time we might as well pick up another grossly overproduced set from that year. Some liked the Euro-stars, some hated them. Lets see what you all think of the 91-92 Score Hot Cards.

A little background, these cards came as a special insert for anyone wanting to by a blister pack of 91-92 Score Hockey. The blister packs came with 99 base cards and one insert card (if memory serves me right). The bad thing is I believe that the 91-92 Score Hockey (thanks to Collectors Corner for a cool review) was one of the ugliest set of all-time, the good thing is the Hot Cards look nothing like them! Here is the set in its entirety.

Card #1 Eric Lindros

I think Score made nearly a dozen cards of Lindros before he even played an NHL game. In some respects I think they felt that he was their ticket to printing money and in some ways that was true. I remember I bought two of these Blister packs at my local Sears store and I ended up with a Gretzky and a Jagr. The BV of the Lindros back in 1995 was 10 bucks and it has since dropped to a paltry $2.00. I really like this card as it features Lindros in his Team Canada World Junior jersey.

Card # 2 Wayne Gretzky

Love this card too, the action shot of Wayne streaking down the ice and a goalie who is out of the photo likely wetting himself in fear of the Great One all in black. The design is pretty simple with a full red border and a yellow accent in the trim. 

The backside is a paragraph of stats and information. I like that there is a photo on the back and the photo does differ from the photo on the front. The back design again is pretty decent and 20 years later doesn't look as terrible as other releases from the time period.

Card #3 Brett Hull

 During the early 90's every set and insert set NEEDED Brett Hull. The best goal-scorer from the early 90's period and the last player to an official 50 in 50 and last to score more than 80 goals in a season. I think the hooking Scott Stevens is doing in the background might get called in today's game.


Card #4 Sergei Fedorov

Another staple of any early 90's set was the hot upcoming prospects like Sergei Fedorov. With only one full season under his belt when this came out, he had much to prove and accomplish still, but if you look back at his career now, he is a shoo-in for the HOF.

Card #5 Mario Lemieux

 At the time this card came out, Lemieux had already begun his battle with back injuries and was limited to just a little over a quarter of a season. Still managed 19 goals and 45 points and may have been the best player in the set at the time.


 Card #6 Adam Oates

 Glad to see Oatesy get some respect by his inclusion in the set. At the time he was the other half of the Hull and Oates combo and some say Hull made him a super-star. Fact is, Oates made himself and proved it when he scored 45 goals and 142 points with the Bruins in 1992-93. If you were wondering who were his wingers at the time...it was likely a combination of Steve Leach, Dmitri Kvartalnov, and Vladimir Ruzicka. Definitely no Brett Hull!

Card #7 Theo Fleury

A cool goal celebration card featuring a star who lit the lamp often early in his career. That is a great looking Woody in his hand, btw.


Card #8 Jaromir Jagr

Either this is a practice or a warm-up photo because there are lots of empty seats over there and at the time everyone wanted to see Mario Jr.

Card #9 Ed Belfour

This is my favourite card in the set. I wanted nothing more in life than to be Ed Belfour when it came to street hockey. I even had the Hawks jersey to go along with the dream. The only goalie in the set, Score picked a fine player with Belfour being the reigning Vezina, Calder, and First-Team All-Star goalie.


Card #10 Jeremy Roenick

 Even though NHL '93 was a year or two away, Score made him the last card in the set. At the time Roenick had his first 40 goal season and the best was still yet to come. I personally love seeing the old Easton Aluminum sticks.

In all, I think the set is still reasonably attractive and has aged rather well when compared to the 91-92 Score base cards. It offers much more star power than the Euro-Stars set did but at the same time, it is a smaller set and not as nice looking to me personally. The book value of the set these days is 15 bucks with the most expensive card being Gretzky which books for 8 dollars. I managed to pick up a complete set at my LCS for the change in my pocket at the time which I think was like 3 bucks.

So what are your thoughts on the set? A must have or a must avoid? I personally think it would be a fun addition to someone's collection and gives you a reason to avoid 91-92 Score! I give this set a 4/5. Decent design, nice player selection and a couple cool photos you can really appreciate!