Marcel Dionne TTM

The poll results said go for it and I did. Here is my return on Marcel Dionne which came back in just 15 days.

The rest of the story can be found at Dirty Dangle.

Video Break - 1983-84 OPC Pack 1 of 2

OK, so finally I made a video worth watching. 1983-84 is a fun year, no super rookies, but a set that looks decent and has many stars in it. There was no Topps release that year so the production numbers were a little high which means the set itself isn't terribly valuable. However packs can still be a little pricey, I was lucky to land two for 11 bucks with shipping so I thought I would share them with you folks.

I did film this the same night as the Score pack and the second pack of OPC so everything looks similar. Maybe I should expense my pack costs to Nike. I will hopefully get the missing cards from my 83-84 set posted on my want list soon, so if anyone can help me via trade I would appreciate it.

First ever video break - Ripping a pack of 93-94 Score

Luke over at the cardboard review just completed a trade with me. I helped him out with his desire for San Jose Sharks and in return I received a couple Devils AND a unexpected pack of 93-94 Score. I have never opened a pack of such product and never created a youtube video so lets cash in both V-cards at the same time!

I was a little awkward making this video, so I probably don't sound very natural, but who gets it right their first time anyway!

WTF is an NHL Event Used Card?

I like game-used memorabilia cards almost as much as I like autos. I collect them, and I am trying to get cards from each NHL team and cards from my favourite players past and present. Some companies do a better job than others making these cards and certain sets have larger swatches and more pieces than others. I also get a fair bit of excitement pulling one from a pack and I do consider buying products that contain jersey cards.

A little while back I was on eBay and saw a few auctions with free shipping and players who I am fans of. So I threw a couple cheap bids on them and ended up with two of them. So for about 5 bucks shipping included I got two quad swatch cards from the 09-10 Black Diamond.

Dale Hawerchuk (huge fan)

Glenn Anderson (gotta respect the 'stache and the 2-50 goal seasons)

But what is most interesting is the colour of the swatches. They looked a bit like they were from the Eastern Conference All Star Jerseys from the mid-90's except for the red piece on Dale's card and Glenn never played in a 1990's All-Star game.

The backs of both cards proclaim that I have received a swatch that was "used in an official NHL event". Does that mean All-Star game? or does it mean Old-Timers game? I do have some 08-09 SP Game Used Duals of Bob Bourne, Billy Smith and Anton Stastny which state on the back they were "used in an official event". Please note the lack of NHL and the front of the three cards shows the player in their Old-Timers uniforms.

So I am not 100% sure where the jerseys came from, but the price was still right and I am still happy to have them in my collection, but I am still not sure what story is behind them. I really wish UD would take some more time in giving collectors an idea of what they own exactly especially when you consider these two cards would be hits that fall 2 per box in a relatively expensive product.

Winner Winner Free Chicken Dinner!

Hurry up free contest here:

http://jaybarkerfan.blogspot.com/2011/08/100th-blog-post-contest-100th-blog-post.html

Wax Stain Love

Call it Sympathy for the Wax Stain or Wax Stain Love, but either way I am beginning to warm up to the leftover waxy residue. Ever since I started blogging and of course reading other people's blogs, my opinions on somethings have changed. I have definitely gained an appreciate for other things and I think naturally due to the name of my website I have learned to stop worrying about the condition and love the stain.

Here is an 83-84 OPC Ken Houston card with a Wax Stain on the front.

I am not sure if I will ever get anyone to truly love the front side stain. As you can see, it doesn't really enhance the photo of the card, but it does add character! But, I am sure Ken Houston wishes his last NHL card didn't have the stain on the front.

87-88 Topps Ron Hextall

Here is a back side stain.

The funny thing is, I received this card from Sal at puckjunk.com and he was kind enough to give it to me as I think he felt it needed to be in my collection. Truth is, the card actually is quite meaningful on MANY levels. First of all, my favourite goalie of all-time (Martin Brodeur) copied and studied a lot of what Ron Hextall did with the puck and really helped transform the game of hockey and subsequently was so good handling the puck they instituted a stupid rule (the trapezoid). So in a sense, Ron and Marty are pioneers of puck handling.

Secondly, I played a lot of hockey as a kid which included street hockey. When I played street hockey, I was ALWAYS a goalie. I had my own equipment which included a Vic Ron Hextall goalie stick!

Lastly I own the 87-88 OPC set and a few stray Hextall OPC RCs but no where in my collection do I have a Topps version so this card is just that much more special.

But when you look at the stain on the back, is it really that bad? You look at the front and it is pristine and on the back where there is only text you see a little discolouration. Nothing crazy, but a little waxy discolouring which 4 sharp corners. You can land some seriously discounted cards based on a little Wax Stain and really just be receiving a card with a little more character and a small waxy bonus!

Case and point.

Ken Dryden Topps Rookie:

BV $125

eBay Price $145 for a PSA 7

Ken Dryden Topps Rookie w/ Wax Stain:

Seller says it is NM with a Wax Stain and you can own it for 70 bucks!

Just some food for thought. Thanks again Sal for a nice card, I will enjoy it in my PC.

11-12 Victory Review

Well with the great value offered last year by Score (autos etc.), it was up to Upper Deck to either revamp Victory or keep it the same and hope the legions of Victory fans out there will sustain the product. So what does Upper Deck do? Lets shove our second cheapest franchise in as inserts, so Victory now comes with MVP!

I was a pretty big fan of 07-08 Victory but each year I get more and more dissatisfied with the product to the point where I will buy two packs a year and that is pretty much it. I will try and nail some good rookies as part of UD Series 2, but that is pretty much it.

Base card front

Hate it. Looks like they hired some people off the street who just completed a Photoshop workshop and know next to nothing about anything else. IS there any need to have Victory appear TWICE on the front?

Back side

For good measure, lets have Victory appear TWICE on the back too!

Victory Rookies

Rookie design isn't much better which would be the only reason why I would buy a pack ever. In my two packs I ended up with one rookie. Aaron Palushaj who came over from the Blues as part of the D'Agostini trade. If you want to get technical, he has played 3 NHL games and has been traded 3 times (2 where his draft pick rights)

MVP Insert

Not a bad design, by far the highlight of the two packs. Still, I would much rather pull 1 real auto per box or two than have a few facsimile autos in a box. The MVP rookies fall about 1 per 18 packs so they will have some value to them, but not enough for me to drop 30 on a box.

Game breakers insert

Again, I loved the Stars of the Game and Gamebreakers inserts from 07-08. They had nice foil, decent design and were overall appealing to the eyes. This is pretty much crap.

What I like about 11/12 Victory:

- First chance to see new players in their new uniforms

- First look at the late arrival rookies

- Parallel Rookies are always attractive

- MVP offers some value

What I dislike about 11/12 Victory:

- Uninspired card design

- Few decent rookies

- Much better value in Score

- Inserts are mostly a waste of cardboard

- Little value in completing set

Card of the Week - Patrick Sharp

Been a slow week for hockey news and a slow month for TTMs. Just got back my Ilya Kovalchuk and much like Sal predicted, it was unsigned. I am convinced he didn`t even see the cards or letter and likely was intercepted. So I too will suggest any Devils fans out there looking for autos, send it to the player's home!!!

One news worthy point is my hometown boy Patrick Sharp has landed some big bucks. 5 years and 29.5 million dollars. Not a bad combination for either side really as Patrick has been playing well for the last 4 years in Chicago. He had a career high 71 points in 74 games and has averaged 28 goals a year since 06-07. He is going to turn 30 years old this season so this contract is an appropriate length in my opinion as well.

09-10 Champs Threads - Patrick Sharp

I was never much of a fan of Champs in the beginning, but I bit on it 09-10. I bought two blaster boxes from Toys R Us for 10 bucks a piece and managed to get nearly half the set and two jersey hits. Patrick Sharp was the second hit and Doug Gilmour (in a Blues uniform) was the first. I have slowly been piecing the set together through trades mostly, but still have a little way to go. This was one set I was pretty sad to see get the axe from Upper Deck, but it looks like it will be back next year as an insert in the Parkhurst release.

Back side

Here is the backside of the card. Nothing too special, the card is about the size of the old tobacco cards but is quite thick. I think I like these cards a little more than the typical jersey cards. Maybe it is because it has a good cardboard/swatch ratio or maybe it is just because they seem classier....I don't know.

How I received the card: Opened it from a blaster box pack

Card value: 3 - 8 dollars (unlisted star)

Parkhurst Project - Card 11

The latest addition to my 51-52 Parkhurst set isn't pretty. As you can see, it looks like Steve had a run in with some glue at one point in his life. Oddly enough, the backside of the card is pretty clean so most of the glue was on the front of this card, or the backside of another.

Steve Kraftcheck

Certainly not the nicest of the Parkies in my set thus far, but the price certainly was right as I won it with a $2.99 bid. For basically the price of a pack of Pinnacle, I won a card that is 60 years old and is a little worse for the wear. They all count I guess, but I am not going to make a habit of getting ones this rough.

Stephen had a pretty short NHL career of just 4 seasons, but did play pro hockey in the AHL for an additional 13 seasons. He was a strong and talented AHL defenseman who just couldn't recreate the AHL numbers in the NHL. His final NHL line was 157 games, 11 goals and 29 points.

Progress:

Card #92 and #11 of 105 in my set

Percent Completed:

10.5%

Cost of Card:

$5.49 with shipping

Total Cost of Set to Date:

$77.94

Bad Wax Contest and Randomness

Bad Wax has a pretty cool contest on the go, check it out over here if you haven't already.

Been pretty busy, just got back from the final U2 360 Tour show in Moncton. Here are a few videos of what I had a chance to see...please excuse the poor video quality as I had to leave all good cameras at home and use one that was about 6 years old.

Here is the highlight of my Summer!

Here are a couple short video clips

Opening Act - Arcade Fire

Here you get a daytime look at the Claw. Arcade Fire did an excellent job opening for U2. I am a big fan of Arcade Fire and they played mostly songs from Funeral and Suburbs which surprised me as I think the Neon Bible album was one of their best!

Here is U2 entering the stage

They came out to David Bowie's Space Oddity and then played Even Better Than The Real Thing. The concert was absolutely amazing and truly an experience of a lifetime!

I have lots of cards to share that I have picked up over the last month or so and have been too busy to share them so later this week and next week I will get them posted including a pack break or two. I have two 83-84 OPC packs coming soon too as well as some singles.