Mystery Repack Box Break 2

Here is the second repack box I bought. Not as good as the first, but maybe still worth the 6 bucks....let me know what you think.

#4 - Value Vintage Sets - 84/85 Topps

I think from now to number one the list will be a little more interesting because I felt that #2-4 could all be rearranged and with the right argument I could certainly buy into a person's opinion on the matter. But really, like most people's blogs they are just opinion pieces anyway so here is why I think 84-85 Topps is the 4th best value vintage set out there.

Here are the redeeming qualities to me:

The set is from the mid-80's which was the height of fire-wagon hockey!

Tonnes of star players in the set as well as a crop of new up-coming stars

It was the first Topps set produced since 81-82 so there are a few "First Topps Cards"

It was harder to build by packs because of 66 single printed cards in the set

17 Rookie cards in a set of just 165 Cards

Steve Yzerman rookie!!!

Card Design:

I really like the design of this year. On the front you get an action shot and a head shot. Also you see the name, team and position the player was playing. Really just a nice classic design certainly has the mid-80's feel to it.

The back side
The back is equally nice featuring vital information, stats and a small write-up back the player. Here Wayne averaged more than a goal a game for the second time in his career and won the Stanley Cup.

Key Card:

Without a doubt the key card in the set is the Steve Yzerman rookie. This card wasn't double printed so it holds its value rather well. The book price on this one is 15 - 40 dollars which is a pretty decent price to own an Yzerman rookie!

Steve front side

Steve back side
Like the Sakic rookie on my #5 set, Stevie Y's card value makes up a large percentage of the set price, in this case, 80% to be exact.

The rookies:

Even though there are only 17 rookies in the set, some of them are pretty good ones. Rookies include Dave Andreychuk, Tom Barrasso, Pat Verbeek, and Pat Lafontaine.

Pat Lafontaine Rookie

Other notable cards:

In addition to the rookies, there are some other cool cards like a Oilers era Gretzky which you have already seen, and cards from stars like Bossy, Coffey, Bourque, Savard and other typical mid-80's stars.

Wayne Gretzky All Star front side

All-Star back side

As you can see this is a pretty cool set. What makes it an especially good value is that you can own a set that is over 25 years old for very little. This set lists for 25-50 dollars in the Beckett but I have seen them go on eBay for less than 25! Definitely worth the price of a typical blaster box!

I bought my set which is in amazing shape in the early 90's for 45 bucks. Certainly haven't made any money off that purchase but my enjoyment of flipping through this set every now and again is worth paying a little more for it a long time ago and certainly a set I am going to continue to enjoy going forward.

It is worth noting, if you have the money...the 84/85 OPC is phenomenal as well. Addition rookies of Chelios, Neely and Gilmour make it a more attractive set but at 5 times the price a collector has to ask themselves is it worth it? Or should you own the Topps set and buy the missing rookies as singles? Lucky for me, I was given the 84/85 OPC set as a gift in the mid 90's so I have both plus a few singles of Gilmour and Chelios (no extra Neelys though).

Pentti Lund - TTM

A little while back, I picked up a Pentti Lund RC which prompted me to write him a letter and see if I could get an autograph.

Sure enough he did sign for me, and I got a little more than a bargained for...(in a good way). Check out the story at Dirty Dangle!

Card of the Week - Peter Mueller

Rather than focus on the negative news in Devils camp, lets focus on the positive news around the NHL. It appears a number of players who have missed the last bit or all of last season are on the mend including Peter Mueller.

Mueller is an exciting one as he was on a serious hot streak after Phoenix traded him to Colorado. In the 15 games after the trade in 2010 Mueller scored 20 points for the Avs including 9 goals. Life was good and it appeared he was going to return to his Rookie year form when he suffered a huge concussion. Mueller sat out ALL of last year which either means the concussion was very severe or they are treating is very seriously and giving him a fresh start.

I became a Mueller fan (along with Kopitar and Booth) as a result of watching the 2008 WHC in Halifax. Here are a couple photos I took of Mueller:

I actually took the photos from my seat with a pretty cheap camera so I considered myself lucky to see some great hockey from a nice seat.

08-09 OPC Premier Premier Remnants PR-PM
I like this card a lot. Nice design, triple swatch and game-used. The card is numbered 95/100 and the front is really sharp looking. OPC Premier has tended to be in the shadow of The Cup and I find you can pick up some great deals on rookies from this set which are every bit as nice as The Cup ones. The rookies are generally made with a couple swatches and an autograph!

The back side

On the back, like most UD products, there is a nice reminder that Richard McWilliam selflessly is getting us as close to the game as he can and a little wasted space. I like the OPC foil on the corner and the lines give the card a nice look on the back.

How I received the card: I paid $2.99 for this at the my local hobby shop

Beckett Value: 6 - 15 dollars

Hockey Pool Anyone?

With the hockey season around the corner I am beginning to think fantasy. One idea that has run through my head is to run a hockey pool with my fellow bloggers and readers where the concept would be a $10 BV entry fee. Each person would put up a card (or a pack) with a $10 value and the winner of the pool would get a card/pack from each of the losing players.

I am not sure if this will get off the ground or not and you wouldn't need to pay up until the end. You can even keep the card a secret until the end too if you like. I am just trying to see if there is enough interest out there to participate. I am pretty open to different pool ideas, my initial thought was a draft (through sportsline or yahoo or whatever) and go from there. Let me know if you are interested and if you have an idea on how it should be run, please share. We could even do a keeper league if there are some die-hards out there too.

I would like a total of 10 contestants but of course if there is interest for more that is cool too. So if you are interested or in no matter what, let me know!

#5 - Value Vintage Sets - 89/90 OPC

When I was shopping online last month, I wanted to make my funds stretch as far as they could. Certainly my card collection is far from complete and there were a few holes I wanted to start filling. Most collectors in my age and financial demographic probably have the early 90's nailed down to the extreme and then some sets here and there depending on interests etc.

Well I decided that I needed more vintage sets and I went and got myself a couple for under a 100 bucks total. I based my choices on the best value and substance in the sets. Then I thought it would make a good serial on my blog so I am going to share what I think are the top 5 Value sets from 1970-1989.

Number 5 on my list is the 89-90 OPC Set.

Why you ask? Here are some of the redeeming qualities:

330 Cards

Sets can be had for under the BV of 20 bucks

Great Hall of Fame players and rookies in the set

Design is simple and attractive

You can afford to build the set from packs if you wish (boxes of 36 packs under $40)

The OPC set also has some rookies that can't be found in the Topps version (Fleury, Corson, Tugnett etc.)

Card design:

Here is what the front of the cards look like.

The front looks clean with blue trim on the top and bottom (which is prone to chipping) and a "marble-ized" sides which tend to be a little off centre (my scans ended up all looking off-centre as I used a camera).

Backside of the cards

The back shows both season and playoff stats along with player vitals. Again like the front, the cards look clean and simple.

Key card:

Without a doubt is the Joe Sakic RC.

Joe front side
Joe backside

The BV for the set is 10-20 dollars with the Sakic rookie listing at 5-12 dollars which is a significant percentage of the set.

Other notable cards:

There are plenty of other cool cards in the set including early career cards of Mario Lemieux, Patrick Roy, Brendan Shanahan, Adam Oates, Brett Hull etc.

Hull 2nd year card.

The rookies:

The set contains a fair number of Hall of Fame and star rookies (59 Rookie Cards in total). The rookies include Theo Fleury, Brian Leetch, Joe Sakic, Craig Janney, Derek King, Tony Granato, Ron Tugnutt just to name a few.

Linden RC

Fleury RC

This set is no where near the greatest ever created but there are many intangibles which make this set a great value. The rookies, the stars, the design of the cards and the fact that they can all be yours for much less than a box of 11-12 Victory Hockey all suggest it is jam-packed with value.

I added this set to my collection in the early 90's. I probably bought 2 boxes with of 89-90 OPC and have two complete sets as a result. Certainly the smart way would be to pick up a set at a show or card shop to avoid those pesky shipping charges. Either way, it certainly can be had on the cheap and I think is a must for any hockey card collector.

Do you agree it is a good value? Let me know!

Happy Trails Chris Drury

Well it is a pretty dreary day here in Nova Scotia. Just wrapped up a 3.5 hour thunder storm and I feel safe having my desktop computer on once again.

Well it shouldn't come as a huge surprise to some that Chris Drury has decided to call it a career. He like many others was lured to New York with the promise of a big contract and the hopes that they are the "missing piece" only to underachieve and find themselves homeless (not figuratively of course) after a couple of seasons.

I think any player signing a contract with the Rangers should take out an insurance policy on their talent as it seems to disappear more often than not when they arrive. Jagr is pretty much the only exception I can think of in the last 15 years. Holik, Gomez, Drury, Redden, Lindros and countless others showed up to NY with the hopes of Cups and playoff appearances only to find themselves failing.

Chris Drury was a winner however in his previous life first winning the Calder Trophy in 1999 with the Avalanche. He will be best remembered by me for great 2001 Playoff performance with the Avs which contributed to the Devils not being repeat Champs. I think he made the right choice retiring on his own terms and not embarrassing himself by trying out with other clubs and finding himself on a 4th line or being scratched occasionally on a non-contending team.

I don't have many Drury cards in my collection, but I do have his 05-06 Parkhurst card which does picture him during his best offensive days.

Final career numbers for Drury are:

892 gms, 255 goals, 360 assists and 615 points.

His best season was in 06-07 (which lead the the huge contract with the Strangers)

37 goals, 32 assists for 39 points

Hockey Repacks - Does anyone ever get good cards?

We have all seem them...Repacks... Generally they are sold with a catch, "Over $50 in NHL packs inside" or 1 Game-Used Mem card or 2 Jersey cards per box or my favourite "Find the Parkhurst Gordie Howe Rookie".

Some people cave in and buy one or two or several...

I have bought my share, I usually buy them when they are on clearance and I know worst case scenario is me breaking even in my books. The last ones I bought were 5 bucks a pop which came with a jersey card and 3 packs. Not bad huh? The jersey cards weren't the worst, I pulled a Belfour, Mogilny, and a Sullivan. The packs yielded the occasional decent card or semi-star rookie but nothing blog worthy to report.

Fast forward a year and I am at Walmart and I notice the clearance sticker on this pack.

The pictures on the front are always better than what you find inside...at least that was my experience. So seeing Wayne, Gino and Stevie taunting me to take a chance I decide WHAT THE HECK, it is only $5.97 right?

So I bring it home and open it up. Based on the front I am expecting a loose jersey card and a random pack (probably Ultra, MVP or something cheap).

What I actually find are two packs and a white envelope.

Leaving the envelope for the end I open the two packs. First pack is the Beehive....nothing...no rookies or anything cool.

Next is the Artifacts and bang, we have a hit. I pulled a game-used Curtis Joseph card. Not bad, #/299 and the swatch is boring white. He is pictured with the Coyotes. Nice, but not even worth showing here...

Then I open the envelope. What I see stuns me for a second and it is a moment before I even realize what I have...

This is an autographed Jeremy Roenick insert card from 92-93 Fleer Ultra. There is a neat "crimped" stamp of authenticity below his autograph compliments of Fleer this proving it is all the real deal.

Based on the two packs I considered myself ahead of the game. With this card, I am talking home run here. The card's BV is an astounding $60-150 which means for a card from the early 90's to list this high must mean it is relatively rare. I went on eBay and only found two others and it looks like each of the 10 might have autographed versions out there.

In all, I can finally say I was lucky enough to have success on those repack boxes and to be honest. I think I like this card better than the ones on the box!

So I am sure some of you are wondering. Are there any more of these boxes at Walmart. Well I did go back because there was ONE MORE LEFT. I picked it up and I will post the video this weekend. If you see one in your area, I do recommend it as a deal at 5.97. I don't know if I would pay full price however.

BTW, for all Cujo fans, if you really want to see the card let me know and I will take the time to post it and if you just WANT the card, I am willing to put it up for trade too.

Contests are fun....

Check out this contest.....free and fun!

http://cccollecting.blogspot.com/2011/08/get-your-pimping-shoes-ready-first-ever.html

Card of the week - Maxime Clermont

A pretty slow week again in the NHL news department which is sorta nice. It gives me a chance to share some more Devils news. You may have not been aware of this but Marty Brodeur is getting old. Drafted in 1990, he doesn't have many seasons left in the tank and this is his last year under contract with the Devils. Lou has been thinking of the future and has been drafting and signing goalies for the future and going into camp right now we have 5 goalies under contract.

Martin Brodeur

Johan Hedberg

Jeff Frazee

Keith Kinkaid

Maxime Clermont

We also have goalie Scott Wedgewood, but he is ineligible to play in the AHL right now and will remain in the CHL for the upcoming season. Clermont, will likely play in the QMJHL for the start of the season until injuries occur and he is required to play in the AHL or NHL.

This past year, he lead an over-achieving Gatineau Olympiques all the way to the QMJHL finals where they lost to the heavily favoured Saint John Sea Dogs. He finished the playoffs with a 2.22 Gaa and a .927 save percentage. I have faith that Maxime could be one of our goalies for the future and with Wedgewood and Kinkaid also in the fold, we should make a decent transition from the Marty years to the future (I hope).

09-10 ITG Heroes and Prospects Subway Super Series SSM02

Love this card. The swatch is a seam piece and bulges out nicely. It is the black version which are "numbered" to 60. The swatch is a good size like many ITG swatches are and the front is designed nicely.

Back side

I like that on the back they tell you which year it was used in and of course it was game used. They could have featured stats etc, but like UD that generally doesn't happen often.

How I received the card: eBay purchase for $0.99 + shipping

Beckett Value: 5 - 12 dollars