It Came from the Quarter Box

At the card show last weekend, I spent a lot of time sifting through quarter boxes — more so than I usually do. What unknown treasures might they hold???

Truth be told, I would never, ever beat the 2 Topps C55 Marc-Andre Fleury Rookies I found for 10 cents each a few years ago. Or so I thought.

Dun,  dun, dunnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnn!

When the three days were over, I picked up almost an embarrasing amount of decent cards – all for a quarter each!

Here are the best cards I found in the darkest depths of the quarter box:

2005-06 MVP #414 - Ryan Getzlaf2005-06 MVP #414 – Ryan Getzlaf RC – I couldn’t freaking believe I found this card in a rummage box for a quarter.

2005-06 MVP #407 - Jeff Carter2005-06 MVP #407 – Jeff Carter RC  – Another card that seemed so out of place in a quarter box, especially given Carter’s past success with the Flyers and Stanley Cup victory with the Kings.

2005-06 MVP Rookie Breakthrough #RB8 - Dion Phaneuf2005-06 MVP Rookie Breakthrough #RB8 – Dion Phaneuf – Looks like the bottom fell out on Phaneuf cards, eh?

2005-06 Upper Deck Stars in the Making #SM8 - Dion Phaneuf2005-06 Upper Deck Stars in the Making #SM8 – Dion Phaneuf – It is kind of lazy that Upper Deck used the EXACT SAME PHOTO on two different insert cards. Ironically, both are numbered #8.

2000-01 UD Vintage #388 - Martin Havlat2000-01 UD Vintage #388 – Martin Havlat RC – Maybe I’ll write to Havlat and try to get this card autographed.

1987-88 Topps #2 - Rick Tocchet1987-88 Topps #2 – Rick Tocchet RC – Nostalgia kept me from passing this card up, even though I have it already.

1987-88 Topps #13 - Bill Ranford1987-88 Topps #13 – Bill Ranford RC – Ditto

1971-72 Topps #131 - Bernie Parent1971-72 Topps #131 – Bernie Parent – this one is quite off center, but it is 40 yeas old and has no creases. Totally worth a quarter.

1989-90 Topps #136 - Brian Leetch1989-90 Topps #136 – Brian Leetch RC – Can you have too many RCs of this guy? Probably.

1988-89 O-Pee-Chee Leaders #11 - Wayne Gretzky1988-89 O-Pee-Chee Leaders #11 – Wayne Gretzky – A pre-junk wax era card af Wayne Gretzky for a quarter.

2005-06 Victory #281 - Corey Perry2005-06 Victory #281 – Corey Perry RC -So now it seems every Rookie Card from 2005-06 that is NOT Crosby or Ovechkin is quarter bin fodder.

2005-06 Victory #268 – Zach Parise RC – Two, count ’em two, low-end Rookie Cards of this summer’s hottest free agent.

2005-06 Fleer Hot Prospects #161 - Colby Armstrong2005-06 Fleer Hot Prospects #161 – Colby Armstrong RC – Numbered 1025 of 1999.

2005-06 Rookie Update #139 - George Parros2005-06 Rookie Update #139 – George Parros RC – The man before the mustache. Numbered 0493 of 1999.

2007-08 Artifacts #211 - Curtis McElhinney2007-08 Artifacts #211 – Curtis McElhinney RC – This Rookie Card is serial numbered 15 out of 599.

2011 Panini Black Friday #10 - Sidney Crosby2011 Panini Black Friday #10 – Sidney Crosby – I never saw this card before, so I thought it would be fun to have.

2011 Panini Black Friday #13 - Taylor Hall2011 Panini Black Friday #13 – Taylor Hall – This card looks great; I love the Oilers blue and orange against the black background.

2010-11 Panini Adrenalyn - Jordan Eberle2010-11 Panini Adrenalyn – Jordan Eberle RC – This is from the collectible card came called “Adrenalyn.” Beckett does consider this an RC.

2010-11 Donruss #294 - Magnus Paajarvi2010-11 Donruss #294 – Magnus Paajarvi Rated Rookie RC – Only 11 more cards and I’ll have a complete 2010-11 Donruss set.

2006-07 Parkhurst #189 - Scott Stevens2006-07 Parkhurst #189 – Scott Stevens Captains Short Print – On the other hand, I still need many of the short prints from the 2006-07 Parkhurst set.

2009-10 Victory #331 - Victor Hedman2009-10 Victory #331 – Victor Hedman RC – Sigh…I remember when getting a Victor Hedman RC was a big deal.

2009-10 Victory #219 – Riku Helenius RC Gold – OK, so it’s rookie card of a guy who played in 1 NHL game. But it’s the Gold parallel. That means something, right?

2010-11 Playoff Contenders Rookie of the Year Contenders Taylor Hall – A decent insert of a popular player, issued during his first year.

2005-06 Ice #214 - Andrei Kositsyn2005-06 Ice #214 – Andrei Kositsyn RC – The first 8 or so RCs in this set are limited to 99 copies, tough to find and expensive. Most of the rest can be found for $1 or less. This one was only a quarter. I purchased quite a few of the RCs from this set.

2005-06 Ultra #271 - Thomas Vanek2005-06 Ultra #271 – Thomas Vanek RC – The last card in the 271-card Ultra set, and one of the super-short prints.

2005-06 Ultra #265 - Gilbert Brule2005-06 Ultra #265 – Gilbert Brule RC – While Brule might be considered a first round bust — he spent half his time in the AHL last year – the final 21 RCs in the Ultra set were issued one-per-box, still making this a tough find.

2005-06 Ultra #261 - Dion Phaneuf2005-06 Ultra #261 – Dion Phaneuf RC – wOw!

2005-06 Ultra #260 - Zach Parise2005-06 Ultra #260 – Zach Parise RC – So, that’s 4 super-short prints, all for a quarter each!

Finally, here is the best card found in a quarter box:

2002-03 Topps Chrome #162 - Tim Thomas2002-03 Topps Chrome #162 – Tim Thomas RC -A shiny rookie card of everyone’s favorite “goalie-gone-rogue.” The card “books” for between $12 and $25 — so either the dealer I got this from hates Tim Thomas, or he had no idea what he was selling.

***
It is finds like these that make me glad I spend an hour or two at shows sifting through the “haystacks.”. I totally got my $7.50 worth!

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Author: Sal Barry

Sal Barry is the editor and webmaster of Puck Junk. He is a freelance hockey writer, college professor and terrible hockey player. Follow him on Twitter @puckjunk

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