Box Break: 2013-14 Panini Prizm

2013-14 Panini Prizm Hockey cards hobby boxInitially, I thought that 2013-14 Prizm would be another clunker from Panini. The cards are printed on shiny foil stock, look like pretty much every other Panini set out there and originally cost $100 for a 20-pack box (each pack contains six cards). But I found a box at a recent show for $50, so I took a chance and was pleasantly surprised.

Prizm cards are printed on a silver, mirror-like card stock. Whereas Upper Deck’s Black Diamond are shiny but dark, Prizm cards have bright, vibrant colors that jump out at you. The cards are also printed on heavy stock. After opening a box, I totally understand why baseball card collectors go nuts over sets like Bowman Chrome: they just look so cool. Of course, I was a sucker for “chromium covers” back in my comic book collecting days in the 1990s, so enjoying “chromium” hockey cards isn’t much of a stretch for me.

Anyway, onto the break. Continue reading “Box Break: 2013-14 Panini Prizm”

Card ‘Toons: Double Gold

Editor’s Note: After an 11-month hiatus, Steve Galvao is back with his latest installment of Card ‘Toons.The 2014 Winter Olympics may be over, but they are not forgotten.

Price double goldSteve Galvao is a good old Canadian kid who grew up loving hockey and collecting hockey cards. To see more of Steve’s work, visit his website, the Shoebox Collection. You can see his earlier blog posts here.

Read my latest Becket article FREE online

beckett_action_packedI am back in the pages of Beckett Hockey this month. “Looking Back at Action Packed” is my latest article. It is on pages 4-7 in the March 2014 issue (#259), and recounts the many attempts former card company Action Packed made to try and break into the hockey card market. They failed, but issued some interesting promotional items along the way.

If you don’t want to buy this issue just to read my article, Beckett also published it on their blog. You can read the he entire article for free here. Please take a look and let me know what you think — either in the comments below, or in the comments on the Beckett blog.