Hockey cards, collectibles and culture
I enjoyed my first box of In The Game’s Decades 1980s enough that I decided to buy a second box a day later. I actually did a “pack wars” type break with Justin G. (Hopeful Chase) and Tim (DFG). Those guys each got a Mario Lemieux game-used card. And me? I did OK… Continue reading “Decades 1980s: National Edition – Box Break #2”
Forty! The Big Four-Oh. I now have 40 cards for my 1963-64 Parkhurst set. Douglas Barkley here (card #60 in the set) is the 40th card towards completing my set. I started putting it together just over 3 years ago.
This card is actually higher grade than most of the other Parkies in my set build. I found a dealer who has a lot of Red Wings that were in great shape. He was willing to cut me a deal if I bought several of them. Most of the Parkies I get are in the $5 to $10 range and have one or more defects. It seemed like a good idea to get commons and semi-stars in EXMT shape for $15 each, like this one here. Other than the yellowing, which is common for these cards, I really don’t see any flaws.
While at The National, I bought not one but two boxes of In The Game’s Decades 1980s hockey cards. These boxes were the so-called “National Edition,” which cost about $10 more than a regular box of Decades, but here’s what made the “National Edition” more enticing to buy:
Here is what I got in my first box. Continue reading “Decades 1980s: National Edition – Box Break #1”
As you have probably guessed by now, I made a lot of headway towards completing my 1963-64 Parkhurst Hockey set. Get ready to see lots of Red Wings in my next few Parkie posts, as I met a dealer at The National from Michigan who happened to have a bunch of ‘Wings cards from this set–all in surprisingly great shape.
Other than the stain on the back, which actually looks worse in the scan than in real life, this card of Vic Stasuik is in great shape. Four sharp corners, good gloss on the front and no creases.
This Terry Harper rookie card brings me another step closer to completing my 1963-64 Parkhurst hockey set. I now have 37 out of 99 cards.
Team postcard sets seemed to be all the rage in the 1970s and 1980s. Many NHL and WHA teams gave out postcards picturing the players – either in response to an autograph request or as a giveaway at a game. In their inaugural season, the Atlanta Flames issued a simple, yet fantastic, set of postcards that featured practically everyone on their team. Continue reading “Review: 1972-73 Atlanta Flames Postcards”
The name “Blue Angels” conjures up images of the U.S. Navy’s aerial acrobatics team, flying their jet fighter planes at breakneck speed through the sky at your local air and water show. But in the 1970s, the St. Louis Blues had a cheerleading squad by the same name. Continue reading “These Angels Don’t Fly”
I sifted through several dollar boxes when I went to The National.
Usually, I avoid these “haystacks,” as I call them, because going through them is time-consuming and you can easily burn through several hours if you stop every time you see a dime, quarter or dollar box.
But since I went all 5 days to The National, I had time on my side. I could spend an hour or two each day looking through such rummage boxes and still have plenty of time to do everything else (get autographs, wrapper redemption programs, etc.).
However, I make 3 rules when buying dollar cards:
All right, enough preaching! Onto my awesome one-dollar finds!
9 Random Rookie Cards
2003-04 Topps Pristine Eric Staal RC (215 / 699)
2008-09 Artifacts Jordan Hendry RC (72 / 100)
2006-07 Fleer Ultra Shea Weber Gold RC
2009-10 Fleer Ultra Chris Durno RC
2009-10 Fleer Ultra John Scott Gold RC
2003-04 Pacific Invincible Joffrey Lupul RC
2009-10 Black Diamond Matt Hendricks and T.J. Galiardi Triple Diamond Rookie Gems
2008-09 Black Diamond Alex Goligoski Triple Diamond Rookie Gems.
2 1992-93 Bowman Foil Short Prints
Brett Hull and Phil Housley. One day, I will have all the short-print foil cards for this set.
2 1970-71 O-Pee-Chee
Tom Webster and Bobby Hull All-Star. I am slowly building this set. The Hull has a few moderate creases, but I really can’t complain since I paid a dollar for it.
5 2010-11 Artifacts Short Prints
Rule the school! I found five short-prints from the 2010-11 Artifacts set for a buck apiece: Mike Richards (504 / 999) and Steven Stamkos (834 / 999) Star cards; Jean Beliveau (896 / 999) Legends card; Brandon Yip (806 / 999) Artifacts Rookie; and Phillip Larsen (393 / 699) Redemption Rookie.
3 2006-07 Parkhurst Short Prints
Phil Esposito (3387 / 3999), Pierre Pilote (1708 / 3999) and Bill Gadsby (1887 / 3999).
4 1997-98 Upper Deck 3 Star Selects Inserts
Bryan Berard, Niklas Sundstrom, Steve Yzerman and Patrick Roy. I don’t even remember when I started collecting this insert set, but I still have a long way to go.
2002-03 Upper Deck Memorable Seasons SPs
Bobby Orr, Gordie Howe and Mario Lemieux. I’ve been picking up the 2002-03 Upper Deck set a card here and a card there over the past couple of years.
1 Chris Chelios Card
1997-98 Pacific Gold Crown Die-Cuts Chris Chelios. Another card for my “Chris Chelios Collection.”
2 2009-10 Black Diamond Quadruple Diamonds
Shiny cards of Joe Sakic and Bobby Hull (as a Whaler!)
1997-98 Donruss Studio Press Proofs
Sergei Berezin and Dino Ciccarelli. I love the Donruss Studio set, and figured that it was time that I track down all the inserts and parallels for it.
4 Topps Reprint Cards
Topps Chrome reprint of 1988-89 Patrick Roy, Topps Chrome reprint of 1973-74 Billy Smith RC, Topps Heritage reprint of 1957-58 Johnny Bucyk RC and Topps reprint of Brett Hull RC.
And finally…
5 Random Cards
A Russian-made Sergei Fedorov card, some weird Donruss stamp card of Pavel Bure, a nice illustrated Upper Deck card of Mario Lemieux and Heroes and Prospects cards of Sidney Crosby and Guy Lafleur from their QMJHL days.
Going through dollar boxes can be a reward unto itself. You hope to find something great, or something that you need, and then experience a thrill when you find a card ou are looking for. Getting it for cheap is just icing on the cake.
Hope y’all aren’t getting tired of looking at 1963-64 Parkies, because I picked up quite a few of them at The National last weekend. Here’s the other rookie card of Gordon “Red” Berenson–there is also a card of him skating, which I posted last week. Montreal and Toronto players each got two cards in this set, while Detroit players only got a card each.
And that’s another card that brings me a step closer to completing the set of my dreams.
Tomorrow, I will post some newer cards for those of you who be hatin’ on the vintage 🙂
Lazy Saturday! The rain outside has unmotivated me from going to my boxing class or running any errands. So I will stay inside and work on more content for this blog. In the meantime, enjoy this 1963-64 Parkhurst hockey card of Robert “Bobby” Rosseau.
