Hockey cards, collectibles and culture
This card of Boston Bruins winger Vic Stasiuk is the 16th addition to my 1957-58 Topps Hockey set build. The centering is less-than-stellar, and it has a light crease on the front.
There’s no crease on the back, but the centering here is even less than less-than-stellar. Even less.
The upside is that this card cost me $2.25. Less than three bucks to fill a hole in a 55-year old set is fine by me.
I try to avoid the bargain boxes at card shows. You might spend an hour looking through five monster boxes, and only find one card you want.
But this past weekend, I went to a 3-day card show. Going all 3 days–instead of just 1 like I normally do–gave me the luxury of time. So I hit all the dime, quarter–and even dollar–boxes at this show. And I found some pretty good cards.
2005-06 MVP Dion Phaneuf rookie card = 25 cents
Two (2) 2005-06 MVP Brent Seabrook rookie cards = 10 cents each
1984-85 Topps Pat Lafontaine rookie card = $1.00
Yes, it’s nowhere near the value of his OPC RC, but I couldn’t pass this up for a buck.
Two (2) 1990-91 Upper Deck Jeremy Roenick rookie cards = 10 cents each
It actually makes me sad to find this card for a dime. I remember when this was one of the top draws at a card show in Chicago, circa 1990.
1990-91 OPC Premier Jeremy Roenick rookie card = $1.00
OK, so maybe I’m still hoarding Roenick RCs after all these years.
2010-11 Black Diamond Dana Tyrell rookie card (Triple Diamond) = 25 cents
Some guy had several Double and Triple Diamonds in his quarter boxes.
2010-11 Black Diamond T.J. Brodie rookie card (Triple Diamond) = 25 cents
2010-11 Black Diamond Alex Plante rookie card (Triple Diamond) = 25 cents
2010-11 Black Diamond Carey Price (Double Diamond) = 25 cents
Two (2) 2010-11 Black Diamond Mark Messier (Triple Diamond) = 25 cents each
2005-06 Parkhurst Ryan Suter rookie card = 10 cents
2001-02 Upper Deck Vintage Martin Erat rookie card = 10 cents
Another dime, another Predator RC.
Two (2) 1991 Stadium Club Members Only Patrick Roy = 10 cents each
1969-70 O-Pee-Chee Lou Nanne rookie card = $1.00
I need so many cards from this set, so a non–common for a buck is a find.
1974-75 John Davidson rookie card = 25 cents
An RC of JD. I hope to get this signed one day.
1991-92 Arena Draft Picks Fat Balloon…er, I mean Pat Falloon = 10 cents
Nine (9) different 1997-98 Upper Deck 3-Star Selects = Ray Bouqrque (pictured) was 25 cents; the rest were 10 cents each.
1997-98 Score Check-It Bryan Berard = 10 cents
This completes my “Check-It” Insert Set. Score!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
46 assorted 1980s Topps Logo Stickers = 10 cents each
Why did I buy all these logo stickers? I’m not sure. I think I still find them cool after all these years.
Ten (10) 1989-90 Topps Wayne Gretzky cards = 10 cents each
Ten cards of The Great One for one dollar. How could I say no?
Not a bad bunch of cards for $12.65. These were the highlights of the “cheap thrills.” Stay tuned to see more of the high-end cards I purchased.
The second 1963-64 Parkie I bought at last weekend’s show was card number 52, Norm Ullman. This card is in near-perfect shape with sharp corners and perfect gloss. It is a bit off centered, but lack of centering is just part of the charm (as 1967ers would say).
As usual, the back of the card is the usual brown color (were these even printed on light stock?). This one has no stains or flaws I could find, other than the centering. I paid a few dollars under “high book” value for this one, but I think in the end I got a really great specimen for my set.
In October of 2010, I started my attempt to build the 1957-58 Topps Hockey set. I was off to a good start, accumulating 14 cards from October to December.
But in 2011, I only managed to pick up one measly card from this set.
So at this weekend’s card show, I decided to make this set one of my priorities. Here is card #44 from the 66-card set. This also happens to be Bill McNeill’s rookie card, for what it’s worth.
The only real flaw on this card is that it has some “white spots” at the bottom edge of the back–where the red ink meets the border. However, after I took this scan, I was able to gently “brush off” the white spots–it seems like “White Out” or some other similar correction fluid. I was able to gently scratch it off without harming the card.
Since mid-2008 I have been passive-aggressively building the 1963-64 Parkhurst Hockey set. Sometimes I “passively” bid on a few cards on eBay, while other times I will “aggressively” seek them out at card shows. This weekend was the latter. I went to a card show and had some great luck finding Parkhurst cards I wanted for a decent price.
Here we have Hall of Fame player and coach King Clancy. He played in the NHL from 1921 to 1937, and later was a coach or assistant coach for 15 seasons.
Oh so close to halfway completing this set.
My third–but probably not final–box of 2011-12 Upper Deck Series 2. Continue reading “2011-12 Upper Deck Series 2 – Box Break #3”
Can my second box be as good as my first? Let’s find out… Continue reading “2011-12 Upper Deck Series 2 – Box Break #2”
AWWWWWW, YEAH! Upper Deck Series Two was released earlier this week. I picked up 3 boxes. Here are the results of my first box break: Continue reading “2011-12 Upper Deck Series 2 – Box Break #1”
Goaltender Ray LeBlanc is not your typical One Game Wonder. Sure, he played exactly 1 game in the NHL, but he was the focus of national attention during the 1992 Winter Olympics, when he lead an unlikely U.S. squad into the medal round. Continue reading “Card of the Week: U-S-Ray!”
Last week, I bought 30 different of 8″ x 10″ hockey photographs from AU Sports, one of my favorite card shops.
Many of these photos were taken at old Chicago Stadium, and most of them are from the 1980s and early 1990s, so these rate pretty high in the nostalgia factor for me.
Mike Liut (Hartford Whalers) – Taken at Chicago Stadium
Sylvain Turgeon (Hartford Whalers) – I used to watch quite a few Whalers games on TV back in the early 1990s, as SportsChannel would show Hartford games quite regularly.
Mike Bossy (New York Islanders) – Bossy retired by the time I got into hockey.
Denis Potvin (New York Islanders) – Potvin had retired and was a studio analyst for SportsChannel when I started watching hockey. I remember him infamously guessing that the Chicago Blackhawks would get eliminated in the first round of the 1989 playoffs, when in fact they made it all the way to the Conference Finals.
Billy Smith (New York Islanders) – The first game I ever went to was the Blackhawks against the Islanders.
Billy Smith (again) – I’m not sure when either of these photos of Smith were taken. I can tell that these are from old Chicago Stadium, as it was one of the last arenas to put advertisements on the boards.
Martin Brodeur – Wow! What a great overhead photograph–making the save just in time. I’m not sure where or when this was taken
Marcel Dionne (New York Rangers) – A nice close-up of the Hall of Fame player at the end of his career.
Bob Brooke (New York Rangers) – Brooke played for the 1984 U.S. Olympic Team.
Rick Vaive (Toronto Maple Leafs) – Taken at Chicago Stadium, and most likely during the 1984-85 season. Vaive was infamously stripped of the “C” when he missed a practice during the 1985-86 season.
Mario Lemieux (Pittsburgh Penguins) – Wearing the “conceited swan” logo, this is probably from 1996-97.
