A few days ago, I was at Target and decided to peruse the trading card aisle. I’ve been pretty good at avoiding blaster boxes this year, but I saw something shiny that caught my eye: a collector’s tin of 2011-12 Upper Deck Series One.
I was intrigued. This tin did not have the usual “retail packs,” and yet these were not quite full-fledged “hobby packs,” either. Like hobby packs, you get 12 cards per pack, 1 Young Guns card in every 4 packs and 1 Canvas card in every 6 packs. The only major difference is that the jersey cards here are seeded 1:24 instead of 1:12. So, you may or may not get one in the tin.
The cost was $30 for the 12-pack tin–so this roughly equates to buying half a hobby box (minus the guaranteed jersey card). After some deliberation, I decided to buy it (they had one left). Here is what I got:
86 Base Cards
Fortunately, I got the 24 cards I needed to complete my 2nd base set–anyone want to trade for it? I’d rather have doubles of Upper Deck cards than of, say, Victory cards.
3 Young Guns
As promised, this box delivered 1 Young Guns card in every 4th pack. I got Erik Gudbranson, Sean Couturier and Jonathan Blum. Luckily, I needed all 3 for my set.
2 UD Canvas Cards
These also happen with the same frequency as in a hobby box, as I got 2 Canvas Cards: Sean Avery and Brendan Morrow.
1 Hockey Hero
Ah, crap–a double! I got this card of Ted Lindsay the last time I opened a box of Upper Deck.
1 All-World Team
Yarg! Another double of an insert I already got. And this one has a defect too–notice the white marke on Henrik Zetterberg’s face.
2 EA Ultimate Team
Jarret Stoll and a double of Jonathan Quick. In a hobby box, you get these inserts 1:24. Here in this quasi-hobby tin, they occur 1:6. The two I got were Jarret Stoll and Jonathan Quick (gah, double!).
1 Day with the Cup
Now this was different. At first glance, I thought this Zdeno Chara card was part of the base set, but it is part of the Day with the Cup insert set. This must be a “retail thing,” since I didn’t get one in any of my 3 hobby boxes last month.
1 Big 3 1/2″ x 5″ Winter Classic Card
These are unique to the Collector’s Tins of Series One. Not a bad looking card–I love the composition in the photography, with Alexander Ovechkin leading the charge.
The Verdict: Basically, this is half a hobby box for less than half of a hobby box’s price (currently $67-$70 online). Instead of getting a jersey card, you instead get an oversized Winter Classic card and a shiny metal box. If jersey cards are important to you, then you will probably want to skip these. Otherwise, this makes for a nice “non-blaster” alternative that can be found at a retail outlet.
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That "day with the cup" insert is rarer that you realize. Its a SSP insert that was estimated to be seeded at 1 in 7 cases of hobby (I think its was more like 1 in 3-4 though). Its not retail only and you can imagine how rare they are in retail given their scarcity in the hobby. Just go on eBay and search for "day cup" in the hockey card section and you will see that they sell for between 20-80$ with the last Chara selling for 50$. That insert paid for your tin and then some. Congrats!
Yup, I was going to say the same thing about that Day with the Cup card. I recently saw a Patrice Bergeron one go for around $50 on eBay…
Thanks for the info, guys. Maybe I will make back my $30 on this tin after all 🙂
Cool break. You certainly got yourself some pretty stellar Young Guns too.
In all a successful "tin".
These are pretty popular in Canada. I know I have had luck in the past with tins especially when they go on clearance for about 15-20 bucks per.
Nice pulls, the "Day With The Cup Cards" are awsome. I really wish they made a set for the Hawks (we got screwed!) since the Andrew Ladd pictures on the top of the mountain were their inspiration from what the article I read. Looks like we'll just need to win the Cup again!
I love the tins when I can find them. I've actually never seen them in a store but you can get some good deals on eBay and Dave and Adam's from time to time. Almost all my big Young Guns (Toews, Stamkos) have come from Retail, so I tend to buy more of it than Hobby since I could care less about the extra jersey card.
Here's the article from UD's blog, 1:2,500 Retail packs. Great pull.
http://upperdeckblog.com/2011/11/question-answered-what-is-the-“day-with-the-cup”-insert-found-in-2011-12-nhl-upper-deck-all-about/
Nice tin! You did great on the young guns but the day with the cup insert is the icing on the cake!