Panini Limited gets its name, I assume, from the fact that every card is serial numbered. The base, parallels, inserts, jerseys and autographed cards all proudly display a serial number on the front of the card. A box of 2012-13 Panini Limited costs around $80 and contains 7 cards. Three of them are either jersey or memorabilia cards. I recently opened up a box–here’s what I got: Continue reading “2012-13 Panini Limited Box Break”
Hockey Cards
2012-13 Artifacts Box Break
Artifacts was slated to coincide with the beginning of the 2012-13 NHL season. But we all know how that went. (For those of you reading this blog post 30 years from now, the 2012-13 season was delayed by a 3-month lockout.) Other than the rookie redemption cards, the labor dispute didn’t really have much of an effect on Artifacts, which is laden with current and former star players, as well as three memorabilia hits per box. Each box contains 10 4-card packs and costs around $100.
Here are the results of this box break: Continue reading “2012-13 Artifacts Box Break”
Custom Cards: 1990-91 Pro Set Mario Gosselin, Ron Scott & Three More
Those of you who read this blog no doubt recall my endless love for the 1990-91 Pro Set Hockey set. Between its colorful design and comprehensive player selection, it will always be one of my all-time favorites.
But Pro Set could have been a little more comprehensive that year. Continue reading “Custom Cards: 1990-91 Pro Set Mario Gosselin, Ron Scott & Three More”
2012-13 O-Pee-Chee Box Break
The cancellation of several sets by Upper Deck and Panini means that O-Pee-Chee will be the largest set of the 2012-13 season. There are 500 base cards, 50 Marquee Rookie cards and 50 Marquee Legends cards, making a total of 600 cards. There are several different parallel sets and a few interesting inserts, like Stickers and Pop-Ups, giving this year’s OPC set some nice variety.
I recently opened another box of OPC. Here are the results: Continue reading “2012-13 O-Pee-Chee Box Break”
Motown Madness Box Break
Motown Madness, released at the end of February 2013, continues In The Game’s series of team-centric hockey card sets. Previously, ITG has released sets focusing on the Montreal Canadiens (Blue, Blanc et Rouge) and the Philadelphia Flyers (Broad Street Bullies). This set is all about the Detroit Red Wings.
A box of Motown Madness currently sells for around $90 and contains 12 cards. Each box guarantees 4 autographs and 2 game-used memorabilia cards.
Here are the results of the box I opened. Continue reading “Motown Madness Box Break”
2012-13 Upper Deck Series 1 Box Break
Upper Deck Series One was released in November 2012. A box will cost you roughly $70 or $80, and contains 24 8-card packs. You can pretty much expect 6 Young Guns, 4 Canvas cards and 2 memorabilia cards in every box.
Here are the results of my most recent box break. Continue reading “2012-13 Upper Deck Series 1 Box Break”
2012-13 Black Diamond Box Break
Back in December, there was seemingly no NHL season in sight. But that didn’t stop Upper Deck from releasing their 2012-13 Black Diamond set. This set has no redemption cards–just base cards, short-prints (at various levels of scarcity), and jersey cards (and we KNOW what I generally think of those). You might pull an autographed card, but at 1 in every 60 packs, your odds aren’t the greatest.
A box will cost you roughly between $90 to $110, and contains 24 five-card packs. Also included is a 25th “Bonus Pack” which has 5 cards from 2012-13 Upper Deck Ice.
By the way, these cards are all metallic-y, so they do not scan too well.
Here is what I got inside the box I opened: Continue reading “2012-13 Black Diamond Box Break”
Custom Cards: 1986-87 O-Pee-Chee Joel Otto & Moe Lemay
Everyone who has the 1986-87 O-Pee-Chee Hockey set is no doubt annoyed by the cards of Joel Otto and Moe Lemay.
Joel Otto’s rookie card pictures Moe Lemay of the Vancouver Canucks.
Moe Lemay’s card in the set pictures Joel Otto, and adds the text “Now with Canucks.”
This mix up always irritated me. These guys do not have similar names or play for the same team (as were the causes of confusion in the infamous Steve Larmer / Steve Ludzik mix-up). Heck, these two cards aren’t even next to each other in the set. So, this error just seemed to be laziness or ineptitude on the manufacturer’s part. All they had to do was look at the stats for either player to see that they weren’t traded to new teams.
So, I decided to “correct” the mistake, doing a simple photo swap and removing the “Now with Canucks” text on Otto’s photograph. Here are bigger versions of the results:
I actually printed these two customs out on photo paper, cut them out, and placed them in the 9-pocket pages in front of the error cards. They look pretty convincing, even when compared to the real cards in the set.
I plan on sending a printed copy of the Joel Otto “correction” to get it autographed.
Custom Cards: Darren Eliot
Darren Eliot had an admirable collegiate career and played for Team Canada in the 1984 Winter Olympics. He made his NHL debut with the Los Angeles Kings in 1984-85, playing in 33 games.
However, Eliot did not “earn” a card in the 1985-86 O-Pee-Chee set, since that year O-Pee-Chee scaled back its set size from 396 to 264 cards. He was beat out by Kings’ starting netminder Bob Janecyk–also a rookie in ’84-85–as the lone Kings’ goalie in the set.
In 1985-86, Eliot played 27 games for the Kings. But again, he was omitted from the 1986-87 card sets, while teammate Janecyk was featured in both the Topps and O-Pee-Chee sets for 1986-87. That year, he played another 24 games for the Kings, but that did not get him a card in the mainstream 1987-88 sets (though he did get a Panini sticker that year).
Eliot did have three cards in sets issued by the Kings, but never a mainstream trading card. So, at the request of a friend, I made custom cards of Eliot in the design of 1985-86 and 1986-87 O-Pee-Chee cards.
Eliot is currently an in-studio analyst for Detroit Red Wings games. He suited up in 3 games for the Wings in 1987-88.
Custom Cards: Paul McIntosh
Paul McIntosh is a former NHL defenseman. He played 48 regular season games and 2 playoff games between 1974-75 and 1975-76 for the Buffalo Sabres.
But he never got an NHL trading card.
I don’t know Mr. McIntosh personally, but we share a mutual acquaintance who volunteered my graphic design skills to create a card for him. The only pictures Mr. McIntosh had were two black-and-white team issue photos.
Since cards from the 1970s used color photos, I decided to not use an old Topps design. It just wouldn’t have looked right to use a black-and-white picture. (Had that portrait photo been in color, then it would have looked perfect on a 1974-75 Topps design.)
Instead, I decided to tint the photos, pulling a shade of blue from the Buffalo Sabres logo. Since color borders always look odd on black-and-white pictures, I opted for no borders, and used a simple “hockey stick” design for the player’s name.
While I could have used a color photo found on the internet, our intentions were to have this card printed out professionally for Mr. McIntosh to give to his family and friends.
The back of the card has Mr. McIntosh’s biographical information and his NHL stats.
After designing the card, I had copies of it printed by a company called My Custom Hockey Trading Cards. For $59, plus shipping, you can get 150 cards printed that are as good as Upper Deck in quality. Cards are printed full-bleed, full color and have glossy UV coating on both sides. (True, I am an advertising partner with My Custom Hockey Trading Cards, but only because they do great work.)
After having the cards printed, my friend gave the cards to Mr. McIntosh, who lives in Buffalo but works as a scout for the Dallas Stars. He was happy to finally get a trading card showing him with the Sabres.