Hockey cards, collectibles and culture
Last week Monday, Shellie and I got a few autographs from Chicago Blackhawks defenseman Brian Campbell. I got a photo signed, while Shellie got a Champ’s card signed for me. Campbell commented on the card, saying that he thought it looked cool.
We also put together this 40-second video:
…are now on sale, so you better hurry and buy some before they are all gone. Because the team would love you to buy into all the hype.
Two years back, the Blackhawks put their convention passes up for sale in March, if I recall correctly. Last year, the passes went on sale around February. For the 2010 convention, they started hawking (ha!) convention passes back in December 2009. Why so soon? What’s the rush?
“Well, they gotta pay Marian Hossa somehow, right?” suggested my girlfriend Shellie.
Good point. $12 million a season doesn’t raise itself.
Normally, I despise jersey cards. I think they are useless as far as my collection is concerned. Plus, jersey cards end up inflating the price of packs of cards that *might* contain one (Upper Deck, OPC). But every now and then, I make an exception, and purchase such a card for my collection. Behold:
Chris Chelios is my favorite player, so I try to get as many different cards of his as possible–including jersey cards. This one in particular has game-used jersey swatches from Niklas Lidstrom, Chelios and Brian Rafalski. The first two are locks to make the Hall of Fame when they retire. While Rafalski probably wont land in the Hall, he has thus far has a pretty good hockey career–in college, in Europe and in the NHL–and will represent the United States in the 2010 Olympics this February.
So how much did this card of three great players set me back? With shipping, $3.52. That just underscores how worthless these darn things are. I do like the way the red P in OPC is flanked by a white O and white C, giving the card a bit of symmetry.
I went to a card show today, and normally I like to write about all the cool cards and memorabilia I picked up.
But today, I scored what was probably the best purchase I have ever made in my 20 years of hockey card collecting.
I bought a 1985-86 Topps Hockey Set for $50.
Yes, it had the Lemieux. It’s not perfect, but I have a few Topps Lemieux RCs anyway, so a less-than-perfect one will be fine to put in the 9-pocket page.
The set also had the Gretzky card, an unmarked checklist and the other 162 cards.
Complete.
I won’t have to piece this one together.
Yes, it seems too good to be true. Hooray for me.
I also got some other stuff–including a 2009-10 Upper Deck hobby box. Seems kind of unimportant by comparison, now that I think of it.
Ironic that I spent more on an unopened box of new cards than a complete set of old ones…
Yes! I did it! I now have 20 cards from the 1963-64 Parkhurst Hockey set. Twenty out of 99, 20%, one-fifth (1/5) of the complete set.
This card is of former Toronto Maple Leafs player Bob Pulford. Sometimes, I forget that Pulford had a pretty good playing career. For so long, he has been associated with the Chicago Blackhawks–as a coach, then a GM, then a coach again, then a GM again, then a Senior Vice President.
So, as it stands I have acquired 2 cards from this set in 2008, and 18 cards in 2009. I have 79 cards to go to complete this set. While I’d like to get 1 card a week in 2010, that’s probably unrealistic. Maybe when I finish grad school and re-enter the full-time work force (knock on wood), I’ll be able to afford some of the more pricey cards.
I got to give a shout out and say “Thanks!” to David M. of Industry, Pennsylvania. David so kindly sent me three cards that I needed from the 1979-80 Topps set, including the sweet, unmarked checklist that you see here. And he didn’t even want anything for them either…just the satisfaction of helping out a fellow hockey collector.
I am now only 6 cards away from completing my 1979-80 Topps set. And yes, I do have the Gretzky–though I wouldn’t mind another one đŸ™‚
The 19th card in my never-ending quest to complete a 1963-64 Pakrhurst set. This is only the 4th Red Wing I have in this set, and the first Red Wing I’ve picked up since July.
The back of the card has a special offer for a Stanley Cup replica–only 35 cents and 4 wrappers. Of course, 35 cents was a lot of money in 1963, as I think cards were only 5 cents a pack back then. But you got to wonder how big of a replica Stanley Cup that would have bought someone.
Another week, another Parkhurst card. This is my 18th step towards completing this 99-card set. A sweet looking card too–no creases or major corner wear. The gloss on the front is perfect. Probably the best card, condition-wise, that I’ve picked up from this set thus far.
The back of the card is intriguing. In 1963, one could mail away for an autographed puck for 30 cents plus 5 Parkhurst wrappers. You had your choice of Gordie Howe, Dave Keon or Jean Beliveau. I wonder if anyone ever got one of these (Al K.? Thom?). That is one thing that hockey cards are missing today–fun mail-away offers like this one and like the ones offered by Topps and OPC up to the 1990s.
81 cards to go, and I’ll have a complete set.
The 17th card in my 1963-64 Parkhurst set. I am so close to 20 cards that I can almost taste it.
This card has some creases and dirt, but I still traded away a low-end jersey card to get it. Funny, I’d rather have a beat-up 1960s card than a near-mint jersey card from the 2000s.
OK, this is the end of all my gloating, I promise. In addition to the rookie cards, vintage cards and autographs I bought at the card show on November 22, I also hit the mother load of cheap complete sets:
2005-06 Upper Deck Series 2 (base set 243-442) – $5
1998-99 Pacific (1-451) $8
1997-98 Collectors’ Choice (1-320) – $5
1997-98 Pacific Paramount (1-198) – $8
1996-97 Collectors’ Choice (1-348) – $8
1995-96 Score Summit (1-200 – $6
1992-93 Classic Pro Prospects (1-150) – $3
1992-93 Pinnacle Canadian (1-420) – $6
That’s $49 for 8 complete sets. The best part is that all of these sets came in new Ultra Pro pages. So more accurately, $49 got me 8 complete sets and 258 card pages.
I also purchased three other sets, though they did not include pages:
2004-05 SP Authentic (base set 1-90) – $5
2004-05 Upper Deck Ice (base set 1-90) – $5
1993-94 Parkhurst (1-540) – $6
In all, that is 3,007 new cards in my collection for $65–a mere 2.2 cents per card! That’s enough cards to go around a hockey rink 1.5 times.