In 2012, I sent five “Collecting Resolutions” for myself. And there’s nothing like a little public disclosure to keep myself honest.

To reiterate, my 2012 goals were:

1. Avoid retail packs en masse
2. Deal with empty boxes and wrappers
3. Check all sets when I receive them
4. Don’t be a hoarder
5. Complete these @#$% sets already

So, how did I do?

Avoid retail packs en masse
During the 2012 calendar year, I bough very few retail packs. If memory serves correct, all I bought was one blaster box (containing 14 retail packs), 1 “fat pack” and 4 “fat boxes.” All were from 2012-13 O-Pee-Chee, which was a set I was actively pursuing. Add it up, and that’s about $65 worth of retail packs. Not bad for a 12-month cycle. Verdict: WIN

Deal with empty boxes and wrappers
When I buy boxes and packs, I usually keep the box top and 4 wrappers to put with the set I build. But I’ve always been bad about dealing with them, so they tend to pile up. Looking around my “room of hockey” right now,  I see about a half-dozen empty boxes, as well as wrappers here and there that need to find a home. So, I’m doing better than last year, but not as good as I can be doing. Verdict: LOSS

Check all sets when I receive them
I’ve been diligent about this. I’ve checked every complete set as soon as I got it, and none of them were missing cards. Of course, if they were, I’d tell the seller right away because I’m checking right away, and not a week (or a month) after the fact. Verdict: WIN

Don’t be a hoarder
I tend to “collect” multiple copies of the same exact card. And by “collect” I really mean “hoard.” In most cases, I really need only one, or perhaps two, copies of the same card. But not 10. I should spend that money on cards I actually don’t have. However, I decided to allow myself to hoard Jeremy Roenick rookies. So, I’m still hoarding, but it is just one card (well, actually 10 different cards if you count all the different brands). Verdict: Draw

Complete these @#$% sets already
Throughout 2012, I “killed off” 23 different sets. Part of it was due to the generosity of those participating in the “One Card Challenge” back in September. I also completed some sets even if it meant overpaying a bit for a card, such as paying 25 or 50 cents for a “5-cent card,” just so I could finish the set and move on to something else. Verdict: WIN

So, I had a record of 3-1-1 for my 2012 Collecting Goals. I’m happy with that.

Now, time to draw up my goals for 2013.

Some are Good some are Fair…and one is particularly “Terrible”

I’ve been meaning to “blog about this” for a while. Back in November, I went to a card show near Chicago and met up with fellow bloggers Justin, Tim and fellow ‘Hawks fan Nick. We hung out for a bit, traded cards, then went back to perusing the show floor. I was a few paces behind Justin and Tim when something caught my eye, causing me to drift away from the group. Distracting me was a stack of cards with a small sign reading:

1951-52 Parkhurst Cards $8 and Up

Parkies! Even better–the first-ever Parkies! You’re more likely to see King Kong riding a unicorn around downtown Chicago than you are to find 1951-52 Parkies at a card show in the Windy City.

After some haggling with the dealer, I ended up with 38 cards from the Godfather of Hockey Card Sets.Where else would I be able to get so many cards from this set at once?

These Parkies were not in the greatest shape, but weren’t all that expensive either. Most cost me $10 each–some cost less, some cost more. That may seem pricey for substandard grade cards–but remember, old Parkies are hardly the stuff of garage sales here in the U.S.

  The last card in the group is so awesome that I have to show it twice as big:

#56 – Robert “Ted” Lindsay (a.k.a. Terrible Ted Lindsay) RC
I have never seen a Ted Lindsay rookie card before. This one was priced around 25% of “book” because of the crease (which is visible on the front, but strangely not on the back) and the rounded corners.

This is a tough set to put together. I almost never see any of these at card shows in/near Chicago. And with rookie cards of Gordie Howe, Terry Sawchuk and Maurice Richard valued at over $1,000 each, I may never complete this set.

Still, it is cool to finally own a chunk of hockey history, even in a lesser grade. But these are really old cards–let’s see how good we all look at 60 years!

Late last month, I placed an order on Check Out My Cards, and managed to kill off 5 sets. Here are the last cards for each set that I’ve completed after this purchase.

2011-12 O-Pee-Chee #615 – Erik Gudbranson – These “OPC Update” cards were inserted in packs of 2011-12 Upper Deck Series 2, so they were a bit trick to track down. After buying 5 boxes of UD Series 2 and making a few trades, this was the last card I needed.

1995-96 Topps Power Lines #8 Red Wings and #10 Devils – The Devils and Red Wings were the best two teams the previous year, as the Devils won the Cup and the Wings were the runner-up. Coincidentally, the best two teams were also the last two cards I needed to finish off this insert set.

1991-92 Score American #315 – Gary Shuchuk – I tried building this set during the 1991-92 season, but never completed it. In 2001, I bought a complete set, but this card was missing. So, I’ve needed this 20-year old card for 10 years.

2009-10 Fleer Ultra 23 – Daymond Langkow – BOOM! Another one bites the dust!

1994-95 Fleer Ultra Sergei Fedorov #3, #4 and #5 – Everyone’s favorite Russian sniper, circa 1995. This 10-card insert set focuses on Fedorov’s career to date. Card #5 gives details of his defection from Russia to the U.S., such as a secret note given to Fedorov in a tournament in Norway and the Red Wings enlisting the aid of a bilingual photographer to help Fedorov defect. Not the usual stuff you see on the backs of hockey cards!

One of my collecting resolutions for 2012 was to kill off as many sets as possible. In January, I completed 10 sets. In August, I finished off another 2 sets. In September–thanks to your generosity during the One-Card Challenge–I was able to complete another 6 sets. With these 8 cards you see above, I have now completed 23 sets, so I think I did a good job of upholding my resolution to complete my sets. Still, I might try and finish off 2 more sets by the end of the year.

On November 23, the online trading card store Check Out My Cards (www.COMC.com) had a “Black Friday” sale. For you Canadians, that is what the day after American Thanksgiving is called, since it is the unofficial start of the Christmas shopping season. Retailers would “black out” the schedule for that day–meaning, NO ONE was getting a day off on the day after Thanksgiving; everyone had to show up and work because it would be so busy.

The Black Friday Promotion: Many of the cards on COMC were marked down from their original asking price and shipping was free if you ordered 10 or more cards. Plus, you were given 10 cents store credit for every card you bought. I believe this sale was to help push traffic to beta test their new website, as the old site (www.CheckOutMyCards.com) is being phased out for the new one (www.comc.com).

A Bit of Background: For those unfamiliar with COMC, their business works a bit differently than other online card sellers like Sportlots or the Beckett Marketplace. Those who wish to sell their trading cards through COMC actually send their cards to COMC, who in turn scans and lists the cards, and then ships them when ordered. This is good for buyers, because you might purchase cards from 20 different sellers, but only pay shipping from the COMC warehouse.

I was going to order from COMC in the past, but until recently their shipping policy was different, charging you an initial fee plus a per-card fee. For example, fellow blogger Shane ordered 169 cards and spent almost $50 to ship an $86 purchase!

So, you can see why I was reluctant to order from COMC. But as I mentioned before, they were offering free shipping on orders placed on Black Friday, negating this extra (and excessive) shipping charge.

Without further ado, here is my review of my COMC purchase.

Website Ease of Use – 5 out of 5: As many of you may know, I am a professional web designer, so I tend to scrutinize sites more than your average card collector. But this is a review of my overall experience of ordering from COMC, and not just their website.

COMC’s new website was intuitive and easy to use. At the top is a big search box so you can type in what you are looking for; a MUST on any retail website.

Search results show up quickly, and you can easily click on any keywords you initially searched for to see more cards of a given player, set or year. You can also filter for rookie, memorabilia, autographed or serial-numbered cards.

The list view pages–where you see all cards of a player, set or year–are well-designed and offer multiple viewing options to suit your web browsing habits. COMC defaults to a left-to-right gallery view, but you can easily toggle to a top-down list view, a thumbnails-only view and a text-only view.

Pages default to 12 results per page–too low, in my opinion–but you can easily change this to up to 100 items per page. Items can be sorted by price, book value, release year, print run or card number.

Speaking of which, COMC lists the cards in proper numeric order. For example, the Beckett Marketplace will list card 1, then cards 10-19, then cards 100-199, then card 2, then cards 20-29, then cards 200-299, and so forth. This always annoyed me greatly, so I am thankful that COMC orders the cards the way they should be.

Prices – 3 out of 5: Look for any card on COMC, and chances are you will find multiple sellers offering the same card at very different prices. For example, a 1990-91 O-Pee-Chee Premier Jaromir Jagr rookie card–ungraded–ranges from $4.73 to $8.00. Some dealers opted to discount their cards by 20% or more on Black Friday, while others did not.

During the sale, each card’s “book value” was listed alongside its price for each card. I thought this was very helpful in making decisions of what to buy. An “asking price” of $15 for a card “worth” $15 makes me want to look elsewhere first. But if I saw the card had a book value of $15 and an asking price for far less, I did not hesitate. I hope COMC restores this feature.

Common cards were listed “Less Than $1” for their book value. But common cards were COMCs biggest weakness when it came to prices. Cards that should realistically sell for between a nickel and a quarter tended to be priced between 50 to 75 cents. For one card, paying a bit much is no big deal. But if you needed 30 cards to finish off your 1992-93 Upper Deck Hockey set, would you really want to spend $21?

On the other hand, “middle of the road” cards were priced to move. Cards withink the $5 to $20 range were priced competitively, and usually far lower than so-called “book” value. I bought many 2010-11 Artifacts cards, with Beckett values of around $5 for between $1 and $1.50. I also nabbed a Cam Fowler redemption RC (BV of $12) for $5.69 and a Nino Niederreiter redemption RC (BV of $15) for $6.25. Suddenly, overpaying for a few commons did not seem so bad.

Shipping Time – 4 out of 5: I ordered cards on Friday, November 23 and received them on Friday, November 30. I think one week is a fair turnaround time for a card order, especially since mail gets slower around the holidays. There are ways to get your cards faster from COMC, but that depends on your shipping option. Which brings us to our next point…

Shipping Cost – 5 out of 5: Yes, I did get free shipping, but COMC is now charging a flat rate of $3.00 per order, which I think is extremely fair. You can upgrade to “Rapid” shipping for $1.99 more, or Priority Mail for an extra $4.99. There even are faster and more expensive options, too. Orders using basic shipping are packed within a week, while all other shipping options pack and send your order within one business day. Some of these cards I’ve needed for 20 years, so a few extra days won’t affect me.

Packing – 5 out of 5: COMC offers buyers the option to add 20 cents per card to have a card placed in a toploader before shipping. Most of the cards I bought were cheap, so I was not going to pay extra. COMC’s business is selling cards, so of course I’d expect them to be well packed.

But, COMC exceeded my expectations for how my order was packaged. I ordered 58 cards. They came packaged in a 300-count box:

Inside of that 300-count box was a smaller box that held my cards, along with some Styrofoam packing peanuts and a copy of my order.

Additionally, each card was in a penny sleeve.

Considering that this is COMC’s lowest-priced shipping option, I was extremely satisfied. Obviously, I would not expect a larger order (say around 300 cards) to be double-boxed, but putting every card in a penny sleeve by default goes a long way in keeping cards “ding” and edge-wear free during transit.

Overall: Ordering from COMC allowed me to get many cards that I needed from different sellers, but they were all shipped from one location. In the future, this will give me the best of both worlds: a wide variety and inexpensive shipping. COMC is great for mid-to-higher dollar value cards, but not the most cost-efficient way to purchase numerous commons.

For $3 shipping, I suggest you check out Check Out My Cards and see if they can help you fill a few holes in your set. You can visit their website at http://www.COMC.com.

Last weekend, I attended a card show and was able to chip away at my 1953-54 Parkhurst Hockey set. For some reason, I always seem to buy these cards in multiples of 5–5 in March, another 5 in July and 15 last December. Here are my latest additions: 4 Chicago Black Hawks and 1 Montreal Canadiens.

76 – Bill Gadsby – This was the best card in the group, in regards to the player and the condition. Gadsby is in the Hockey Hall of Fame, and this card has minimal corner wear.

69 – Jim Peters – On the other hand, this card is in not the best condition. The corners are worn, and it appears that the printing registration was off. This is particularly noticeable if you look at the Black Hawks insignia on his sweater.

84 – Gerald “Doc” Couture – The 1953-54 season would be Couture’s last in the NHL. He won the Stanley Cup with the Detroit Red Wings in 1950.

74 – Larry Wilson – Wilson also won the Cup with the Red Wings in 1950. He is the brother of Johnny Wilson and the father of longtime NHL coach Ron Wilson

33 – Ken Mosdell – He won 4 Stanley Cups with the Montreal Canadiens and the last active member of the Brooklyn Americans–an NHL team that folded after 1942, reducing the team to its “Original Six” teams.

These 5 cards put me at 47 out of 100, so I have this one almost halfway completed. I also need the variation of Fleming Mackell (#91) that has the bio on the back. I have the one without the bio. In the unlikely event that anyone has 1953-54 Parkies for trade, I have added what I need to my Want List.

That is, I bought 12 boxes–or 384 hobby packs–of 2012-13 O-Pee-Chee Hockey.

Crazy, right?

I’ve never bought a case of cards before. But yesterday, the 22-pound behemoth you see above was delivered to my front door.

I had to rationalize this expense–as most collectors would. I did put in some OT at my job last month, so these cards are paid for. I waited and waited and found the best available online price from a retailer who offered an additional $25 off. Plus, no tax and no shipping costs.

But I also had to come up with numerous good reasons why I should buy a whole freakin’ case, and not just a few hobby boxes.

• I will get a complete base set (and then some)
• I will get 192 Short Prints–hopefully one of each of the 100 possible
• I will get 384 Retro Variants
• I will get roughly 128 Stickers–hopefully at least one copy of 1-100
• I will get 24 Pop Ups, which I’ll probably want to keep too
• I will get 4 patch cards, and can probably sell those and make back a good portion of my money
• I will get the 2 OPC Signatures cards. I do enjoy autographs.
• I will get the case hit Team Canada autograph. I would like to have that card too.
• I will get all of the box bottom cards, and have more left over to trade
  
• I will have 384 wrappers leftover that I could potentially trade to a Canadian collector for Upper Deck’s “Canada Only” OPC promotion
• I will have 96 Rainbow Parallels that I could potentially trade for the Retro Variants or Pop-Ups I still need.

Of course, I may not get a complete set out of the deal, might get shorted on an autograph and get the worst possible “hits” imaginable.

Then again, nothing ventured, nothing gained.

Wish me luck.

Anyone who has seen my hockey card collection knows that it is a pretty equal amount of both order and chaos. I have neat, orderly shelves filled with binders, and then I have random boxes and piles of cards everywhere else. I bought these five 1953-54 Parkhurst cards way back in March, but they got filed into a box with other cards I wanted to blog about–and then completely forgotten until I “found” them last week.

So here are the cards that I’ve had since March but finally got around to putting away:

14 – Fern Flaman – “Fernie” passed away earlier this year. He was inducted into the Hockey Hall of Fame in 1990.

19 – Bert Olmstead –  Another Hall of Fame player, Olmstead played with Chicago, Montreal and Toronto.

7 – Theodore “Teeder” Kennedy – Yet another Hall of Fame member! Ted Kennedy, as he is best known as, broke into the NHL at age 18 and was the first player to win the Stanley Cup five times.

22 – James “Bud” MacPherson – MacPherson played 6 seasons for the Montreal Canadiens and won the Stanley Cup with them in 1953.

12 – Harry Watson – Watson played 14 seasons in the NHL. His rookie season was spent with the Brooklyn Americans in what was their last season (1941-42) before folding. He was inducted into the Hockey Hall of Fame in 1994.

These 5 cards bring me up to 42 cards in this set, or 42% since it is a 100-card set.