Category: News & Views

Last month, I went to a card show and learned a lesson–a $20 lesson, to be specific. One of the first tables I perused at the show had some 1972-73 O-Pee-Chee cards for sale.

There is something alluring–almost seductive—about the ’72-73 OPC set. It features cards of players from the World Hockey Association. It uses many different photos than its Topps counterparts. Plus those bright background colors…the bad 1970s haircuts….

And at 340 cards–many in the $10-and-up range–it’s going to be quite the challenge to complete.

So, whenever I see cards from this set, I almost always stop in my tracks to take a closer look. That was my first mistake, because I try to check out all of the tables at a show before I spend any money.

After sifting through a short stack of the OPCs, I held up cards of Stan Mikita and Phil Esposito, and asked the dealer how much?

“Let me check,” he answered, as he procured an issue of Beckett Hockey.

Whenever a dealer whips out the Beckett, I know I am not going to get a good deal. I should have said “no thanks” and just left, but I did not. That was my second mistake. 

But it was too late, as I was seduced by the siren song of the ’72 set.

After looking up the prices, he told me that I could have the Mikita for $10 and the Esposito for $8. Now, this one is my fault. When inquiring about cards, you should know what they are “worth,” or what you are willing to pay for them. I did not. That was my third mistake.

But here’s the kicker. I held up a 1990s “junk wax era” insert card and again asked how much.

“That…uh, you can have it for five dollars,” the dealer said.

At that point, I should have turned around and ran–as fast as I could–to the next table. A red flag should have gone up; a siren should have gone off. Something to indicate that this was not the deal of a lifetime. If this guy wants $5 for a junky insert–I don’t care if it is Mario Lemieux!!!–then I should have known that I was not getting a good deal on the two ’72-73 OPC cards.

“I don’t think that card is worth more than a buck,” I stated. So, the dealer agreed to give me all three cards for $20, which I accepted.

Later on, I checked the price guide to find out that the 2 OPC cards have a combined “high value” of $18–which is exactly what I paid for them. Add $2 for the insert and thus we have the $20 lesson. Don’t ask “how much” unless you know what you want to pay.

..but every now and then I’ll pick up the odd game used jersey, stick or relic card.

This pair here–from the 2001-02 Topps Archives Hockey set–cost me a whopping $3. That’s about all I really want to spend on game used or relic cards.The top card uses a piece of a seat from the old Pittsburgh Civic Arena, while the bottom card uses a piece of a jersey worn by former Minnesota North Stars player Bobby Smith.

Confession time: Back in 2002, I thought the jersey cards were a pretty neat idea. I had never seen them before, as I took a break from hockey card collecting from 1998 to 2002. So even though the idea had been around, it was new to me. It was the 2002 Winter Olympics that got me re-interested in collecting hockey cards, and I attempted to collect every jersey, stick and relic card from the Archives set.

But over the past 8 years, I’ve been slow in this collecting endeavor. I have only 5 of 28 Arena Seat Relics cards, 1 of 3 game used stick cards and 5 of 12 game used jersey cards.

So while I will still continue to hate on jersey cards, I’ll make a minor exception whenever I see one of these…especially when they’re only a dollar or two each.

Thanks to Chris Scutt for sending me the final card I needed to complete my 2002-03 Pacific Hockey set.

He also gave me the last card I needed to complete the Impact Zone insert set.

Right now, this set sits in a box because I don’t have an empty binder to put it in. Guess I’ll have to get me some binders!

I picked up 3 hobby boxes of 2010-11 Upper Deck Series 1 Hockey. Hopefully, this will get me the complete base set, 18 different Young Guns (please, please, please NO doubles), and a few trade-worthy jersey cards. I’ll get the box breakdowns posted once I get these opened and sorted.