My Picks # 26: Keith Tkachuk

This pick comes from 2000-01 SPx and its a Winning Materials Keith Tkachuk. This was the first dual-memorabilia card that I added to my collection many years ago.

There are two things that are very cool about this card. One is the fact that the piece of game-used stick is actually a piece of wood and the other is the red jersey swatch. 

It would have been easy to get a white or black swatch from those Coyotes jerseys, which by the way are the coolest ever in my opinion, but the red is much harder to come by on the actual jersey. Plus it stands out that much more on the green background.

Cardboard Creations: Masked Men Part III

This will be the third installment of my custom Masked Men set. It continues the trend of being arranged alphabetically by the goaltender's first name. I'm only going to share two pages in each post for now on. Here are the next 18 cards in the set.

Out of this set my top three would have to be Kipprusoff's mask with the 34 on the chin and sweet red skulls, Backstrom's mask with the claws coming through the top and Tellqvist's mask with The Road Runner and Wile E. Coyote.

My Picks # 25: Paul Kariya

I decided to go a different direction with this pick and I've chosen it solely based on the player's jersey. It's a 2002-03 Upper Deck Memorable Seasons Paul Kariya showing the what some would say is the worst jersey in the history of the NHL.

I've always been intrigued by this jersey, just because of how different and awful it looks. When I was going through my three-ring binders of cards, I came across this one and had to share it. It appears to be the only card in my entire collection with the Wild Wing jersey. I believe that jersey was only used for one season, and for good reason.

Thoughts: Laptop or no Laptop?

There was one downside to the vacation time as I came to find out this morning. I came across a Joe Thornton Super Script on eBay last week and put it on my watch list.

I purposely didn't take my laptop on vacation with me and come to find out this morning, I completely forgot about the auction and could have won it for a little over $5. That would have been a steal considering his Gold Script has gone for like $60 in the past.

Oh well, as hard as these are to find, I'm sure some more will surface on eBay and other sites in the future. Patience is key with collecting this type of set.

Now, laptop or no laptop on vacation: that is the question.

TTM Success: Brendan Shanahan

Wow, its amazing how relaxing four days of vacation in northern Michigan can be. Anyway on to today's post, which focuses on another of my past TTM successes: Brendan Shanahan. I sent two cards and received two autographs in the mail several years ago. One was on a 2001-02 Topps and the other on a 2001-02 UD Playmakers Limited. 

Shanahan has an interesting signature to say the least, although I do like how much of the card it takes up and the addition of his number after it. 

These two cards were sent separately at different times to Shanahan c/o The Detroit Red Wings at the Joe Louis Arena address. Also, I have no idea how long either of these cards took to get back to me. I would guess at least a few months.

Box Break: 1995-96 Pinnacle

This is my first foray into breaking boxes in at least four years now. Part of the reason I was looking for boxes at the card show last weekend was this blog. Sharing my breaks give me that much more enjoyment out of breaking packs and now boxes.

This was the first of the two sealed boxes I picked up at the show. I saw it marked for only $15 and couldn't pass on it. I was looking for some mid to late 90's boxes and this one fit that requirement perfectly. Time to see what was inside.

The Numbers:

Cost: $15

Packs: 24

Cards per Pack: 12

Total Cards: 288

Base Set Completion: 97% (219 of 225) 

Duplicates: 63

Base:

The base cards for this set are pretty simple. They are either vertical or sideways with the gold foil hockey stick and player name on the bottom and gold Pinnalce logo at the top. There was a nice variety of photography in this set, some was great and some was not so great, but overall it was good. My favorite would have to be this one of Olaf Kolzig.

Rink Collection Parallel:

There are not many inserts in this set and there are two levels of parallels: Rink Collection and Artist's Proofs. I got six Rink Collections and no Artist's Proofs. The only difference between the Rink Collection and the base cards is the reflective effect added to the front of the cards and the Rink Collection logo on the back. These cards are pretty sharp in person.

Roaring Twenties:

Finally, my best pull from this box is part of the Roaring Twenties insert set. I was hoping to pull a Mask insert, but the odds were not very good. I'm happy with this one though as it is another sharp looking insert, which doesn't want to scan very well. 

Overall I was very satisfied with this box. I got a good chunk of the base set without too many duplicates. There were only three insert sets and two parallel sets, which isn't bad considering these cards are 15 years old now.

Cardboard Creations: Masked Men Part II

It's been a while now since I posted the first half of the Masked Men set and I thought it was time to share some more of them. Only this time I will share three new pages of the eleven remaining. This is so I can get a few more posts out of this project and to not have such a long post again. Here are the next 27 cards in the set:

Out of this set my top three would include Lehtonen's Transformers mask, Gerber's Darth Vader mask and Hrudey's Hollywood mask. 

Gerber's would probably be my favorite because of the meaning behind it. Prior to that mask Gerber wore an all black mask with nothing on it and picked up the nickname Vader because of it. What's cooler than having a mask painted to look like Darth Vader?

My Picks # 24: Felix Potvin

This pick is not a jersey card, autograph, parallel, insert or anything spectacular, its simply a base card. The reason I chose it though, is its from one of the sharper base sets in my opinion. It's a 1999-00 Aurora Felix Potvin base card.

There are so many elements of this design to like, everything from the background to the use of two player images. It's not overly crowded with logos, as the team logo and Aurora logo are nicely placed in opposite corners. 

I also like how the smaller player image is kind of washed out, so it does not take away from the larger image. The shadow behind the smaller image and the white halo around the larger image are nice touches as well.

Card Show Pickups

I made it out to the card show on Saturday and I think I definitely got my moneys worth. I came away with some great finds. These included some singles, sets and boxes.

The first thing I came across while searching through a box of inserts was this 2002-03 BAP The Mask II Roberto Luongo. I was only $2 so I snatched it right up.

The next thing I came across, from the same table, was an insert set for only $3. The reason I grabbed this set was the fact that it was a complete Pinnacle Masks Set, 1992-93 to be exact. While these are not as flashy as the Luongo type Masks cards, they are still sweet looking cards with the old school masks.

I also found one other set from the same table for $3 as well. This time it was the 1993-94 Leaf Painted Warriors set. This is another goalie themed set with some sweet masks. 

Beyond the Luongo and these two sets, I was looking for some boxes to break and managed to come away with two of them. The first was 1995-96 Pinnacle and the second was 2008-09 Fleer Ultra. I will have those two box breaks posted in the near future.

Notice something in common with these three pick ups? These purchases are the beginning of steering my collection towards mainly goaltenders, especially the mask cards. I only have three of them right now, but hopefully that will change soon. 

Other than the mask cards, there are so many goaltender-bases sets and insert sets out there. One collector in particular has the best goalie collection I've ever seen, with over 400 different sets and nearly 7,000 cards. 

TTM Success: Pavel Datsyuk

I'm trying to keep up with the one post per day pace here, but its kind of difficult when you're stuck with the blue screen of death on your laptop. I will post what I can from work with the stuff I already have saved at this point.

Here are two more of my past TTM successes, both from Pavel Datsyuk. One is a 2002-03 Pacific base card and the other is a 2002-03 Topps Total base card.

Datsyuk does not have the best autograph in the world, but I can't complain as I at least got something back from him. It is nice however to see the addition of his number after the signature. Autographs just look better with that added for whatever reason.

Both of these cards were mailed to Pavel Datsyuk c/o The Red Wings at Joe Louis Arena. They were not sent together though, and I have no idea how long it took to get them back. 

My Picks # 23: Fedorov/Shanahan

The playoffs are finally underway and they are the inspiration for this pick, which comes from 2001-02 Upper Deck. Its a Shanahan / Fedorov Stanley Cup Finals double jersey card.

First of all, its always nice having any jersey card, let alone one with two swatches. This one is even better because the Fedorov swatch is two-colored, and not just barely two-colored. 

I purchased it on eBay several years ago for a few bucks. Not bad for a double jersey card, and its a Red Wings jersey card at that. Its always nice adding any Wings cards to my collection. I'm not sure if the swatches are supposed to be from a Stanley Cup Finals jersey, I don't remember exactly what the back of the card said about it.

SCE Super Script Update

Well, I finally got my new laptop AC adapter in the mail today so I can get back to regular posting now. The mail also brought my Super Script collection into double digits with my latest purchase. It's a Martin Sonnenberg numbered 07/25.

This addition to the collection is the first to not come from a pack or eBay. I did some searching for these cards when there were none on eBay I came across this one on Sports Buy. I was hesitant at first, but couldn't pass on the $4 price tag so I went for it.

I was definitely satisfied with this site as it was easy to navigate, accepted Paypal and I got the card in prefect condition relatively quickly. The only weird thing about it is right at the 'B' it seems like there was some printing issue with the rainbow foil.

Other than that the card is great. I now have ten of these cards and hopefully I can find some more of them or the Gold Scripts at the card show I plan on going to this weekend.

TTM Success: Curtis Joseph

This is another one of my past TTM successes. After the Wings won the cup in 2002 and Hasek retired, they brought in Cujo and I wanted his autograph as well so I sent this 2001-02 Victory card to him at the Joe Louis Arena address c/o the Red Wings.

At the time, there were no cards featuring Joseph in a Wings sweater, except for ones with pictures from the press conference, so I settled on this one showing him with Toronto. 

As you can see its not the best looking autograph in the world, but I can't complain as I at least got something back for my efforts. I'm pretty sure it got smudged when it was put back into the sleeve. Regardless, its still a nice piece in my collection.

My Picks # 22: Ron Tugnutt

This pick comes from 2000-01 Topps Chrome. It's a Ron Tugnutt refractor. This was the first refractor in my collection and its just a great looking card.

One thing about this card is that it does not scan well at all. These refractors look so much better when you can hold it in your hand and see the different ways light hits it.

Back when Topps was actually producing hockey cards, this set was fairly decent. It's the same as the regular Topps set, aside from the chrome part of it.

One thing I really like about the design is the actual spelling out of the set name and year on the front of the card, something that is not very common. It's also nice that they made note of the fact that Columbus was an expansion team.

TTM Success: Olaf Kolzig

This was my first new TTM attempt and I must say it worked rather well. I dug through my boxes of duplicates and found these two worthy candidates for Olaf Kolzig. The two cards I sent were from 1997-98 Score and 1990-91 Score, both featuring Kolzig with the Capitals.

Sent: 04/01/2010
Received: 04/09/2010

These two signatures are great looking, no smudges or anything. More importantly, they are the first two autographed cards as part of my TTM project. I want to try and get an autographed card to go with all of the different masks a goaltender has worn.

I know a lot of goalies have had many masks so this is a big undertaking, but that will make it fun. I don't want to send more than three cards at a time so this could take a while.

Address courtesy of Moody over at Moody's TTM Blog.

Pack Break: 2009-10 Upper Deck Series 2

I was at Target  the other night picking up season one of House on DVD and found some packs of UD Series 2 by the checkouts so I decided to buy a couple of them.

The Numbers:

Cost per Pack: $2.99
Packs: 2
Cards per Pack: 8
Total Cards: 16

Pack 1:
(1) The Champions Brandon Mroz #CH-MR
(1) Victory Rookie Michael Grabner #339
(1) Mike Richards #286
(1) Mike Knuble #348
(1) Miikka Kiprusoff #422
(1) Curtis Glencross #423
(1) Sergei Kostitsyn #269
(1) Jay Pandolfo #303

Pack 2:
(1) Hockey Heroes Mark Messier #HH19
(1) Victory Rookie Jay Rosehill #333
(1) Tomas Vokoun #319
(1) Filip Kuba #277
(1) Devin Setoguchi #405
(1) Jonathan Cheechoo #278
(1) Henrik Zetterberg #370
(1) Scott Nichol #404

My Picks # 21: Dominik Hasek

This pick comes from 1995-96 Topps again. This time it's a Hidden Gems card featuring Dominik Hasek. It's another card I got from purchasing 800-count boxes of commons back in the day from the local card shop.

It's an awesome looking card to say the least, the only problem with it is the black border that is not in great shape anymore. It looks much better in your hand as the scanner does not do well with the holographic background. 

The design is pretty clever with the holographic gemstone background and the individual gemstone designs around each of the letters.

I find it interesting how the layering of the images works with respect to the "Hidden Gems" text. Dom's blocker is above all of the gemstone designs, but below the text. I would have thought that putting the gemstones in front of the blocker would have been the way to go, but what do I know.

TTM Success: Dominik Hasek

Back in the day, Dominik Hasek was my favorite player, despite the fact that he did not even play for my hometown team, the Red Wings. When he came to Detroit, I just had to try and get an autograph from him and well, I did.

The signature itself looks pretty nice, except for the fading of the ink. It's the only Hasek autograph in my collection. It looks exactly like the Hasek Super Script signature. This card was sent to Dominik Hasek c/o the Detroit Red Wings. I don't remember exactly how long it took for it to come back in the mail. 

SCE Super Script Update

When I got home today I found in the mail the envelope I've been waiting for. It contained the latest addition to my 1999-00 MVP SC Edition Super Script collection, bringing the total to nine. That's just over 4% for the entire set now.

This one is # 6 in the set, Mike Leclerc, numbered 02/25. This was the cheapest addition to the collection at only $1.04 for the card and $1.95 for shipping.

The only thing that kind of bugged me about this addition was the way it was shipped, a plain white envelope, not a bubble envelope. My card was in a top loader taped between two other top loaders. I guess I can't really complain though because it got the job done.

Card Show

Well it's been at least four years since I've made it out to a card show and I think that streak is coming to an end next weekend. I came into some money by finally selling my old car yesterday, and a card show seems like the perfect way to use it.

Hopefully I will be able to add to my Super Script and Gold Script collection. Other than that I may look into buying some boxes for the first time in years. I think I may look for boxes from the late 90's or early 00's only because I just want to break some boxes and they'll be on the cheaper side.

The show is at Gibraltar Trade Center in Mt Clemens, MI. They have a monthly card show which I used to got to quite frequently back in high school. It's always a good show so we'll see what happens. Hopefully I can get some great stuff.

My Picks # 20: Jean-Sebastien Giguere

I know its been a barrage of my picks lately, but they're all I am able to post from work with the scans I have saved online. Anyway, on to today's pick, another goaltender by the way, which is from 1999-00 Upper Deck. It's a Crunch Time J.S. Giguere.

It's not a very high end insert or anything, but it is an awesome looking card. I love the effect of the lines crossing every which way. I also really like the halo effect.

The only downside to the overall card design is the choice of font for the crunch time text, it's very hard to read as it's simply outlines and not solid text. This card is even better looking in person as my scanner does not show it very well.

Other than that it's just weird seeing Giggy as a member of the Flames, although not as weird as seeing him wearing the whale.

My Picks # 19: Patrick Roy

This pick goes back the mid 90's again. Its a 1994-95 Flair Hot Numbers Patrick Roy. As much as I dislike Roy from his Avalanche days, this card is pretty sharp.

Its another one of the great insert sets back before jersey cards became prevalent in the hobby. Back then the insert sets were decent looking as you can see.

There were 10 cards in the set and it had a pretty good selection of players, including Gretzky, Lemieux, Bure, Hasek and others. What's great about them is they were printed on nice thick card stock so they have a premium feel to them. 

It seems like all of my picks have been coming from the mid 90's lately and the are for good reason. This was a great time for me collecting cards. I was just getting into collecting and there was a vast selection of sets to choose from.