Jimmy Howard: OPC Platinum White Ice

If there is one thing I like about O-Pee-Chee Platinum it is the parallels. They make for some really awesome looking cards. As a player collector it makes things even more fun going after an entire rainbow.  When it comes to more recent hockey sets, there are not many complete rainbows that look as awesome as OPC Platinum.

Here is card #57 from 2014-15, a White Ice parallel serial numbered 028/199.

This one cost me a whopping $0.25 plus shipping. I ordered it from eBay on June 26th and it finally arrived on July 29th. That is probably the longest amount of time I've ever had a card from eBay working its way through the mail system.

Its goes nicely with the Black Ice version I picked up a little while back. Speaking of rainbows, this gives me two of the nine cards required to complete it. I still need the following: Base, Rainbow, Platinum Traxx, Red Prism (/135), Blue Cube (/65), Seismic Gold (/50), and Golden Treasure (/1). This should be a fun one to try and complete.

Jimmy Howard: UD Overtime Red

As you can probably tell from my recent posts, I've been on a bit of a run of new cards for my Jimmy Howard collection. I made a bunch of purchases on eBay recently and I am still catching up on getting them scanned and ready to show off here. 

This was actually one of the earlier purchases I made, but it came from north of the border so delivery took quite a bit longer than normal. It was something like 28 days from when I ordered it until it finally made its way to my mailbox.

Here is a red foil parallel from wave #2 of 2017-18 Upper Deck Overtime. It is card #92 in the set and is serial numbered 02/99 on the front. 

Definitely a lot of red on this one, and I love it. When I first saw this pop up on eBay I had to have it. I had never seen one before. The best part is it cost just over $1 plus shipping. Now I need to work on getting the base and the other parallels (blue and gold).

Jimmy Howard: OPC Platinum Black Ice

Let's keep the streak going with two more additions to my Jimmy Howard collection. These are two separate eBay purchases from several weeks ago. I've always liked the various parallels that OPC Platinum has to offer, I just hadn't ever decided to buy any until now.

Up first is card #103 from 2015-16 OPC Platinum. It is serial numbered 23/99.

This one only ended up costing $1 plus shipping. Not bad for a card numbered to 99. Unfortunately, the scan does not show how great this thing really looks in person. I have to say these black ice parallels are one of my favorites out of however many there.

The second is card #57 from 2014-15 and is serial numbered 05/25.

Not sure why the serial numbering is so different from one year to the next. With this one being a bit more rare, it cost a little bit more at $5 plus shipping. The black ice treatment of the border appears to be pretty similar to the first card.

If I had to choose a favorite of the two it would be the 15-16 version. That design just looks a bit cleaner without the giant Red Wings text along the bottom. Plus the green and yellow accents on the second one look a little out of place if you ask me.

Now I just need to work on some of the other great parallels from these sets.

Jimmy Howard: SPA Future Watch

This year has been pretty good for my Jimmy Howard collection so far. For whatever reason I've been a lot more interested in adding to it than in recent years. Maybe is has to do with the fact that he is likely done with the Red Wings. From a collecting perspective, that might actually help drop the prices on his stuff a bit, so maybe I should try to wait it out. Or not, as you can probably tell by this streak of new Howard cards that I'm on. 

Today's post is a card that has been on my Howard want list since I started collecting his stuff back in 2010. I'm sure most player collectors would agree that if your guy has one, then the SPA Future Watch is a must have RC. I know I've always wanted one.

Here is card #155 from 2005-06 SP Authentic. It is serial numbered 214/999.

I was able to grab this one for $14 plus shipping. I don't think that's a bad deal considering I've always wanted one. On top of that it is just a great looking card. 

The best part is the hard signed autograph. I've always liked the way Howard's signature looks when compared to a lot of other players. This is one of the better examples in my collection. It is perfectly centered and there is not a smudge in sight.

Jimmy Howard: SP Game Used All-Star

Continuing with my Jimmy Howard pickups, a while back I bought a pair of cards from 2019-20 SP Game Used. I didn't even realize Howard had and cards in this set until they started popping up on eBay recently. He is only featured on the cards with game-used swatches from last year's All-Star game.

The first one comes from the All-Star Weekend banner/jersey set and features pieces of an event-used jersey and a decorative banner. I'm assuming this means the jersey was just from a photo shoot or something, but who knows maybe it was from the skills competition. It doesn't specify either way on the back.

I'm going to guess this is the only card that features Howard in a suit, so that makes this a bit of a unique piece in the collection. The main reason I chose this one was the banner swatch. It has a piece of the "O" from the Honda logo as shown right behind him in the photo. It might not be from that exact banner though as this piece looks to be smaller.

The second is from the All-Star Skills Fabrics set and features another piece of an event-used jersey. This time the back of the card specifically states it was used in the skills competition, so that's cool as that the jersey in the photo.

The pair cost me $5 plus shipping. Not bad for a couple of somewhat unique jersey cards. 

I know plain jersey cards like these are not as cool as they used to be, but I am happy to have these as they at least feature swatches from a single specific event. Now I just need to track down a few other cards from this set. According to TCDB, Howard has 12 total.

Jimmy Howard: UD Exclusives Spectrum

To go along with my previous post, I was lucky enough to find an even better UD Exclusives for my Jimmy Howard collection. This was another eBay purchase and one of those super low numbered parallels that I wasn't sure I would ever even see available.

This one is from 2011-12 Upper Deck and is technically a Spectrum parallel, or High Gloss, not really sure which as I've seen cards from this set labelled both ways. It is card #135 in the set and serial numbered 1/10 on the front. It has an awesome low-angle photo too.

This one cost me just under $10 plus shipping. Not bad for being numbered our of 10.

It will look great with the regular UD Exclusives version I already have. If you add in the base card that's a completed rainbow for my Howard collection. Not sure how many of those I have. This might even be the very first one. Time for some double checking.

Jimmy Howard: UD Exclusives

So far I've only added one card to my Jimmy Howard collection in 2020. With Howard being my primary player collection, I'd like that number to be a little higher by now. To help with that I've been on the lookout for good deals, mostly on eBay.

One of these good deals was this UD Exclusives parallel from 2019-20 Upper Deck Series 2. This is card #280 in the set and serial numbered 046/100 on the front.

I was able to grab this for just $1 plus shipping. Not bad for an exclusives.

While I'm not a huge fan of this year's UD base design, this is a nice looking card. All the red of the uniform and Howard's equipment really make the photo stand out. If only the red color for the exclusives marking matched, it would be even better.