New Section: Promos & Protos

As May comes to an end, I am happy to unveil another new Resource section on Puck Junk - Promos & Protos.

This section will be dedicated to the many promotional and prototype hockey cards that have been given out over the years to promote the sets we love and collect.

The first entry in Promos & Protos is s the 1990-91 Pro Set Brett Hull prototype card. You can learn all about it here. I bet that even the most seasoned hockey collector will learn something from it.

Making the Grade

Two weeks ago, I asked readers of this blog if they collected graded cards. I also expressed my overall disdain of the whole card grading thing.

But earlier this year I sent in two cards to get graded. I figured that I couldn't really have an opinion in the matter unless I experienced it.

Plus, Beckett gave me two free card gradings when I renewed my subscription to Beckett Hockey. What do I got to lose? Besides the postage fees, of course.

After careful consideration, I sent in the following 2 cards to Beckett Grading Services: 

2008-09 Champ's Hockey Neolithic Stone Tools - The reason I chose to get this card graded was that it is super thick, and I figured that a grading slab would be better protection than keeping it in the toploader it came in. Plus, this isn't a card that I would display or put in a card page (obviously). So getting it slabbed seemed to be the way to go.

But would someone please explain how this card only received an 8.5?  It went from Upper Deck to me to Beckett. OK, I did handle it for about 5 minutes when I scanned it for a Card of the Week article. But I didn't play a game of flips with it or anything like that.

Next up...

2009-10 Fleer Ultra Ice Medallion James Van Riemsdyk 1/25 - I sent this card to get graded purely for investment reasons. One day, I hope to sell or trade it to a James Van Riemsdyk collector. The card has a print run of 25, and mine is numbered 1/25. It also got a Gem Mint rating (9.5). I think if someone was a JVR fan, this would be a pretty awesome card to own.

And though it did get the coveted Gem Mint rating, again I have to wonder about some of the numbers. Why did the centering receive a 9.5 and not 10? The card is printed full-bleed, so there aren't any "borders" that appear larger on one side than the other, like with older cards. The surface received a 10, so Beckett does give a perfect score to some things.

I will admit that I like having these 2 cards graded. They are pretty sweet cards to own, and slabbing them will retain their condition. Should I ever trade or sell them, the condition would never be questioned. But it is unlikely that I am going to send a bunch of cards to get graded anytime soon. And I'll still shake my head at those who grade or buy graded "common" cards from the 1970s or 1980s.

If you haven't already done so, please vote in the poll about graded cards (upper-right corner of this website). I am curious to know other collector's graded card buying habits.

2010-11 Artifacts Box Break #3

This is my third box of 2010-11 Artifacts Hockey. It was actually a very good box for me. 

31 Base Cards

Roberto Luongo was one of the 31 base cards that I got.

2 Artifacts Rookies

Evgeny Dadonov 395 / 999 - Call me crazy, but one day I'll have all the RCs in this set.

Adam McQuiad 723 / 999 - Another 2 rookie cards to scratch off my list.

Wait...what's this?

1 Artifacts Gold Rookie

Johan Motin 24 /35 - This is a parallel version of an Artifacts Rookie card that uses gold ink instead of silver. It is also limited to 35 copies. I seem to be getting a lot of low-numbered cards of Oilers prospects.

1 Rookie Redemption

#226 - St. Louis Blues - This will get me an Ian Cole rookie card. Never heard of him.

1 Artifacts Stars

Eric Staal 092 / 999 - A Staal Star card. Moving on to better things....

1 Legend

Wayne Gretzky 573 / 999 - Jackpot! Well, kinda....I like these Legend cards, and wish that they were seeded 2 (or more) per box. Getting this Gretzky card in a pack saves me the trouble of trying to buy or trade for one later on.

Autofacts Autograph

Ryan Miller autograph - In the 3 boxes of Artifacts I've opened, I have gotten a Buffalo Sabre autograph in each one. But this one is of their best player, Ryan Miller. Including trades and purchases, I now have like 4 or 5 signed Sabres cards from this set.

Jersey Cards

Eric Staal Treasured Swatches 016 / 150 -  Another limited Staal card. This one is pretty cool, as it features both a black and a red swatch.

Frozen Artifacts Jacob Vorachek 4 / 4 - Apparently, Voracheck wears a Size 54 jersey. Kind of neat that this is numbered out of 4, and that I got number 4.

But this next one is the best of the lot:

Dustin Brown / Anze Kopitar / Drew Doughty Tundra Trios 24 / 40 -  I've gotten triple swatch cards before, but never a triple patch card.

All of these jersey cards are for trade.

Sure, nothing will top the Crosby / Ovechkin swatch I got in my first box, but overall this was a very solid break.

Thanks, Michael

Just wanted to give a quick thanks to Michael Mah for generously donating five O-Pee-Chee checklists to my collection. Michael is a fellow blogger who also writes about collecting hockey autographs. You can see his blog here.

Question: Your own personal Joe Shlabotnik

Click to view larger

My sister clipped this comic from the newspaper and gave it to me. I think we all can relate to Charlie Brown here. I know I can.

Ironically, it was my sister who always got the one card I wanted-needed-had-to-have when we were kids. Whoever was my personal "Joe Shlabotnik" at the time. Looking back is a bit fuzzy, but I remember two occurrences of this phenomenon: 

#1 - 1989-90 Topps Pittsburgh Penguin sticker

In my freshman year of high school, I bought a box of 1989-90 Topps (36 packs), got the complete 198-card set but was 1 sticker shy of completing the 33-sticker set.

My sister bought 4 packs and got the one sticker I was missing: #16 - Pittsburgh Penguins. 

I probably traded 20 or so various 1980s Penguins cards for this logo sticker. Negotiation was not my strong suit when I was a kid. Fortunately, I was in honors algebra that year, because 2 years later...

#2 - 1991-92 Upper Deck Eric Lindros Canada Cup

Bad luck struck again in fall of 1991. Now a Junior in high school, I bought 2 boxes (72 packs) of 1991-92 Upper Deck hockey cards. The one card I did not get was this short-printed card of Eric Lindros, which had a high Beckett value of $15 at the time. 

My sister bought one pack and got this card. I am not exaggerating.

Both my sister and I were in honors math classes, but I'm 2 years older. I saved all my honors Algebra homework from my freshmen year, and ended up trading a semester's worth for this card.  I got to complete my set, and my sister got all the answers. 

My sister and I talked during the Sharks-Canucks game last night. She could not remember any specific times when she got a card that I needed--she just remembered that this was a regular occurrence when we were kids.

Question: What card was your "Joe Shlabotnik" when you were young? Did you have to overpay--or trade too much--to get it?

Question: Do you collect graded cards?

Some guy with no wife or girlfriend spent $94,000 on this card.

Graded cards are the pissing match of collecting.

Think about it. Suppose I have a Wayne Gretzky rookie card--not graded like the one above, which sold for $94,000 earlier this month--but a nice, ungraded one. Or maybe I pulled it from a pack 30 years ago and kept it safely tucked away.

Then you get a Gretzky rookie. 

But I say mine is better--because yours isn't perfect for one reason or another. Besides, my Gretzky RC is, uh...mint-ier. We own the same card, but somehow mine is better than yours. It just has to be.

Enter card grading.

Now we get our Gretzky rookie cards graded. Yours gets a 9, and mine only gets an 8.5.Or maybe you just flat out buy one that is graded at 9 or 9.5. 

We may both own a Gretzky rookie, but according to the grading service, your card is better than mine.

Clearly, you are the better collector because you own cards in better condition. You can afford near-mint graded cards, drive a Mercedes Benz and eat prime rib. I must somehow be satisfied with mid-grade or--gasp!--ungraded cards, take the bus and dine on Steak-Umms.

Oh, and you win the pissing contest.

And I don't mean any of YOU personally. I mean YOU in the hypothetical sense.

Now that I've ranted voiced my opinion, here is my question: Do you collect graded cards?

I care what you think! I've added a poll (top of the right sidebar column). Please take a moment to vote, and feel free to post your thoughts about graded cards here.

2010-11 Artifacts Box Break #2

Back in March, I purchased a box of 2010-11 Artifacts. (Breakdown of that box here). It was a positive experience, and I like the look of the cards, so I decided to pick up 3 more boxes. Here are the results from the first of those 3 boxes (my 2nd box of Artifacts overall):

31 Base Cards

There are 100 different base cards. Hopefully, I'll get a full base set (and not a ton of dupes) in my 4 boxes.

2 Artifacts Rookies

Ilkka Heikkinen 323 / 999 - "Heikkinen" sounds like an import draft beer.

Richard Clune 861 / 999 - Never heard of this guy.

1 Rookie Redemption

#242 - Wild Card - Once redeemed, this will get me a card of Travis Hamonic.

1 Artifacts Stars

Tomas Vanek 576 / 999 - Wish this was another rookie card, instead of a redundant card of a star player.

1 Legend

Bobby Hull 530/ 999 - Now, this is more like it. Artifacts should have included more Legends instead of those short-printed "Star" cards.

1 Emerald base parallel

Ryan Getzlaf 37 / 50 - The corners, text and logo are green, but scanned kind of dark.

Autofacts Autograph

Matt Ellis autograph - What's this? Another Buffalo Sabre? My first box break yielded me an autograph of Sabres backup goalie Jhonas Enroth.

Jersey Cards

Marc Andre Fleury Frozen Artifacts 12 / 35 - A decent card of a decent player. 

Marty Turco Frozen Artifacts 16 / 50 - Turco played a long time with the Dallas Stars, but spent the 2010-11 season with the Blackhawks. Fortunately, Upper Deck didn't slap a 'Hawks logo on it.

Paul Kariya / David Backes Tundra Tandems Emerald 33 / 35

All the jersey cards are for trade.

I'll post the results of the next box soon.

2010-11 Pinnacle Box Break #2

A busy work wee has kept me from updating this blog lately, but I finally had some time to scan what I got in my second box of 2010-11 Pinnacle.

177 Base Cards - Here are my 8 favorite cards from 101-200

Unfortunately, I did not get an entire base set after opening two boxes. And coincidentally, all 19 cards that I am missing are somewhere in between 101 and 200.

4 Ice Breakers Rookie Cards - You get 1 in every 6 packs.

3 Jersey Cards

Marc Staal, Loui Eriksson and Magnus Paajarvi. Not too shabby. These are numbered out of  499. If you'd like to trade for any of these jersey cards, drop me a line.

1 Autograph Card

I think all of Leafs Nation has high hopes for this guy. Very cool to have his autograph.

1 Chemistry on Canvas insert - Milan Lucic and David Krejci

Normally I like cards that feature paintings or illustrations. But these "Chemistry on Canvas" cards don't do it for me. The name--Chemistry on Canvas--sounds silly. Is alliteration that important, Panini? Plus the card is very cluttered. The front should be just the illustration and maybe the Pinnacle logo, and no more. There's way too much going on here to enjoy the illustration, which really is not all that exciting to begin with.

1 Tough Times insert

Nick Fotiu does not look so tough with that Beatles haircut.

1 Artist's Proof Parallel

This one-per-box Artist's Proof parallel card of Jeff Skinner. Pretty cool, as the popular consensus is that he is going to win the Calder this season. I might hang onto this for a while...

Shiny Crap

Nice! Another two parallel cards of "Ice Breaker" rookie cards. And I got a shiny Jonathan Toews, too.I'm not a fan of The Shiny, but at least I got a few players that I like.

More Shiny Crap

Another one of those Saving Face inserts, this one featuring Tim Thomas. I got to admit, I would love to have all of these cards--I think they'd look pretty sweet together in 9-pocket pages.

Overall, I have mixed feelings about this year's Pinnacle set. It's not much different than Donruss, only a bit smaller and with harder-to-get rookie cards.

Also, I think I was shorted on a "hit," as I only got 3 in my previous box (2 jersey cards and 1 autograph).

Finally, I need a few base cards to finish my set. I will also gladly trade for any "Ice Breakers" or "Saving Face" cards that I need. My Want List can be found here.