We’re Stick-lers For A Cool Show & Tell

Ok ok, pardon the really bad pun, but I can’t help it right now! I’m very excited to show off what came in the mail today.  But let’s rewind just a bit.

Hockey Girl and I have started to set up at local shows around the Boston, MA area.  We found that there really were never too many dealers who had hockey cards to sell so we decided to take our love of hockey cards to the masses and set up at shows on Saturdays.  Well we did our first show last month and we had an awesome time, but we both said how cool it would be to have something to display on our table that would really wow people and intrigue people enough to come over and look at it and along with it some of our hockey cards.  We found it on eBay, got it for a fantastic price, and here it is:

 

 

It is our very first game used stick! Come on now! How cool is that!? It was used by one of the original blue line giant of the Boston Bruins – Hal Gill.  And along with the stick, we were able to pick up this:

 

 

An autograph 8×10 photo of Hal using the stick in a game with the Bruins!

I think we definitely found what will draw attention to our table at the next show.  The hard part comes, we should probably put a price on it and be willing to sell it.  That’s why people set up at shows right?  I might just have to put a price on it so high that sadly no one wants to buy it and I get to keep it for myself.  But shhhhh, don’t tell Hockey Girl that!

Thanks so much for checking out the mail day that I am as happy as a kid on Christmas Day about!

 

 

Much, much love!

Hockey Boy

2011-12 Panini Rookie Anthology Checklist

I, for one, am very excited for 2011-12 Panini Rookie Anthology to drop this Wednesday, June 27.  Rookie Anthology is like a smorgasbord (thank goodness for spell check because I had no idea how to spell that word) of awesomeness all wrapped up into one product.  Taking some of the best rookie cards of the […]

One Of A Kind Mail Day!

Hockey Girl and I are very big fans of CloutsnChara (you can check them out here).  Every so often we like to take part in their group breaks which are ridiculously fun and run extremely well.  If you were ever wanting to do a group break but hesitant about it, definitely join a CnC break and have a great time.

About a week or two ago Hockey Girl and I got in on a 2 case break of 11-12 Panini Contenders and Titanium.  We LOVE Titanium and even though Contenders wasn’t our favorite, we figured it’d be a fun group break to get in on, so we did.  CnC takes all 28 spots (sometimes people buy more than 1 spot) and randomizes the order and does a team draft.  You want to get a top 10 spot.  Well the list was randomized and Hockey Girl and my number fell at spot #26.  26 out of 28 spots.  Not good.  We were both bummed and were left to pick the Calgary Flames (I’m not sure if I can name more than 5 players on the Flames’ roster).  We were a little bummed, but I’ll let the results of the group break speak for themselves:

 

Wahoo a redemption! Not.  Nemisz has played in 15 NHL games over the course of 2 seasons with the Calgary Flames and has 1 career point.  But last year he had 28 points in 49 games for Calgary’s AHL squad.  Not bad.

 

We got two of these bad boys.  Giordano is a pretty solid NHL blue liner.  In 338 career NHL games he has a total of 135 points – 37 goals and 98 assists.  Not bad numbers at all.

 

So needless to say the break wasn’t going exactly well for us.  But then our number came up.  That very special single digit that all sports card collectors long to see:

The redemption might fool you or confuse you a bit, but the redemption is for a Calder Contenders Signature Patch Gold card of Greg Nemisz.  The gold versions are….1 of 1!!!!!  This is our very first one of one that we have ever “pulled.”  Thank you very much Calgary Flames, you now have two new fans.

 

Needless to say, we are very, very happy with this group break!

 

 

Much love,

Hockey Boy

Preview of 2012-13 Upper Deck Artifacts

I will say this much – one of my favorite products of the 2011-12 year so far has easily been Artifacts.  I know Hockey Girl would say it’s one of her favorite products as well.  Artifacts has a lot of the right conditions for a killer product.  It is one of the first products of the year.  It is the first product of the year that has big hits to pull.  It is the first product of the year that has game worn jersey cards of the 2011-12 rookie crop.  It has the first coveted rookie cards of the 2012-13 class.  And it drops right when the 2012-13 season is beginning to ramp up and hype for the upcoming season is at its highest.  Hopefully 2012-13 Upper Deck Artifacts can continue its success while adding some new things to satisfy returning collectors.  Let’s take a closer look!

 

The base card design and base card parallel design may be the strongest selling point of 2012-13 Artifacts.  The bottom two cards are part of the Base Set Memorabilia Variation sets.  There are vertical and horizontal versions that are include jerseys, patches, and tags.  There are also autograph versions.  I think these cards are phenomenal and will be highly sought after by collectors.  Hopefully Upper Deck will continue the trend of having great patches in these cards.  These cards are the best of what 2012-13 Artifacts have to offer in my opinion.

 

I think the rookie cards will be another strong point of Artifacts.  With the high amount of rookies who debuted after the All-Star Game (the cut off for a player to be included as a rookie in that year’s products) and the number of rookies who had HUGE playoff performances, I think the rookies in Artifacts will be highly desirable. The design of the rookie cards are fantastic.  They are all serial numbered /999 with Emerald, Spectrum, and Black parallels being numbered less and less.  The parallels could command a very high premium on the secondary market.  Each box of 2012-13 Artifacts will include 2 rookie cards as well as 1 Rookie Redemption.  The Rookie Redemptions are a fantastic idea, yet executed so poorly as Hockey Girl and I are still waiting on 4 Rookie Redemptions from the 2011-12 product.  Along with the Rookie Redemptions, are the return of Autographed Rookie Redemptions.  These cards will once again be numbered /99 and depending on how quickly they are produced and signed could do very well on the secondary market.

 

And this is where 2012-13 Artifacts kind of becomes just alright with me.  The Treasured Swatches and Frozen Artifacts memorabilia subsets should feature some big name players as well as some lesser known ones.  I’d imagine there will be patch versions as well.  But the designs of both subsets are just feel incomplete and thrown together.  Hopefully if you’re reading this, you’re more excited about these cards than I am and I will eventually come around and like the design.

 

Try and not focus on the tag patches and instead focus on the design because the majority of us will not pull a 1 of 1 card from this product.  The Tundra Tandems and Tundra Trios memorabilia cards just frankly bore me.  I like these cards.  Dual player game used cards are pretty sweet in my opinion.  Especially if you pull one of the patch or (if you’re extremely lucky) tag variations.  But the font and colors on these cards are pretty bad if you ask me.  Hopefully Upper Deck will change the design slightly from the preview pictures, but I doubt they would.

 

There are two new additions to the lineup for 2012-13 Artifacts.  There will be a 25 card Team Canada insert set along with a 25 card Goalies insert set.  I’m interested to see the design on these cards because both Team Canada and goalie cards are popular.

 

2012-13 Upper Deck Artifacts should drop sometime in September and expect it to be in the mid-end price point.

 

Box Break: 

4 cards per pack; 10 packs per box; 40 cards per box

1 Autograph Card

3 Game-Used Memorabilia Cards (including 1 multi-player card)

2 Rookie Cards

1 Rookie Redemption

1 Numbered Parallel

2 Numbered Short Prints

 

 

Much love,

Hockey Boy

Another box of 11-12 Titanium – Father’s Day Edition

I had it pictured oh so perfectly in my head.  Hockey Girl and I after church today, Father’s Day would head by the comic book store that was about a mile from our church.  This comic book store was participating in Panini’s Father’s Day Pack awesome.  We’d pick up a box of Titanium and get some awesome Father’s Day packs and it would be lots of awesomeness to be had.  But alas, the store didn’t really participate and only took orders from customers a week prior and those customers got packs.  Bummer, but life goes on.  Hockey Girl and I still grabbed a box of 11-12 Titanium and headed on our way.  On the 25 minute ride home Hockey Girl ripped open the 5 packs and our disappointment over no Father’s Day packs quickly turned into conversation over how loaded 11-12 Titanium is as a whole.  Just look at our second box for example:

 

 

We also pulled a Spectrum Ruby /99 of Tim Thomas but that card is already locked away in Hockey Girl’s PC, I couldn’t even get a scan of it!  But seriously, 11-12 Titanium is an absolutely loaded product and Panini did a phenomenal job with it.  And I was very satisfied with my Father’s Day break.  Happy Father’s Day!

 

Much love,

Hockey Boy

Review of 2011-12 Panini Titanium

Product Grade: A- / A

Move over Upper Deck SP Game Used, there is a new sheriff in town.  And that sheriff’s name is Panini Titanium.  Collectors should welcome back 2011-12 Panini Titanium with open arms because at $100 (almost half the cost of SP Game Used) there really is no better product to be found.  Panini did a phenomenal job.  If The Hockey Couple had enough money to bust a case of this product, we would do it in a heartbeat.  Do yourself a favor, order yourself a box of 2011-12 Panini Titanium – our guess is you won’t regret it.

 

Base: B+ (Base Set Completion 14 of 100 [14%] with 0 doubles)

HB: This will be short and sweet – I think this is a REALLY well designed base card.  The photo of the player is large and in charge.  There’s no bells and whistles and no frills.  I like the light hint of grunge design that is implemented.  I also really like the blown up team logo behind the player.  The card design reminds me of Panini’s All Goalies set which I thought was well designed also.  I also like that with only about 14 or so base cards for box, even the base set is a bit of a challenge to put together.  Thumbs up from me.

HB’s Grade: A-

HG: The Titanium base cards are really nice. I really like the faded team logo in the white background, behind the picture of the player. It is a clean simple design with a little bit of flair. I was so glad to see that this product had nice base cards because the other cards are really nice as well so it just adds to the value of the box for me.

HG’s Grade: B

 

Inserts: A

HB: I really can’t say I’m disappointed by the box break, if I did say that I give you permission to e-slap me.  I was a little sad that we didn’t hit a Spectrum Ruby parallel card.  So, thanks to aherosprospect on SCF for the photo! I will say this much, I think Panini doing two parallel sets – the Ruby /99 and the Gold /10 is a BRILLIANT move.  They didn’t over parallel the junk out of the base set.  They made a nice finish and nice looking parallel.  And they are a bit of a tough pull.  I’ve seen multiple box breaks that did not have a Spectrum Ruby card.  I love, love, love this.  Well done Panini.  I’m looking forward to trying to put together the Spectrum Ruby parallel set.

HB’s Grade: A

HG: Since we didn’t pull any insert cards in our box, I’ll leave it to HB to comment on them.

HG’s Grade: See above.

 

Rookies: A-

HB: And here starts the ridiculousness of this box.  The only rookie we pulled was a Draft Selection Parallels Gold numbered out of 44 of Islanders defenseman Calvin de Haan.  This was a staple of Titanium back in the day that was a huge success.  As the old adage goes, “If it ain’t broke, don’t fix it.”  These cards are fabulous.  I love that the card is on thicker card stock.  As far as the design goes, I like that there is a clear and simple identification of “Rookie” and a slight addition of red coloring, but the design is still in the same line as the base cards.

HB’s Grade: A-

HG: We pulled a super cool rookie card in this box. We got a Rookie Draft Selection Parallels Gold card of NY Islander Calvin de Haan. These cards are numbered only up to whatever the player’s jersey number is, so because Haan’s jersey number is 44, this card is /44. I think this is a really cool way to do serial numbered cards! And the design of the card is really neat too with a sort of metallic rainbow finish.

HG’s Grade: A

 

Hits: A

HB: Yes, all of that from 1 box.  Unbelievable.  Haha obviously Hockey Girl is ecstatic because we pulled not one but two Tim Thomas cards, and one of them being an absolutely incredible piece of the shoulder patch numbered out of 25.  But what I love of Titanium is the range of hits.  There are all sorts of great cards.  The Private Signings have been a huge hit and there are plenty more for collectors to chase in this product.  The single, dual, and triple player game used cards are great.  I really like the design of the New Wave autographs – even with the sticker autos.  The Titanium Reserve autographed cards are awesome too.  Really, the hits in this product are so unique and diverse, there truly is something for almost everyone.  The only complaint I can come up with is that they didn’t do a great job of labeling the cards.  For example – without a checklist, I would have never known that the Getzlaf card we pulled is a Six Star Memorabilia card.  But that really isn’t much of a complaint.

HB’s Grade: A

HG: So we really lucked out with the hits in this box! We got a hard signed Private Signings auto of Antoine Vermette. I think it is a really unique looking card and I like the design of it a lot! We also got a jersey card from Colorado Avalanche T.J. Galiardi. Next, we got a Six Star Memorabilia card of Ryan Getzlaf of the Anaheim Ducks. I love these type of cards and hadn’t seen one of them in person so it was fun to pull one! Then we got a Tim Thomas jersey card, which I was so excited to see! I haven’t pulled a Tim Thomas hit in a while and the design of the jersey card is really nice, so I was thrilled! However, that card was soon overshadowed by the Tim Thomas patch card we pulled next!! I couldn’t believe it! Two Tim Thomas hits in one box! In case you can’t tell by the exclamation points, I am very excited about this. 

HG’s Grade: A

 

Value: A

HB: The value of 2011-12 Titanium is extremely high.  For $100 – you are guaranteed 5 hits.  With such a diverse selection of players and types of hits and throw in low print run rookies, the value of this product is through the roof.  This product puts Upper Deck SP Game Used to shame at nearly half the cost.

HB’s Grade: A+

HG: I love this product. All of the cards are really nicely designed and we got some awesome hits, so even though you only get five packs per box, I think the box was definitely worth the $100 price tag. We did get an unusually good box, so I might be a little biased in this review, but I would definitely check this product out for yourself, and hopefully you will do as well as we did!

HG’s Grade: A-

 
 

Much love,

Hockey Boy & Hockey Girl

Hockey Girl’s Birthday Show & Tell

My birthday was a few weeks ago and I got some of the coolest birthday presents from Hockey Boy! He got me a bunch of Tim Thomas cards I have been really wanting for a while now! They are all so awesome and I am so excited to add them to my collection. (P.S. Yes, I know Tim Thomas is “taking the year off” which is a bummer, but I am still gonna keep building my current collection and I am going to start expanding my collection a little as well which I am excited about.)

Anywho, getting back to my new cards, here they are:

 

I love the design of The Cup cards, (I’m pretty sure  most everyone does) so I was thrilled to get this Tim Thomas the Cup base jersey card! I don’t have very many simple jersey cards so I am always happy to get to add a little more variety to my collection.

 

The next card I got was a Leather Larceny auto card which is a really neat card because it is textured to actually feel like leather. I had never seen an auto of this card so I loved getting to discover that they exist when I opened the package and saw Tim Thomas’ signature on this really cool card that I now owned!  One of the best parts of this card is that it is numbered 50/50 so it is the very last card of the print run!

 

While Tim Thomas is the primary player I collect, I am a fan of (most) all of the NHL goalies, so I was very excited to open this next present, an Ilya Bryzgalov Stick Auto card! I have always liked Bryzgalov and have been amused by his antics, and I really like goaltender stick cards so I am very happy to now have this card!

 

Have any of you ever had to work very hard to get one specific card? Hockey Boy did to get me this next card, a Tim Thomas Masked Men patch card /10. When ITG originally made the Masked Men cards, they made a stamping error on them so they made a contest out of it. If someone collected 17 of the of the error cards and sent them into ITG, they would get a very cool prize. So HB took a year collecting these error cards and managed to finish and send them just in time to get this really really cool patch card /10 right before my birthday! Not only is is an awesome card, but the ammount of work that HB put in to get it for me makes it that much better!

 

This next card captured one of my favorite moments of the Stanley Cup finals last year! This is the Tim Thomas Collision Course auto card, and yes that is one of the Sedin brothers stumbling (with a little help from Tim Thomas) to the ground right there. You can’t beat that. Haha I love this card.

 

This last card I got is just so cool. I think it is such a neat idea for a game used card, and I had been wanting this specific card for quite a while. I got a Tim Thomas/ Alexander Ovechkin game used net card. I have a lot of respect for Ovechkin because he is just a phenomenal hockey player. Especially after this year’s Bruins/Capitals playoff series (even though it didn’t end the way I wanted), having such a unique card with both of these players on it makes an even better addition to my collection.

 

So those are all of my super cool birthday hockey cards! Thanks for looking! 🙂

Much Love,
Hockey Girl

2011-12 Panini Titanium Checklist

Releasing this Wednesday, June 13 is 2011-12 Panini Titanium.  Panini is brining back this long awaited product and I’ll just say this much – glancing over the checklist, this product seems loaded.  I’m excited to see some of these hits show up in various places.  And rumor has it that there are 5 hits per […]