hockey cards?

[habernac]

anyone collect them? I usually get the McDonald's series, but I've recently been taken by the Upper Deck Canadiens Centennial series. Some great subsets (retired numbers, Stanley Cups, Captains). If you get the tin boxes, they come complete with a small replica of one of the 24 Stanley Cup banners.

[Disgruntled70sHab]

Yes, I used to collect quite a bit. Nowadays I only collect the vintage cards. The newer ones might be worth something in the future, granted, but they really don't appeal to me. Some of the cards in my collection: Rookie Cards for Gretzky, Lemieux, Dryden, Lafleur, Lemaire, Cournoyer, Roy, P Mahovlich, Henderson "The Goal" (signed by Paul) and Rocket Richard's LC.

I actually gave away a Bob Clarke RC to a longtime friend of mine a few years back.

One card I have, a 1975-76 Topps Guy Lapointe #293 (don't know if Opee-Chee is the same number ... I'm too lazy to dig it out), features the only sports card I've seen with Glenn Sather in a Habs uniform. Not saying there aren't any other ones out there but this is the only one I've seen.



I have a set of 1971 TOPPS Baseball. This is my oldest complete set and one that escaped getting thrown out when I was younger. I finished it off over the years so there's a few OPC cards in there as well. The high numbers are still hard to find at a decent cost.

I have several binders completely devoted to Habs and Expos. These are separate cards that I went out and purchased so as not to take away from the sets. The first year Expos players were introduced was in the TOPPS 1969 set. Most of the players were asked not to wear hats that year because the photos were taken prior to the expansion draft. There are a few players wearing caps in those cards, though. Edit: I just added a photo of Rusty Staub from the '69 set. Note that his cap is blackened out; however, if you go through the set you'll see that some are blackened out and others have the team logo. The team photo is the first TOPPS Expos team photo (I believe) from the 1970 set.



One card I've been looking for but can't find is Pete Rose in an Expos uniform. At one time it was the most popular baseball card in Canada (or so I heard anyway).



I also have several vintage CFL sets as well. Tony Gabriel, Mel Profit, Sonny Wade, Moses Denson, Wayne Giardino, Soupy Campbell, Art Green, George Reed, Ronny Lancaster, just to name a few. I was lucky enough to have bought a Russ Jackson RC as well. He was vice-principle of my HS (Sir John A MacDonald, Ottawa) but he left before I started there.

Lastly, I have about 20-odd photos from the Canadiens Pro Star Postcard sets but they're from differring years. I'd really like to collect every one but that would be expensive. You can see them on ebay.

I'd like to pick up that box set you have, but I haven't even looked for it. It would be nice to have.

Cheers.

[jkr]

I have a lot of cards but no complete sets other than an Original 6 set from over 10 years ago. I haven't looked at it for a while. I divided it by team & pull it out once in a while.

I find it interesting from a hockey history perspective to read the cards, check the stats etc.

Dis, I haven't heard about CFL cards. As a boy I used to buy cards but it was mostly for the gum or playing in the school yard . The set I wish I had from that time was U.S. college football. Would be really interesting to read it now.

[CrocRob]

No complete sets. Used to colllect a bit. I went to a garage sale and bought some guy's collection for $10 that his Mom was selling. Ended up with rookie Gretzky, Roy, and lots of other interesting cards. All sitting in some toolboxes in my basement nowadays. Haven't looked at them in years.

I think I have the entire 1992 Upper Deck collection, but I'm not totally sure.

[CentreHice]

With everyone taking such good care of the newer cards since the old card bonanza happened, do you think the newer ones will ever rise in value?

i.e. nobody's putting Ovechkin's RC in their bicycle spokes.

I had stacks of cards from the early to mid-70s....don't even know what happened to them. Don't know how much they'd be worth anyway as they certainly weren't in plastic sleeves! Hence the rise in old card value...as I definitely wasn't alone.

Comic books.....same thing. Anybody here collect them?

[habernac]

The newer ones will hold their value just because most of them are short printed. The popular sets are autographed cards, very very cool. too expensive for me (I have a good friend who put together one complete set that ran him upwards of $8000!!!!!!)

I really like this new Canadiens set.

[CentreHice]

Good to know....thanks, habernac.

[Disgruntled70sHab]

Sept 24, 2009 22:44:03 GMT -5 CentreHice said:

i.e. nobody's putting Ovechkin's RC in their bicycle spokes.

Believe it or not Phil Esposito's cards used to go into the spokes of my bike. But, everyone always seemed to hang onto the Bobby Orr cards regardless what year they were from.

Comic books.....same thing. Anybody here collect them?

A neighbour across the street found an old box of comics and I actually recognized some of them. The one set that used to cost more than regular comics was the "Classics" series. She pulled out a Classics Comic called "The Three Muskateers". She asked me how much it was worth and I couldn't tell her. I pointed her to a friend of mine who owns a used book store and who used to carry a lot of comics (he doesn't carry anywhere near what he used to. His clientel is getting older).

Sept 25, 2009 9:21:24 GMT -5 habernac said:

The newer ones will hold their value just because most of them are short printed. The popular sets are autographed cards, very very cool. too expensive for me (I have a good friend who put together one complete set that ran him upwards of $8000!!!!!!)

I really like this new Canadiens set.

The newer cards became too pretty in appearance for me. It just turned me away from them. However, Parkhurst came out with another "Tall Boy" set some years ago. The format and the quality of the cards caught my attention.

I collect vintage cards now if I can get them at a good price. I used to go to Ottawa when they had these semi-annual collectables shows, but I haven't gone in quite a while. If I happen to come by one in my travels I'll stop if I have the time.

My collection will belong to Dis Jr one day. I've already separated the expensive ones, so he'll be able to recognize them.

I also used to collect the Habs post card sets that started up in '86. I had every year, sorted by year, up until about 3 years ago. When La Boutique stopped shipping them I had to go through the NHL store, so I just couldn't be bothered.

I would love to pick up that box set you have. Might check out EBay later tonight. Then again, I could use a new driver ... hmmm ...

Cheers.

[habernac]

I've got all the OPeeChee sets from 79-91 (my Gretzky is in horrible shape unfortunately). I stopped collecting when the sets got too expensive.

[Disgruntled70sHab]

Sept 24, 2009 18:14:10 GMT -5 jkr said:

I have a lot of cards but no complete sets other than an Original 6 set from over 10 years ago. I haven't looked at it for a while. I divided it by team & pull it out once in a while.

I find it interesting from a hockey history perspective to read the cards, check the stats etc.

Some of the older cards used to have small cartoons on the back, "Terry runs the 40 in 4.4 sec." (refers to Terry Swarn). Stuff like that.

Dis, I haven't heard about CFL cards. As a boy I used to buy cards but it was mostly for the gum or playing in the school yard . The set I wish I had from that time was U.S. college football. Would be really interesting to read it now.

That college football set would have been nice to see for sure. Would be neat to see how many of those young guys actually made to the show.

I think the most valuable CFL card I have is a 1971 Joe Theisman RC from his days with the Toronto Argonauts. I've been told that this is his original pro football RC. Found this online:

I have complete sets from 1970, 1971 and 1972. I grew up in Ottawa's west end and most of the names on the cards are familiary to me. As kids the Ottawa Roughriders were a pretty hot ticket, along with the 67's.

Here's a card set that left a big impression with me when I was a kid. They're called "Civil War News" (I think that was it ... what I could find online anyway). I tried trading for any card I could find and at one point I think I only had about 10 or 12, or so. Every time I was lucky enough to find one, they were usually all beat up and it was hard just trying to get someone to trade them.


Here's the link I found them at www.paraguachi.com/images/paragua/CWTC.htm

I don't know what they go for nowadays, but I've only seen one or two complete sets and they were in mint condition. I just couldn't substantiate buying them when I saw them. Probably has some repairs to put in the house anyway.

Cheers.

[Disgruntled70sHab]

Sept 24, 2009 19:24:07 GMT -5 CrocRob said:

No complete sets. Used to colllect a bit. I went to a garage sale and bought some guy's collection for $10 that his Mom was selling. Ended up with rookie Gretzky, Roy, and lots of other interesting cards. All sitting in some toolboxes in my basement nowadays. Haven't looked at them in years.

I think I have the entire 1992 Upper Deck collection, but I'm not totally sure.

Red, you might want to consider moving those out of the basement if you have a place to store them upstairs. I say this because last year we were flooded out and we lost some very sentimental things that can't be replaced; wedding keepsakes and the like. We had to dry them out, but they aren't the same at all.

The Gretzky and Roy cards are worth something for sure even if they're lower grade cards. Water stains would seriously devalue them further.

Just wanted to share some experience is all.

Cheers.

[Tankdriver]

When I was a kid, I had boxes of the Proset which had potential but were massed produced and contained tons of errors. In collectors worlds they are considered worthless, but I keep them as memoires of my childhood. About 4 years ago I was at my friends house and he showed me some of the cards that he acquired. I was amazed at what has changed as well as the price for a box of cards ($100-$500). Now you can get cards with jersey pieces, hockey equipement, logos and even be autograghed. One day I did a big mistake and went to the card shop with him. Ended up buying 2 boxes of between the pipes 03-04 and 03-04 Pacific Calder I believe... I was hooked. The next 2 years I probably spent 1500 to 2 grand.

Side Story: Don't forget this was the year of Crosby, Ovechkin, Phaneuf, Lundqvist, Getzlaf, Richards rookie cards, so I was into the hype. If you have a few seconds check out 05-06 The Cup Sidney Crosby patch rookie card number out of 99 or even Oveckin out of 99 on ebay. At its peak Crosby was selling for $13,000.

I had my limits, I knew I couldn't pay for this or even take 1 in 20 chance in pulling this card (especially at $600 a box for 5 or 6 cards). After completing my sets that I had going, I called it quits, I ended up with some nice pieces (rough value in brackets)- Wayne Gretzky autograph Notable Numbers out of 99 ($500), a Brodeur patch/auto out of 10, ($250) Patrick Roy piece of goalie stick out of 40 ($100) , Crosby young gun RC graded 9.5 Mint ($550) an Oveckin young gun ($250) Another Ovechkin RC black ice ($450) a couple Gretzky jerseys ($125 each) and a few others. I might scan them if you guys are interested in seeing them. In reality I'd probably break even or make or loss a couple hundread if I sold it all.

I called it quits about 3 years ago. There are like 20 products that come out a year with variety of price ranges. It is very hit or miss in recouping your investment value wise. If you are after certain cards or even rare ones, they is always someone out there with deeper pockets that can outbid you.

But I can say I own pieces of history. I don't have a stanley cup ring, but I have pieces of gretzky, roy, lemieux jerseys, the Gumps, gretzky, hasek and brodeur autographs and a variety of vintage memorobelia from the greats that played the game.

[CrocRob]

Sept 25, 2009 12:10:32 GMT -5 Disgruntled70sHab said:

Sept 24, 2009 19:24:07 GMT -5 CrocRob said:

No complete sets. Used to colllect a bit. I went to a garage sale and bought some guy's collection for $10 that his Mom was selling. Ended up with rookie Gretzky, Roy, and lots of other interesting cards. All sitting in some toolboxes in my basement nowadays. Haven't looked at them in years.

I think I have the entire 1992 Upper Deck collection, but I'm not totally sure.

Red, you might want to consider moving those out of the basement if you have a place to store them upstairs. I say this because last year we were flooded out and we lost some very sentimental things that can't be replaced; wedding keepsakes and the like. We had to dry them out, but they aren't the same at all.

The Gretzky and Roy cards are worth something for sure even if they're lower grade cards. Water stains would seriously devalue them further.

Just wanted to share some experience is all.

Cheers.

Yeah, there's really nowhere to store them in their current form. Not much closet space upstairs. I agree about flooding, and the cards are actually about 3 feet off the ground in the basement.

I'm not really in it for money. They're more sentimental than anything, though if I ever get around to having a wet bar I might take some out to frame, and put them up on a wall.

[Disgruntled70sHab]

TD, the main reason I got out of collecting sets was because of the price. They were just getting stupid.

There are some forgeries out there as well. Here's a standard Gretzky RC:



One way to tell if it's authentic is to look for a small white dot on the upper-outside of his shoulder. The only thing counterfitters can do is use a small dot of paint. If that dot is missing, or if you can remove that dot with your thumb, you've got a forgery. There are some other ways of identifying a Gretzky fake; something to do with the lettering and the laces, but I honestly can't remember.

I've seen a fake of a Gretzky RC in a display case at a card show once. I was pretty sure it was a fake because that dot was missing, so I asked if I could see it closer. The guy selling it immediately told me it was a fake and he kept it in his case as an example of one (though he didn't have it marked).

The Mario Lemieux RC has also been copied as well. Here's a cut and paste I found that explains it very well:

“The biggest thing to watch for on the Lemieux RC is the Penguins logo in the top right corner. Under magnification, the logo should have solid black shading and good colour seperation. If the black shading or colour borders are dotted or bleed together you are probably looking at a counterfeit. Another thing to look at on the Lemieux RC are the edges on the front of the card. If you notice the maroon colour from the back of the card showing some blend into the white edges on the front of the card, again red flags should go up. Be careful when buying or trading for a Lemieux RC as there are many variations of reprints out there.”

[Tankdriver]

More on fakes: Yeah the Roy RC is faked aswell. Plus people are removing "white" jersey and/or patches out of cards and replacing with multi-colours to increase there values... I'd like to see your guys older cards if you don't mind.

[habernac]

I've got a great Lafleur rookie. My Roy is nice, too (traded a Scott Stevens for it!!!!).

[Gogie]

Good news for baseball card collectors - starting next year Topps will be the only card manufacturer able to use MLB and individual team logos on their cards (in effect, Topps will become the only official MLB baseball card set). They recently signed an agreement with MLB: MLB agrees to rights deal with Topps. At least now there will only be one set to collect for baseball, which should increase interest, especially if the cards are reasonably priced.

[Disgruntled70sHab]

TD, if you're ever in the K-town area let me know and you can have a look. However, I've got quite a few and it might take a few wets to get through them.

Here's a card from the 1971 set I was telling you about earlier. It's a Nolan Ryan 4th-year card. The TOPPS cards for that year had a green back, while the OPC series was yellow with bilingual script.



I don't know about nowadays, but there used to be two issues to TOPPS baseball cards every year. The lower numbers were released earlier in the summer while the higher numbers were released later and only by TOPPS. Here's the: entire 1971 checklist.

I'm only missing about 4 or 5 cards from the lower numbers, and a whack from the high numbers, which can be pretty expensive. I have them sorted by teams rather than sequentially. Makes my binder easier to navigate through and I can put the Expos at the front. Yeah, that's the kid in me, but my friends like looking at the Expos.

One last thing ... for now anyway. I was serving in Germany at the time and was hoping TOPPS wasn't sold out of their 1987 series. It had a young upcoming star by the name of Bo Jackson in the set. I thrilled when I go it, but didn't realize that it wasn't going to be his rookie card (Fleer put one out just before TOPPS). Just as well, though, as he sustaine a hip injury that bascially ruined his pro sports career.



Cheers.

[IamCanadiens]

When Leeman got traded to the Habs my friend got me his rookie card. I still have it in a storage box somewhere. The laughter I get every time I look at it is priceless.

[24in93]

I remember trying to acquire every Lindros card under the sun before he turned pro hoping to strike it big one day. Boy what a disappointment those cards turned out to be. Almost as bad as my Pat Falloon RC. Yeah my set's not that great.

[ValkyrieNS]

I have a bunch of cards, mostly Habs, Brendan Shanahan and Jaromir Jagr (don't ask...)

I was at the dollar store about a month ago, and I found a Mike Cammalleri LA Kings card in a pack of 15 for a buck. That made my day, as you can no doubt imagine

[habernac]

I bought a couple more tins on Friday. Pulled an autographed Murray Wilson (hahahahaha!). Why is it I always pull the mediocre autographs? A friend of mine os collecting them as well, at least he pulled a Gaston Gingras (he got a Rejean Houle as well, not sure how I'd feel about that one).

Dis, let me know if you're looking to build a set, I'm probably going to have tons of doubles.

[jkr]

Sept 28, 2009 10:54:27 GMT -5 habernac said:

I bought a couple more tins on Friday. Pulled an autographed Murray Wilson (hahahahaha!). Why is it I always pull the mediocre autographs? A friend of mine os collecting them as well, at least he pulled a Gaston Gingras (he got a Rejean Houle as well, not sure how I'd feel about that one).

I heard Cranky is in the market for a Houle card to add to his Reggie colelction.

[Disgruntled70sHab]

Sept 28, 2009 10:54:27 GMT -5 habernac said:

I bought a couple more tins on Friday. Pulled an autographed Murray Wilson (hahahahaha!). Why is it I always pull the mediocre autographs? A friend of mine os collecting them as well, at least he pulled a Gaston Gingras (he got a Rejean Houle as well, not sure how I'd feel about that one).

Dis, let me know if you're looking to build a set, I'm probably going to have tons of doubles.

Thanks HN. I am looking to put together a set. I just talked to a guy who owns his own booth at the local flea market and he wants $95/set.

If you could please let me know what you can put together and I'll go to him for the ones I need. I'll contact you via PM for the details.

Thanks again, HN. Much appreciated.

Cheers.