BOX BREAK: 5 Packs of 2002/03 Pacific Calder

Last weekend was the first local card show of the season. Sadly, I didn't realize this until the Saturday night. I prefer going on the Saturdays as I feel they are a little busier and not all the goods have been bought up right away.

I also worry that dealers will only show up on the Saturday leaving for slim pickings on the Sunday.

Not so this time. Sunday was a pretty good show. A good number of tables and some reaquaintencing.......is that even a word?

I actually found a few nice items at the show. A Linden for my traders, I almost pulled the trigger on 5 cards for my 1 vs. 100 project (it was just a little more than I wanted to spend so I'm bringing my traders next show to try and work something out), an unopened box of cheap wax that will see the light of day here on my blog soon and some loose packs for less than the price you'd get them at the loonie store.

Overall, a fun afternoon.

Here's the first sets of loose packs I purchased. 5 packs of 2002/03 Pacific Calder.


As you can see on the pack, it was the inaugural edition of this product. A tribute to the rookie class. The focus on the cards would be the first season that the player played. A nice concept as I think rookies were (and always have been) an eye-catcher for collectors.


Now, you might be saying "What are Pacific Complete cards doing in your box break"? Well, this multi-product set was an attempt at getting people to purchase more product. Different product. By getting one of these cards in every pack, it enticed collectors to moving on to other Pacific products from that year to complete the set. Hence the name.

An OK concept, but I was never sold on the full idea. A simple design lent to the feeling that it was a throwaway card. The poor player selection didn't help either. These were my best two out of the 5 I got.


At only 4 cards per pack, it was a slim break. One severe downside to this product. The base cards look nice, but still have that aura of'low end'. Silver variations of the cards were inserted at 1:9 packs but sadly I didn't land any of those.

The concept on the other hand really caught my eye. What I think could have knocked this product out of the park is if they used photos from their rookie year. I had a Brett Hull in my break and he is in his Wings' jersey. Imagine how much cooler the card would have been if he was sporting the color of the Flames.

The info on the back of the card again focuses on the rookie year stats. It only gives those as well as the past year's numbers. Room to allow for a little rookie burb. Not bad.


The big pull in this set were the quad jerseys (1:25 packs). No dice for me. Nor were any of the other inserts say for the serial numbered rookies (1:9 packs). Not the feeling of excitement as compared to curent serial numbered rookies.

These are numbered out of 825 and while they are a nice addition to the packs, it doesn't add a huge amount to the overall product.

Still, a valiant attempt at trying something different and for a small chunk of change - it was a fun break.