RAISE THE CUP - Yzerman Defined

This single Stanley Cup-raising card might just go down as the steal of the weekend card show for me.

I saw on it the table and was immediately drawn to it......even though it had a pretty hefty price tag associated to it.

Normally with this project, I'm looking for cards that are relatively inexpensive, but this was not just an ordinary base card.

1997/98 Upper Deck Diamond Vision

Defining Moments

#DM3 Steve Yzerman

Remember Diamond Vision. These were some high-end cards back 15 years ago. In fact, if I'm not mistaken, it was the first 'single card pack' ever released.

I thought they were so cool, but too expensive for my collecting dollar at the time (I was more into quantity than quality). I think the retail on them at the time was $20 or so. I only ever bought one pack.....sure enough, it had the Gretzky base. Traded it soon after and pretty much dropped 'Diamond Vision' from my vocabulary.

Good thing...much like the junk wax era has turned hundreds of thousands of pieces of cardboard into just that - cardboard, the Diamond Vision set has dropped steadily in price.

Lack of demand kills the almighty dollar.

These Defining Moments card were an insert. 1 in every 40 packs. So they were even more desirable at the time, and I think even more so today vs. their base card counterparts.

It's a 6 card set that celebrate some of the best names in hockey at the pinnacle of their career. That one moment - their Defining Moment.

Sounds like a great idea for a set.

For Yzerman, it's his Stanley Cup win in 1997. And you have to remember, back in '97, the Red Wings were in a 42-year Stanley Cup drought. Crazy to imagine that.

Of course, Diamond Vision utilized 'amazing technology to create fluid action sequences on their cards'. I just move the card back and forth and the player inside it moves. Neat.

That's why the scan is so bad. There are actually 5 photos used in the sequence. It really doesn't look too impressive until the tilting commences.

When I saw the card on the table, I was happy to find another card that would fit into my 'Raise The Cup' project, but bummed by the $100 price tag. There was no way I was going to spend that much for it.

I have dealt with the dealer numerous times before, which is the only reason I asked about the card. Maybe he could drop his price.

He mentioned that he'd had the card for some time and grabbed the price guide to confirm it still booked that high.

He couldn't find the page with the set listing....which benefited me as he dropped his price considerably - $30.

I still thought that was a bit more than I wanted to spend for a card going into this project. I offered him $20 and he took it.

When I got home I tried to track down the book value in one of my guides. It only took me a few seconds.

bv $40 lo $100 hi

So he was correct with his book value. And I was happy with my purchase price. Was it a steal? Maybe not. But at 80% off, I'll take it.

It's definitely the most unique card in my 'Raise The Cup' binder.

Current Collection - 68 cards