LINDEN CARD(s) OF THE WEEK - You Never Know What You'll Come Across

It was local card show day today....and it just so happened to land on National Hockey Card Day.  I hope you all got your free pack of cards and are enjoying putting the set together.

I was hoping to find a few new Linden cards for the collection as it had been a couple months since making the trek out to the rec centre.  I was on the lookout for the new UD Series II Canvas card of his (I don't know why but I'm really excited about it) but no luck....nobody had one.  I feel though that it's a card I will be able to find locally.  There's a bigger show in a couple weeks that should up my chances.

While I didn't come home empty-handed I kept the buying to a minimum....just playing the patience card.  There were some nice cards that would look good in the trade box - but I've been playing that game a few times recently....I want some stuff I can shove into a box and store in the closet forever.

Speaking of....

When I got home this afternoon I decided to do a little organizing and documenting of things related to my collections.  So I pulled out a monster box of Lindens....

Now imagine holding onto this box and then dropping it.  Sucks eh?  Now imagine dropping it in a way where it's a slow, painful process....not a quick, fixer-upper.

Cards.....everywhere on the closet floor.  It was spectacular (and not in a good way).

The curse words were a flyin'.....I still know how to let the expletives roll it seems.

The photo above is the after photo.......as in after THREE HOURS of checking for damage, replacing some toploaders and re-organizing.  I blew my afternoon.

But such is life.  I guess it could have been worse.  I could've damaged some of my cards (which thankfully I did not).

So......on with the show.


Only one Linden card was found on my card show spree today.  I went to a guy who knows I collect Linden (ok.....they ALL know I collect Linden) and he talked about how he was emptying some boxes to store some base cards.  You know....junky, not-going-to-get-anything-for-your-dollar cards.  And what do you think he finds?

2014/15 Upper Deck Artifacts

#TS-TL Treasured Swatches

It's not numbered, it's a couple years old - but I still needed it.

He let out a laugh when I told him.  He thought for sure I would have picked it up already.  I said that cards like these are best to find locally since the shipping normally outweighs the cost of the card itself.

Well.....almost (in this case).  He got very....very fair value on the card but I was happy to pay.  Nice to knock this off the list and with a pair of non-white jersey pieces to boot.


This next card is a pretty special one (and one that I will enjoy in my collection for many.....many years to come).

A few years ago In The Game released a product called Superlative III.  For some reason I was really excited about the release and there are some incredible looking cards in the product.  I decided to pursue it aggressively.

With 1/1s, there are 20 Linden cards to be had (not counting any show cards and such).  Many of them low numbered (9 or less).  I lucked out on a few pickups and was pretty reckless on others.  But after the initial wave of cards on the secondary market passed I was left with a good portion of the 20 cards in my collection.

I picked up any others I could find and was soon down to basically the tougher pieces of cardboard to add.

Two of the biggest (literally) were the Jumbo Patch cards (a silver /4 and the gold 1/1).  It took some effort - and some help from fellow hobbyists but I knocked them both off the list.  They're two of the top pieces in my collection.

Jumbo Silver

Jumbo Gold

And yes....they look just as good (even better) in person.

It was very soon after landing these cards that I decided to take a run at the complete rainbow....all 20 cards.

But there were some 1/1s that went places I was sure never to see again.  That was until late last year.

I was doing my hourly search of Linden stuff on eBay and saw not one....but two Linden 1/1 cards from the Superlative III set.

It.  Was.  On.

I let a couple Linden guys know that I was going to go after them pretty hard.  I was excited to see the auctions ending on a weekday afternoon (who does that?) which normally lends to a lower final price.  I was on red alert with just a few minutes left in the auctions (I like to bid live as opposed to using a sniping program) and was shocked to see what was happening.

The cards were skyrocketing in price.

I thought they'd go for a fair chunk....but 2x, 3x as much?  No way.

I was out before I was even in.

So I was a little bummed.....but such is life.  You can't win them all.

The a couple months back I got an e-mail from a fellow Linden collector letting me know that one of the cards found its way into his hands.  He knew I would immediately be interested.  And I was.

He sent it over last week.

2012/13 In The Game Superlative III

#SAP-TL Superlative Auto Plus Number Gold  1/1

This is a tremendous 4-color piece from a classic (in Linden terms) Canucks jersey.  A hard-signed auto to boot.....looks great.

I had been asking what would make a fair trade to land it and simply said he was looking for nothing in return.

Wow!!  I was floored.

We fired off a couple e-mails back and forth and I couldn't help but have a huge smile on my face.  Not because I had this wonderful card in my hand but because I just genuinely enjoyed (and always have) the great rapport I have had with this individual.

Make no mistake though.....there will be reciprocation.  I already know what I'm sending.  :)

Kevin.....a huge thank you - for everything.  This card will sit proudly (and with a great story) in my collection.  Cheers!


ps.  I'm down to just 3 cards for the rainbow.....all 1/1s.