LINDEN CARD OF THE WEEK - White. Whale.

There have been just a handful of really....REALLY exciting moments for me in this hobby I love over the past couple of years.  But in that time I have picked up some nice cards, new project starters, tough finds and rare parallels.

But none of those compare to the two words....

WHITE WHALE!!

The term 'white whale' gets used a lot in this hobby (and often misused IMO).  Tracking down that elusive card that has been on your wantlist for far too long.  I've seen guys bark that phrase out when the card has only been on the list for a couple years - not a white whale.  I've seen guys refer to 1/1's as their cosmic find - not a white whale.  I've heard many talk about cards that are fairly available but have just been a little too pricey - again...not a white whale.

To me, a white whale is a card that has been on your wishlist longer than most others.  It's a card that has been constantly on the radar throughout the grueling search.  It's an elusive card, not for its rarity...but for it's lack of availability (and I feel there is a difference).

It's a card that makes you double take triple take when it finally rears its ugly head, produce an unconscious smile that just can't be wiped from your face and prompt you to go immediately into "card acquisition mode".

All this buildup.....you can guess that I had such a card arrive in the mailbox recently.  So let's take a look at it and I will break it down for you.

2005/06 Upper Deck MVP

#P-TL Prosign

While this card might just look like a simple signature offering, I can assure you that there is more to this than meets the eye.

This card has been the top want on my list for a number of years now.  On hobby chat boards, when the topic of "What is your white whale?" comes up.....I post a photo of this card.  It's not serial numbered, it's not uber-rare, heck....it's a sticker autograph.  It's a 10-year-old piece of cardboard and I haven't seen a single copy of it for over 8 years.

So what gives?

Well, it comes from the 2005/06 MVP product which, unlike pretty much every other year of MVP, has a bit of desirability.  It is after all the Sidney Crosby/Alex Ovechkin rookie year.  So while a good wave of this stuff was opened when the product was originally released (to get the highly desirable rc's), the product dried up because everyone got their copy.  Tons of this product just sat on the shelves.  Why?  It wouldn't go on sale for rock bottom prices.  Why?  It had the Crosby and Ovechkin rookie cards.

A vicious circle.

A circle that left a lot of cards like this Linden Prosign sitting in boxes likely never to be opened.

When the product first came out there was a good buzz following the Linden auto.  Like many Linden cards at that time, many of us wanted to pick it up for our collections.  The prices on the first few were high (as they normally are....anxious buyers).  I decided to wait it out and let the prices come down.

Well, the prices never came down because copies of the card never showed up.

I waited and waited......and waited.

After a few years I realized that I may have missed the bus on this one.  In fact, it got to the point where I truly felt I'd never obtain a copy of this card - ever.  I even considered contacting a fellow Linden collector to see if he'd be interested in selling me his copy.  It never came to that, but I thought about it real hard.

When this copy hit the open market I knew I'd have to bid big on it.

A few e-mails to fellow Linden collectors to gauge the interest level (and seeing the initial bids on it) gave me the indication that this would be a hot ticket.  I came up with my "maximum number" and waited for the auction to near its end.

A full day before the timer was to end a bid came across that was a whopper - bigger than the number I had as my maximum.  I was not only surprised that someone would play his hand so early, but worried that this card might not be destined for my collection.

The nice thing was that I had a full day to contemplate.  I decided to up my maximum bid and crossed my fingers.  As the auction neared its end I pulled the trigger.  Sure enough it was just a little higher than the big bid from the day earlier - enough to make me the winning bidder.

I haven't been so happy to win a card in a really long time.

It arrived today and I am absolutely pumped.  I must have stared at it for a good number of minutes.

And while I paid overpaid quite a bit for it, I have absolutely zero buyer's remorse.  It's one I am more than happy to cross off the list and put this chapter of my Linden collection to rest.

And THAT......is what a 'white whale' is all about.

WALLET CARD - Second Best Afro Card

It's been a while since I've posted anything #WalletCard related.  But that doesn't mean Oscar isn't on my radar.

I've managed to pick up a few cards via COMC as well as the generosity of trade.  I enjoy the fact that there are people out there keeping an eye out for the great afro'd one.

The card I'm going to share today comes from a trade a few months back where Captain Canuck (aka: Gamble Supplier) fanned this beauty in my face.

1976 SSPC #526

This just has a whole lotta spectacular in it.

Afro aside, the ballcap is a beaut.  I love that it's neatly off kilter.  And I can picture the lobster-red jersey in full form.

For a card that's 40 years old, it was in fantastic condition.

Thanks very much for thinking of me one more than one occasion Captain! 

Ive slowly built a pretty solid player collection (in just a little over a year).  I've picked up 35 cards out of a checklist of 142 total.  Not bad.  Keep in mind that I'm not aggressive at all when it comes to chasing.  I could pop on any number of sites and snag a good 40-50 cards - cheap - without even blinking.  But that's not really any fun.

What I'd love to see happen is to go to a show where there's a bunch of baseball singles and just dig.  Maybe a trip to a show in the States is in order one of these days.

To end things off for this post, I'd like to share a great sketch done by John Hartwell of Oscar and his iconic 1976 Topps 74T #WalletCard.

Tremendous.

Check out some of his other work too via his Twitter feed.  I especially love the  Don Mossi.  Captures it perfectly.

MY COLLECTION - Great Card Show Find

One of the things I like to do at the card shows is dig.  Dig through boxes upon boxes looking for that hidden gem.  Safe to say...I'm a sucker for a good deal.

And it's paid off handsomely in the past.  Cards in a dollar box that I've been able to parlay into $2 each (yeah....I call that handsome).

But seriously, I'm not that good at sniffing out the killer deals and making a fortune on flipping.  In fact, I think I'm pretty bad at it.  I don't think I have the killer instinct and I definitely don't have the pocketbook to really build a robust inventory of tradebait.

But every once in a while I come home from a show thinking "I got one heck of a deal here".  And with this card - I think I done did good.

1999/00 Upper Deck Century Legends

Contemporaries

#57 Ray Bourque  /100

Years ago I put together this set.  It mainly consisted of the top 50 players of the past century in the NHL - ranked.  I really liked the looks of the set and it's one of the few completed sets I regret parting with.

These parallels were, and still are, a hot commodity and are really tough to find.  And while this Ray Bourque card doesn't come from the top 50 list (he ranked 16th at the time the list was released) but rather the Contemporaries subset, it doesn't make this find any less special.

A quick perusal of ebay completed sales shows these parallels go for anywhere between $12-25us for the more "common" guys all the way up to $75us for the Gretzky.

I picked this Bourque up for five bucks....Canadian.

There is one benefit to collecting in Canada these days....the ability to "buy low" in Canadian funds and possibly "sell higher" in US dollars.

And while I'll just likely shove this in my trade box, I do feel like I'll be able to at very least break even with this pickup.

Like I said....killer instinct.

LINDEN CARD OF THE WEEK - In The Game Used Gold

To say that it's been a slow go in terms of my Trevor Linden collecting so far in 2016 would be an understatement.  A quick check on ebay shows that I have only pulled the trigger on four cards since January 1.  In previous years I've been known to pick up at least that many cards (if not more) each and every month.

Part of it is the economy, part of it is the price that people are asking on these cards but mainly it's just the lack of excitement that a lot of new releases generate.

Case in point....the most recent In The Game Used product put out by Leaf.

Close to 40 Trevor Linden cards were inserted into the money grab of a release with many of them being simple color parallels that are numbered ridiculously low.

Out of the 40 cards, two are numbered higher than 25.  TWO CARDS.  One is /45 and the other /55.  The rest are /25, /20, /15, /5, /3 and a whole crapload of 1/1s.

I truly don't understand why a company would put this many cards of a particular player in a product....and then pump out another product soon after with just as many cards of that player in it.

Do they think I've got endless pockets?

Anyways, this is why I don't chase like I used to.  Instead, I wait....and wait....and wait.  I wait for the price to come down so low that I feel it's about as low as it will ever go.  Only then will I consider buying it.

Yup....there are a lot of new Linden cards that will never see the light of day in my collection.  And I'm perfectly fine with that.

2014/15 Leaf In The Game Used

#GUA-TL2 Game-Used Auto/Mem. Gold  /15

This card looks just like its silver counterpart except this one is gold in foil and is numbered to 15 instead of 40.  It really isn't that exciting of a card and the price I paid reflects that.

Even at $13us I still feel like I overpaid.  But I think the lull in Linden pickups made me cave slightly and "splurge" on myself.

I'm really not that excited to add this (kinda sad to say) but I do know one thing....there are much more exciting finds that I'm looking forward to show off in the near future.

I guarantee it.  :)

SIGNATURE CHAMPIONS - Off To A Quick Start

Maybe it's the excitement of starting a new project or maybe the lack of Linden pickups locally of late, but the newest challenge I've set for myself started with a bang at the monthly card show today.

The Signature Champions set inserted into the 2014/15 UD Premier product caught my eye immediately and earlier in the week I decided to pull the trigger and walk around with an official wantlist.

While it's not a huge list in terms of numbers (24 cards) it is a giant in the sense that there are a few big names I'm going to have to try and track down.

But I'll worry about that later.....much later.

In the meantime, let's take a look at the newest cards to be added to the set.

2014/15 Upper Deck Premier

Signature Champions

#SC-PD Pavel Datsyuk  /50

I had sifted through a number of boxes on one particular table and had already seen a couple cards from this set (Dustin Brown and Grant Fuhr) but decided to pass on them as I thought maybe the price wasn't quite right.  When I came upon this Datsyuk.....I didn't hesitate.

Priced at just $20.........Canadian.......I knew that this was a great find.

While Pavel's strength in the hobby market isn't too huge, a nice hard signed offering - on a card with him hoisting the Stanley Cup - and numbered to just 50 copies makes this a definite keeper.

2014/15 Upper Deck Premier

Signature Champions

#SC-GF Grant Fuhr  /50

I mentioned that I passed on a Grant Fuhr earlier in the day.  Well, a quick pek at completed sales on ebay made me hustle back to grab this copy as well.

At just $15.....Canadian....I thought it was a very fair price.

I could never decide if Fuhr was the beneficiary of playing on spectacular Oiler teams or if he was just that good.  The debate continues to this day.

Personally, I think he's a little overrated.

2014/15 Upper Deck Premier

Signature Champions

#SC-MK Mike Krushelnyski  /99

You've already seen this one, but I thought I'd do an official write-up of it.

It's Mike Krushelnyski.

2014/15 Upper Deck Premier

Signature Champions

#SC-ES Eric Staal  /99

This was the first card I picked for this set.  I grabbed it months ago at the local show.  It was five bucks and I figured why not.  Now, it looks like a great find since I'm building the set.

I think this might go down as my favourite photo of a guy raising the Cup.  Awesome pic.

I need a few more pickups like this one so it can offset the beasts that will come knocking down the road (Gretzky).

I still really like the looks of this set.  Let's see how long it takes me (and no...that's not me telling you I will be quickly trying to finish).  Should be fun.


Current Collection - 4 of 24 

RAISE THE CUP - Mike Pushed Me Over The Edge

It's been a busy month for me in the world of sports cards.  In addition to some great Linden (and Parkhurst) additions, I picked up some cool oddball items (which I will show off this weekend), I won a round of pack wars at the monthly trade night (nothing too spectacular....but better than a kick in the hoo-ha) and I traded for a card that might be the straw that breaks the back and launches me into another side project.

2014/15 Upper Deck Premier

Signature Champions

#SC-MK Mike Krushelnyski  /99

By no means is this a "killer pickup", but the fact that I've been eyeballing this set for a while says something.

Those of you who follow my blog know that I like to pick up cards that have players hoisting the Stanley Cup over their head.  I've got a good 150 or so cards now and I think they look pretty cool as a set.

Over the past few years there have been numerous insert sets and subsets that utilize these great moments and form a Stanley Cup memory-type subject.  The problem is that most of the time the cards are just missing a little something.  Not diverse enough of a checklist, one or two photos that don't quite fit the theme or just not an interesting design.

This Signature Champions set from UD Premier is really quite stunning.  Some solid player selections (Krushelnyski aside), hard-signed autographs and good photos.

So the question is - Why haven't I been building this set?

Here's the checklist...

Anze Kopitar  /50
Chris Chelios  /99
Dustin Brown  /50
Evgeni Malkin  /25
Eric Staal  /99
Grant Fuhr  /50
Guy Lafleur  /99
Brett Hull  /25
Jaromir Jagr  /25
Joe Sakic  /25
Jonathan Toews  /50
Martin Brodeur  /99
Marc-Andre Fleury  /99
Mike Krushelnyski  /99
Mario Lemieux  /10
Mark Messier  /25
Martin St. Louis  /99
Pavel Datsyuk  /50
Patrick Roy  /10
Rob Blake  /99
Steve Yzerman  /10
Tom Barrasso  /99
Teemu Selanne  /10
Wayne Gretzky  /10

As you can see it's a pretty solid list.  Sure, there are some "meh" cards (Krushelnyski) but the big guys more than make up for it.

There are some names in there that would be cool to chase as I've never tried to track down autos of these guys (Gretzky, Lemieux, Roy).  But....

$$$$$  CHA-CHING

That's the only thing that has me hesitating.

I feel pretty comfortable with about 18-20 of them.  And as I typed that out.....it makes me feel pretty good about the whole thing.

In fact, I really like the idea of building this set now.  I think it would be a fantastic project - which falls right into the pocket of what I like to chase - and I don't feel like I would be breaking the bank.  After all....as I always say...

It's not a race.

So with that, I am officially starting it up.  Look for more "Signature Champions" posts in the future.

LINDEN CARD(s) OF THE WEEK - Quite A Gift...Redux

For the second day in a row I came home to find a bubble mailer in my mailbox.  It's been literally months since that's happened.  I gotta say...I haven't been this excited in hockey cards in a while.

I knew who the envelope was from (as well as the contents inside), but that doesn't make the opening of the seal any less exciting.  Especially when you consider what was inside.

Not one...not two...but three Trevor Linden cards that I didn't know existed - and the cards are all over 15 years old.

Like a kid on Christmas morning.  Let's check out the goods.

1999/00 Be A Player Memorabilia

#194 Toronto Fall Expo Silver  /10

Show cards from the late 90's are near impossible to track.  Companies never really came out with "lists" of what cards were actually distributed and so it's a lot of "hey...did you see this" or "I've got one of those" or "wow...never seen that before".

This card falls into the latter category.

No clue that this card had a Toronto Expo parallel.

The card(s) came from a longtime Linden collector who I've kept in touch with over the years.  Once or twice, here and there we'd chat via e-mail.  Recently, we've gotten to chatting a bit more often and have exchanged some scans of Linden "stuff".  I like stuff.

I recently sent him my master Linden checklist so he was able to cross-reference some stuff and realized I had omitted some items.  Not by accident - I just didn't know the cards were out there.

When I saw the scan of this card my jaw dropped a bit.  It just reinforced to me how much I love collecting Linden cards.  Even finding new information on a card gets me going.  I love it.

So I was even more gobsmacked when I found out the piece of cardboard was coming my way.

Along with a couple other goodies.

1998/99 Pacific Omega

#147 Toronto Spring Expo (show stamped)

You probably can't see it in the scan, but there's an embossed stamp right smack in the middle of this card.  This was a popular thing for the Pacific company to do back at the big expos of years past.

I've got a few from different years and different releases, but not this one.

Love the haircut Trev.  Very sharp for your new team.

1998/99 Pacific Revolution

#88 Montreal Spring Expo (show stamped)

Second verse, same as the first.

Another embossed card that I had no clue existed.  It's just been sitting patiently in someone else's collection until the right time to surface and reveal itself.  Gotta love it.

In addition to these three great cards, there was an oddball item.

Oddball items are fun.

But first, a little backstory.

I have two Trevor Linden slides from the mid-90's.  They come from the NHL and were released to media outlets for their news stories.  Say there was an article about Linden and they wanted a headshot...well, here's one you can use.

Each year, the NHL would send out new sets of photos.

Prior to using slides, they were done up on 8x10 photos (6-10 small headshots per page).  Nowadays everything is digital.  Far less fun.

I had to buy the entire year's worth - big ass binders emblazoned with the NHL logo - in order to secure the Linden slides.  I've sold some of the other slides to recoup some of my money.  I've still got a ton, including Gretzky, Lemieux, Bure, you name it.

So you can probably guess what the additional item was.

Ha ha.  This is awesome.

Not quite from the same releases as the others (typing is different and the physical slide isn't the same) but I'm happy to add to my bustling Linden slide project.

It looks like Trev has black eyes, but that's just the photo.  It's tough to really get a sense of what these are.

There...that's better.

Upon closer look, it appears that the 94/95 photo is the same as the 95/96 offering.  That's not uncommon.

Such a great add to the collection.

So a huge thank you to Ian for his generosity, sharing of information and for just being an enjoyable person to talk to.  I really like being able to discuss the hobby and my interests as well as hear other people's similar passions.  It really motivates me to enjoy this great collecting world for all it's worth.