I made a remark in my previous post about going almost a full year since my last ebay purchase. Well, wouldn't you know it...I ended up spending some dough just a few days later - and the card arrived today.
It's an item for the Linden PC that I didn't honestly think I'd ever track down. It's been eluding me for almost 30 years.
I won't bury the lede...here is the newest acquisition to the Trevor Linden collection...
I knew that this promo card existed (it'd been on the wantlist for many years) and I've even seen a copy or two pop up...but the opportunity to buy one has never crossed my path. That is, until a couple weeks ago.
I was doing my daily (sometimes hourly) ebay search for new Linden cards and was gobsmacked to see a listing for this Linden promo. After picking my jaw up off the floor, I quickly messaged the seller asking if the card he was posting was actually the promo copy (as there was no picture of the back side of the card).
He said it was.
I asked if he could fire off a photo of the back side.
You see, there is the PROMO version and then there is also a XXXX promo version. Two different cards - I only needed one of them.
While waiting for the seller to get back to me, I decided to just buy the thing. I knew it was priced to go and if I didn't buy it now...I'd surely miss out on it.
When the card arrived today, I was so thrilled to see what the back side of the card looked like.
That is indeed the promo copy that I've been looking for. I still can't believe my eyes.
These are the kinds of cards that make me love player collecting. Rare birds that are flying amongst the other, more common cards. They don't see the light of day too often - I'm talking decades. Elusive and often ignored by most, but of massive importance to my collection.
I couldn't be happier.
What makes a pickup like this even better is that the price I paid was a fraction of what I thought the card could go for. Again, I felt that if I didn't pull the trigger quick...it'd be gone.
That promo got me digging out my regular copy of the card - the one that's been sitting in my collection for almost 30 years. It got me thinking about the time when I picked it up and added it to my Linden pc.
It's hard to believe how long ago that was.
It was early on in my Linden collecting and the mid-90's were pumping out some really fun insert sets. This Leather & Laces design from Leaf was one at the top of my list.
FOr a while, I actually tried to put the set together...and landed the Gretzky (in his St. Louis Blues uniform) for probably $50 at the time - crazy money in my eyes.
I managed to pick up the Linden from a local shop. Actually, scratch that....it was a shop that was here in town, but I wouldn't call it "local". It was a guy who lived in Edmonton that would travel down to Calgary each weekend and open up a space at a mall to sell cards. It was wild to think...but I loved driving out there each weekend to check out all the new singles he had.
This Trev was a big find at the time. For a while it was even considered the centrepiece fo my Linden collection. He only had a couple hundred cards at that point (compared to the almost 3000 unique cards now). I thought this was one of the nicer looking ones.
A shop like that just doesn't exist these days. I've been thinking a lot about the stores and shows I went to decades ago. Real important times in shaping the type of collector that I am today. I value that a lot.
To finish off the trifecta, I obtained this copy of the XXXX/5000 promo about a decade ago. At the time, it was a huge find as some of those mid-90's promo cards were popping up.
Yet another card I never thought I'd own.
As I'm crossing off the latest add from my master list, I'm looking at all the cards that really make me excited to be a player collector - and a completionist. These promo cards are an important representation of that.
And I think they look best as a little mini collection. Great stories for each...great conversations.
To this day, still a fantastic design...super photo choice, and the texture on the card just adds to the allure of the Leather & Laces insert.
What can I say....seeing these three together in my collection brings a massive smile to my face.
I am so fortunate to have found the collecting lane that resonates with me the most.
Cheers!
No comments:
Post a Comment