MY COLLECTION - Recap Of The 2010/11 Hockey Card Season

The release of Panini's high-end 'Dominion' product this past week brought with it an end to the 2010/11 hockey card schedule. It's weird...there are already 2011/12 products out there (I'll never figure it out).

It was without a doubt one of the most volatile years in my Trevor Linden collecting practices. While there were some no-brainer base cards to chase, the bulk of the goods were high-end....higher than I had ever seen before.


Let's break down what was added to (and then scratched off) the list.

***NOTE*** the cards shown in this post are the 1/1's that did not make it into my collection. They belong to a couple other top notch Linden collectors and I want them to know that I am posting them only because I want to show off their AWESOMENESS.

2010/11 saw 78 Trevor Linden cards hit the market. Add to that over 10 show cards. Not bad for a guy who hung up the skates a couple years ago.


Out of the 78 regular release cards, 27 of them were 1/1's. That's right....over a third of them. I gotta say, I found this stat the most disturbing.

In addition, 14 cards were numbered to 6 copies or less. We're talking over half the cards on my list being really - REALLY SCARCE.

I managed to pick up 34 of these cards (with 3 or 4 more on the way). Not too bad all things considered. Keep in mind, the newest Dominion release has 19 Linden cards in it. Thanks Panini! My wallet thanks you too.

I know the whereabouts of five 1/1 cards that have been scooped up by other collectors. My thought is - if I can't have them, I might as well try to find out who does.




Out of the cards that I did not manage to pick up this past year, there are 18 that I have come across and decided not to pursue. It could be because I couldn't reach a deal with the seller, I knew someone else was going after it, or (and this is the most likely reason) the asking price was just too darn high.

Linden cards (especially rare ones) seem to garner a bit of a premium lately. I think that's one of the reasons he's in so many products this year. And while I have spent some hard earned coin on a few of them, I will not go beyond my level of 'comfortability' when it comes to buying a card on my wantlist.

I refuse to pay the "Linden Tax". I would rather wait until the price comes down, or not have it at all. I don't ever want to look at a card in my collection and feel buyer's remorse.




So what will the new season of Trevor Linden collection bring? I've been trying to figure that one out myself over the past few days.

I've decided that I will stay the course. I will not get frustrated by the super-high-end cards that come out. Instead, I will appreciate them and hopefully pursue some of them. If they never come into my collection then so be it.




After all, I don't feel my Linden collection will ever hit the 100% mark.

What are your collecting goals for the 2011/12 hockey card season?

Custom Creations - Stanley Cup Sneak Peek

During the Stanley Cup Finals, I had a friendly little wager with a fellow hockey nut who I'm a big fan of.

I knew Colin over at The Hockey Life was a big supporter of Patrice Bergeron - always has been. Me being a bit of a Canucks fan thought it would be fun to put something on the line during the final series.

If I were to win, Colin would draw up one of his famous team sheets and get it autographed by the Canucks for me. If his Bruins were victorious, I would have to create a custom Bergeron hockey card.

Well, the summer has come and gone (and so has my time), but I have been working hard recently on a card for Colin that I hope meets his expectations.


I put Patrice's autograph on it just to see how the card would look when signed. I think it's coming along nicely.

It was a little tough trying to figure out which Bergeron photo to go with. There were a number of great pics out there.

I think for the back of the card, I'll be going with a team photo and maybe a closeup of Bergeron's face.

I plan to have the card done and sent off before the season starts. I don't think the Bruins are visiting until mid-January, but I think it would only be right to have that card sitting in the "to be signed" pile for game 1.

Congrats again Colin. Let's hope we can do it again at the end of this season.

STASHED IN THE CLOSET - Scotiabank Hockey News

A few weeks ago my sister had a 'house purge'/garage sale. It gave me a chance to get some of my old boxed up space fillers out of the basement....to make room for new space fillers.

I happened to come across a few cool items that I will show off here over the winter months.

Here's one item that I thought I had gotten rid of. It's a small, simple item but one I am very happy to still have.


This Scotiabank Hockey College News magazine is from January 1977. This magazine was put out by Scotiabank and was a 15-20 page release that had a simple variety of hockey. Call it a poor man's Hockey News.


This article made me laugh. Style, shmyle....just stop the puck. You tell 'em Tony.


And I love the drill at the bottom of this page. I remember hearing about Vladislav Tretiak using that one back in 1972 to increase eye-hand coordination as well as speed.


But the big reason I wanted this magazine was the article on Greg Harrison. He was (and still is in many respects) the number one mask maker in the industry. His work on fibreglass masks was revolutionary. And his introduction of the combo mask has turned goaltending protection into what it is today.


I really love the firebrand design in the bottom right corner. One mask that never made it into NHL play.

Snapshots of history like this can often go unappreciated which is a shame. I think these old magazines and old articles can lend to some great knowledge and entertainment.

If you ever come across one, take a moment to see what it has to offer.

OPINION: WHEN!

Further to my post yesterday on that gorgeous Panini Dominion quad auto featuring Trev and a trio of scrubs. :)

In just a one-day auction, the card grabs a final price of.....

$1,111.11

TWICE what I thought it would go for.

21 total bids.....17 unique bidders!

I had my doubts that the card would ever grace my collection, but now I know that it won't.

There's no way I'd pay that price for that card.

Now I really need to re-assess my collection and collecting goals.

OPINION: SAYING WHEN

Well, there's a new product release out this week.....Panini's high-end 'Dominion' cards are making a number of people drool over the sneak peeks so far.

I was one of them. I was really looking forward to seeing some of the cards they would be coming up with.

Day one of the product going live and this arrives on ebay...


This quad auto featuring Mario Lemieux, Joe Sakic and Steve Yzerman is numbered to just 5.

It's a gorgeous card, but it immediately makes me ask - "Why is Trevor Linden on this card?"

I would like to think that he is in the same league as these first ballot HOF'ers....but he's not.

Seeing this card makes me start to question just how much more of these ultra-rare high-end Linden gems I can go after.

FYI, the auction is just on for 24 hours and is already up over $300. I'm expecting the final price to be over $500.

I realize I've spent some big bucks in the past for some high-end cards, but it's starting to become more of the norm to see cards go for over $100, $200 even $400 bucks.

I don't know if I can realistically go after them.

So I ask myself - "Can I live with the fact that there will be some Linden cards that will just never be pursued?" "What do I want my collection to become?" And most importantly "In the midst of all of these cards coming out....am I still having fun?"

Maybe after the hype of Dominion's release has gone down I will feel a little more secure in my collecting, but right now I feel a little unsure as to what I want out of this hobby.

I've never had a card do that to me before.

It must be a special card indeed.

LINDEN CARD OF THE WEEK - Made To Order

The work week from 'H-E-double hockey sticks' is finally over!

What made things much more tolerable was that the weather was gorgeous here over the past week (between 25 and 30 degrees Celsius each day).

Now I can get back to some hockey card blogging....and hopefully a round of golf this week.

Here's a card that arrived a week ago. It's a beauty.

2010/11 In The Game
Heroes and Prospects
Made To Order Triple 1/1

I saw this card posted on a couple hobby boards a while back. Immediately, I was interested. I never knew Linden was an option on Made To Order cards.

For those who don't know what a Made To Order (or MTO) card is....it's when you receive a blank card in your pack (almost like a decoy card). You then go to the card producers' website and from a list of players, choose the card you want made. They design a unique one-of-a-kind card and mail it off to you.

To date, it's the only Trevor Linden Made To Order card in existence.

The person I bought it off of said they had the card made up because the players they wanted weren't available.....so the question of 'what's the best tradebait' was asked.

Linden and Canucks it was.

Now at the time, the asking price was way higher than I was willing to go. Slowly over the summer the price dropped, and dropped, and dropped.

It got to a number that was a little more comfortable for me, so I inquired. I was told what the 'break even' number was for the other person. Even then it was a little higher than I was looking to go.

Eventually, I went for it and we finally came to an agreement. The card arrived and this is what I pulled out of the bubble envelope.


Now first off, let me say that the price on the tag was NOT the price I paid. I think it was the price the person was hoping to get.

Second, this is just a terrible job of securing and packaging. I would have hoped that a card that I spent a lot of money on would have been prepped a little better for travel (it came all the way from Sweden).


What was even more disappointing was that the seal on the In The Game toploader came apart (it was made and sealed by the card company). To me, I would like the card in the condition and protection that it was originally intended.

I asked if the seller would be willing to pay to have the card resealed (if In The Game does that). Cross your fingers.


In the end, this card isn't even going to stay with me for very long. It will be heading off to another Linden collector. I hope to work something out for some nice stuff coming back my way.

RAISE THE CUP - Some Kind Generosity

It's the busiest week of the year for me, and believe it or not....I have time to do a quick post.

A few weeks back, Brad from 'Cards From The Crease' let me know that he had a card for my Raise The Cup project. He simply asked for my address and mailed it off.

Today, I received the card.....actually cards.

1996/97 Topps Picks
#39 Valeri Kamensky

Did you know that Valeri was second in playoff scoring with 22 points in 22 games. Coming off a 38-goal regular season, he was actually an integral part of the teams' win.

Yikes!

I'm curious as to where the photo would have been taken (since obviously it was not post-game on the ice).

1995/96 Pinnacle
#32 Bill Guerin

Another post-celebration celebration. Love the t-shirt. It looks as if New Jersey was 'Team USA' and they were facing from Canada......the NHL?

Is this one of those misprint t-shirts that would be sent off to third world countries? Should have been.

Nonetheless, a pair of great additions to my collection.

And a huge thank you to Brad. I really appreciate that you took a moment to help me out with my collection.

Keep an eye on your mailbox. I will have something out to you soon. :)

Current Collection - 45 cards