PWE Chronicles

 Thanks to Canada Post, this PWE recap post has been waiting for a long time to be posted. About a month ago, Joseph/CrazieJoe let me know that a trio of PWEs were on the way. Two arrived promptly, but with a third expected I opted to wait until they all showed up.

#3 showed up yesterday.

I'd been waiting so long, so this can jump the queue and make its appearance today. The best thing about this is that all 3 were filled with 2/14 content.

The best thing about Kelly Stinnett's cards is if they are dupes I can add them to my Mets collection. But, this is my first acquisition of this card for the 2/14 collection.

There was only a single basketball card among the 3 envelopes, but fortunately it was a need for the collection, and it does feature a great photo from the backboard. 

With all the mid-range football base cards from sets with 100 card base sets and a bunch of inserts that I've already added the inserts of into the collection, they all start to run together at some point. That made me think that I'd already added this David Garrard into my collection. My TCDB audit tells me otherwise. This is my 87th card of Garrard.

But I did know this shiny Justin Miller was new!

When Joseph was breaking a box of 04-05 Pacific, I noticed this card come up and immediately put my claim in for it. This is a somewhat rare-ish red foil parallel. I've already got the regular base card, and just need the blue /250 to complete the small rainbow.

And here's a sampling of the rest of the hockey in this. The Svoboda is a card that I was certain was already in the binders, but again, the TCDB check showed otherwise. There was also a 1991 Score of Dave Lowry that also fell into that category, but I decided I like the horizontal Score card better for scanning purposes. The Milan Hejduk content in this extends his leading numbers in the collection to 220 cards.

There you have it! If you didn't get enough 2/14 stuff in  this, I'll summarize the 2/14 stuff in my COMC shipment next time.

One Card Only: A Real Icebreaker

 I've got a quick return to my most-recent COMC box and an auto I'd been planning to add for a bit.

With his recent induction into the Hall of Fame, more autographs from the breaker of hockey's colour barrier have hit the secondary market. So, I naturally went for one of his first autographs ever on the market, going all the way back to 1997-98 Beehive. This entire set consists of 5*7 cards, so this really feels more like an autographed photo than a card. Thankfully, COMC shipped this in an appropriately-sized top loader, so it got here in good condition. And I've now got an O'Ree auto!

There you have it!

Hitting The Ice

 

This will be the last of the LCS anniversary busts from earlier in the month.

There's 3 regular base cards per pack. I'm just highlighting the Bergeron as the first one out.

Each pack also contained a green base parallel. With only 50 cards in the unnumbered base set, they are not exactly the rarest, but you can't go wrong with a McDavid.

The Ice Permieres are technically base cards, with the numbering being higher depending on how much is expected out of the specific rookie. Batherson is a Level 2, with Suomela and Hicketts being Level 4. That's back-to-back post with /999 cards of Hicketts. That Batherson is a pretty nice addition to the Sens binder as well. 

SubZero inserts return. The rookies portion of this gets the serial # treatment this season.

No relic in this, instead I got this Exquisite rookie card. Yay?

And the auto. While it isn't the biggest name, the Rinkside Signings always have a nice design with the on-acetate signature. So at least there's that.

Not the best box for the book value, but still a couple nice cards with the Dadonov and Batherson to take the regret partially away.

There you have it!

Random Pack Bustin' - Part 2

 

6 more packs! Again, clockwise from the top left corner, ending appropriately with Overtime.

I can't complain with this start of the packs, landing with my first and only hit in the bunch. While Hicketts hasn't really set the NHL on fire, he is still making appearances with the big club this past season.

That's a pretty good pack of OPC. A retro card to send along to Ann Arbor, a Kitchener Rangers alum for the insert, and a Sens SP. No complaints!

Not too much of note in the S1 pack, but at least I got a nice insert of Carey Price for the mask binder.

Those are pretty bland packs of both Platinum and Artifacts. It is to be expected from retail Artifacts, but I'd at least like to see something shiny from the Platinum.

But the OT brings things up. There's a second card that will be bound for Ann Arbor at a later date, and what is probably the first time I've ever pulled a numbered parallel from one of those, so that's a pretty nice ending to this.

Not a bad grouping of packs and cards!

Random Pack Bustin' - Part 1

 

Last week was the anniversary sale at the LCS, which I used to get the box of Ultimate I showed off earlier this week, as well as a bundle of packs from various sets. There was a mix of retail and hobby in there, with various releases covered. This is the first half of the dozen, with only the Overtime pack making more than 1 appearance.

Starting in the upper left and going clockwise, here's the hobby pack of MVP. I'm not going to scan everything from the more base heavy packs, but here's one of the puzzle back parallels and an anniversary insert. 

Not too bad from the Ice Pack. While it isn't Mathews, Aho is still one of the better rookies to come from that year's rookie class.

While there wasn't a hit in the Artifacts pack, or a rookie redemption, I did land the lowest numbered parallel  of the packs with the Fleury, who isn't a bad one to get. And to say a lot about the collation of the boxes, all 3 of the base cards were needs for the base 1-100 set, which I really, really shouldn't be worrying about.

While the Leafs anniversary set tended to lead towards players that were available to sign as opposed to a comprehensive grouping of the best and most famous players, I still like getting the chance to pull a Dick Irvin card in it.

The CHL set seems very bland in terms of base design for an Upper Deck release. But the look does seem very nice for IP/TTM autographs, so there's that. At least the insert was nice.

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While there was a low-numbered card in this post, with a nice hit to come, my favourite card came from the Overtime pack with the Namestnikov. He moved to the Sens in a trade during the '19 off-season, and then was moved on to the Avalanche in February. He didn't appear in UD Series 2, thus making this card likely his only Sens card. Given I'm trying to get at least one of every player who got a card with Ottawa, this is a great get.

I guess the Hughes is kinda nice too.

6 more packs next time!

The Newest 2/14 Binder Member is...

 

Raequan Williams! Although he went undrafted this past spring, he has signed with the Eagles, meaning he'll be keeping that same colour scheme on future NFL cards. Not the best signature aesthetically, but it is still a 2/14 baby and a hit for the collection.  And he's had a tough journey mentally to the pros, with a story that makes you want to see him succeed.

Here's the back of the card as well. Because why not?

There you have it!

Ultimate!

Depending on what time zone you're in as you read this, Ultimate Hockey 2019-20 will be dropping later today or tomorrow. I could shell out for the new stuff, or go back in time and try this. This being about half the cost of the new release made it an easy decision for a higher-end break.

Iginla is a perfect choice for a limited base set like this. 

Sneep on the other hand, not as much so. He played in 398 fewer games than copies of this card exist. But that's still one more than I will ever skate in!

The autograph in the pack box could just as easily been of a short-term rookie, but instead it is a pretty nice veteran autograph. Couture was in his third season when this card was released, and is still going strong with San Jose, having advanced all the way up to team captain this past season.

And dang, if they're using the term Ultimate Debut Threads to describe that patch, it is a pretty accurate description. If I had to complain about it, my only beef is that the photo has his shoulder just a bit too high to see the entirety of the shoulder patch from where the piece was taken. But 4 colours, and coming from an obvious location on the jersey makes this a great hit! It seems odd that a really great swatch is numbered to 100, but if that's the piece I get, I'm fine with it.

That's pretty Ultimate of a box.

Another Raptors Post

 Any excuse to return to my recent COMC mailer, and a small bunch of Raptors cards.

Opening up, here's a card from their first season. John Salley seems way too pleased to be a member of an expansion team.

I pulled a card from this set out of one of my recent repack adventures. I figured I liked it enough to add a Raptors card out of it to my collection. 

Court Kings is always a "when in doubt, add one to the shipment" decision. 

McCaw might not be a Raptor here, but I did want one of his autographs for my Ring Recipients collection. He probably won't get one in Toronto colours, so this will have to do unless Panini does a sticker dump.

A one-colour swatch, but it is Chris h, so it is a nice little addition to the binder, since he will be the first HOFer in team history that you think of for their time in Toronto.

And here's the big winner in terms of volume - OG Anunoby. He's yet another late draft pick that has developed nicely for the team. Ujiri truly is a wizard.

And there you have it!

2020 Adventures in Repacks: Part 30 - Something New, Something Old,

 A new repack type at Ye Olde Dollarama!

Let's see how Premium these are!

OK. There's some fairly recent stuff in this, with Credentials as the visible card, and a base card from the barely 2-month old SP Authentic release. That Connor McDavid card from his Erie Otters days has moved from Walmart repack to Dollarama ones. Kopecky had a decent 10 year NHL career so that isn't too bad. The Generation Next of Coffey has Sandis Ozolinsh as the Next portion on the card reverse. 

So, $2 worth? Maybe, but I'd prefer the randomness of the regular repacks.

Speaking of which, I also bought a Surprise Bag and a $1 hanger.

For those bad at counting, there were 16 cards here instead of the usual 15. Giroux and Subban (Food issue! Timmies!) were the visible cards. As seems to be the norm of late, a nice sampling from ITG's historic themed sets. I also like the pre-Godzilla mask Kolzig and the photo on the Dave Christian. Since I really don't buy these to sell the contents, I'll stiuck with the dollar hangers.

All cardboard in the Surprise Bag.

Back in 1990-91, this would have been an amazing pack to bust. A hologram, a Belfour rookie and a pair of Owen Nolan appearances. 

The HOF card tends to be a 1990 Bowman, so it was nice to get a McDonald's issue. 

Not the most spectacular grouping in the team pack, even if that Pro Set of Georges Vezina is a classic.

And there's your 6 card pack of miscellany. Another food issue and a Pinnacle Inside makes this pretty worthwhile as well. Probably another better $2 on the whole than the Premium repack.

There you have it!