Vintage and Serial Numbered local additions

I don't like to do a whole lot of "Hey look at my new stuff" posts, but that's pretty much what you are going to get here...because I got to visit a local dealer that I don't see too often and got to raid his bins, naturally targeting two of my favorite things- vintage and serially numbered cards. It's so rare for me to see this dealer, I was not collecting the NHL the last time I saw him. Here are some highlights...

 My first card from the set and of Mahovlich. 1968-69 Topps.

 1974-75 Fleer Cloth Stickers. These are not too common, and all 4 in my collection have come from this dealer. How can you tell this set is from 1974-75 and not 1973-74? The Jazz were an expansion team debuting in 1974-75. The adhesive has attacked the cloth on these unfortunately, every single example I've ever seen. Each team got two stickers, a logo and a logo over a basketball.

 An SLU oddball? Yes! OK, it's not numbered or vintage, but does date from the 1989-90 season. It does have a slight bend, but for under a dollar I'm not going to complain about that.

 Again not numbered, but not a common insert. From 1995-96 Skybox, one of the first sets I got as an NBA collector and it was new, it is only the second card from this insert in my collection.

 UD Exclusives is the longest running parallel in trading card history, debuting in 1998-99 in both the NBA and NHL and continuing to this day in the NHL, and lasted I believe until the end of the UD license for the NBA in 2009-10. This is my first UD Exclusives NHL card, I have about 15 or 20 from the NBA, but I've not actually counted.

 This is SN but hard to see the number, over the word Authentic.

Green foil? SN to 99? $2? YES!

I also added 9 more of the 1973-74 Topps Sticker insert. These were apparently one per pack and although I would not classify them as "easy" to find, they are not as hard to find as most of the other 1970s inserts. In fact, I even ended up with a couple of duplicates because I didn't remember which ones I had or which ones I picked up that day- ended up buying two of the Knicks/Bulls card the same day. It's slated to go to COMC in my next shipment unless somebody wants to trade for it now. (as usual, I'll take anything offered)

I really wish they had put the team logo and team banner on the same card instead of mix-and-matching them. I have no cards in my collection for the Capital Bullets, and this one will be counted as a multi-subject card as are all in this series.

 I didn't realize this was card #1 when I got it- I knew I didn't have it, and the price was right, so I got it. I like to have #1 cards for sets, for some reason.

 

This is actually my first card of Tony Esposito, my third from the set.

 I wasn't sure if I needed this card or not- I thought I did, so I took the chance, and it turned out that I was correct- I did need this card! Not anymore! 

 These cards are super thick, and every base card in the set is SN999, not just the rookies. This is only my second card from the set and of Taurean Green.

My third card from the 2009-10 Topps gold parallel. The last Topps NBA set, the cards are generally out of my price range due to the presence of the Steph Curry rookie card in the set.

 My first card of both player and set. 2005-06 Hot Prospects.

My first card of Jessiman, but not of the set. This is the same set as the Emerald Bouwmeester shown above, 2011-12 Artifacts.

There is one other numbered card I have not scanned yet as it's a mirror foil card and they are best done as a page of all foil together. It's a die cut parallel of Xavier Henry. I'll get it scanned at some point.

Thanks for reading!

My First NHL Autograph!

I said that I wanted to pull my first NHL autograph, after buying my first NBA and NASCAR autographs as singles. That didn't happen, but it was still a surprise, which is what I really wanted it to be! And a surprise it was- I wasn't expecting a package, I had to do some sleuthing to figure out who sent it, and most surprising of all is that it did not come to my PO box address, but right to my door. After having problems with our mail being stolen right out of the mailbox we have switched to the PO box almost exclusively. In fact I didn't think any of the card people I know even had this address. So when I saw this I had no idea what it was going to be.

Then I opened it, and this came out...

There it is, my first NHL autograph! The kindness of my fellow card collectors, and hockey collectors in particular, never ceases to amaze me. And now that I don't have to worry about not buying my first as a single, this opens me up to start shopping on COMC...if only I had more than 42 cents in my account. Of course, if I had actually done something like buy some cards, I might have crossed this threshold sooner, but in fact I have not purchased any cards since January, all my new additions- over 1000 NHL cards alone- have come as gifts or trades. What a community!

But this isn't all! The package contained 5 cards. One of them....the one that clued me in on who sent it- was this NBA card, that I had claimed on Kirk's blog a while ago and then forgot about.

 To be honest I had actually forgotten that I had claimed this one. My memory is really bad...bad enough that I didn't recognize the name on the return address despite this being the third or fourth time Kirk has sent me mail, LOL. Yes it comes from my friend Kirk aka CaptKirk, who is a regular on the Trading Card Database and his own blog, as linked above. This insert comes from 2015-16 Donruss, a set I really liked. This The Rookies insert is 50 cards long and includes some guys I don't have a lot of cards of. Jokic is one of them for now, but he's having a breakout season this year. Despite the fact that it's his second season he's definitely in the running for Most Improved Player this year. He's going to be the keystone the Nuggets build their team around for the foreseeable future. I think this is my 4th card of him only...maybe 5th. When I claimed it from Kirk it would have been my second. I think. I'm glad he remembered because I forgot totally until I saw it today!

The final card I needed was a hologram. As you should all know by now I love holograms. I think they are the best kind of insert set in card history. I now have 3 of the 9 cards from this insert from 1991-92 Upper Deck. That's pretty good considering I just got my first in January!

I finally completed the NBA set about 2 years ago now, but I'm finding the NHL versions scan better, and also the examples I've gotten are not as beat up as the NBA versions I have. I don't know if that is due to the life they have lived before I got them or if they were not made as well. Such a great card though. Holograms rock!

The package also included two Nets cards, one from the same Donruss set and one from last year's Complete Silver parallel, but I had those already.

Thanks so much Kirk, you truly surprised me with this one, in more ways than one!

100 Word Challenge

$30 a Week Robert had a 100 Word Challenge. He sends you cards, you write 100 words about them. Hard for me. Like to type. 

Welcome to Hockey!

Gold Parallel of Ray Bourque. Like 1992-93 set a lot. 

Etched John Vanbiesbrouck.  Neat helmet!

Shiny Brett Hull. Think first of this uniform in my collection. 

Pavel Bure Fire on Ice. This card GLOWS. Looks like it is lit up with neon lights. Think may be my favorite. 

Vintage Bryan Trottier! My third card from 1979-80, what a great design.  Always love vintage, rare to see non-white border in 70s. 

Thank you!