Back in black

Been taking a few days off here and there between blog posts.  There's no doubt thought that blogging is still in the front of my mind even when I go a few days away from the keyboard.

Trades are coming in at a nice clip (I just accepted one this morning) and it's always great to move some cards on to a person that's looking for them for their collection.  

While the 2008 Upper Deck Baseball Heroes set isn't at the top of anyone's discussion list at the moment (I doubt it's in the top 50), I received a couple of trades recently that involved a few of the black parallels.  While it's not a critical part of my collection, it does keep the modern card portion of the trade list going (I have 3 other parallels from this set on my TCDB lists) and helps to keep the trade lines moving.

I really do want to put together this set; it's an easy build at 200 cards.  While the big story line on the blog lately has been the pursuit of a couple of vintage sets, over the years I've managed to put together two parallel sets for my collection.  I guess you could say that the parallel universe is another part of my collection that intrigues me, and I do hope one day to be able to show off a complete set of this black parallel.

I've only got 57 out of the 200 so far, so if you have any laying around that you're looking to move, hit me up on TCDB for a trade.   It would be appreciated.

Robert

Serial Saturday #36: Sorry Royals Fans

I almost titled this post "collateral damage" as that was my first thought when starting to write.  But my mind reflected back to a couple of recent trades with Royals fans (Matt and Josh, thank you both for the trades) and figured this would be a good way to show off one of their better players.

I snagged this card for $1.49 for my #'d/99 PC from the same eBay seller that I bought the '73 checklist that I showed off the other day.  The price tag was too good in my opinion to pass up.

I have a bit of difficulty just buying one card from a seller on eBay, and as a result this card is now in the collection.

Can't say for sure, but I think that this might have been still available because the seller spelled Salvador's last name incorrectly on the listing (Perrz).  This is a 2019 Bowman green parallel #'d 6/99 that had combined shipping with the checklist card, and in the end I was a happy collector.

This is #53 in the #'d/99 collection, which is turning out to be a very fun side project for me.  Maybe one day I'll decide to make it a little more interesting and see if I can get each of the serial #'s from 1 to 99 as part of the collection, a la the Serial Numbered Insanity set I did a few years ago.  The more I think about it, the more I like the idea....

Enjoy the hobby and stay safe!!

Robert

Trade Week: Firemedic1242

While I'm out of town for a week taking a much needed vacation, I'm pre-posting a few trades that I've received over the past couple of weeks.  Today's post is 9 cards from Mike who took a page worth of Braves cards off of my hands and got me a nice start on the 2020 Topps '85 inserts.

I didn't notice at the time of the trade, but the split on the '85s is even, 4 current major leaguers and 4 retired players.   Maybe some time in the future I'll sit down and find the original '85 cards of the retired players and compare them to the current photo.

Just to make sure the page was complete, I also received a 2012 Jim Thome Wal Mart blue parallel to add to that PC, which is up to 567 cards.   I'm sure that there's a ton of base cards and minor parallels on the want list still so hopefully someone can knock a bunch of them off for me and get me to the 600 card plateau.  Almost time to start a 2nd binder!

Thank you for the cards Mike, they really are appreciated!!

Enjoy the hobby!!

Robert

Strike while the iron is hot

Haven't posted for a few days, but it's time to get a couple of posts in before I head out for a week (hopefully) of relaxation with some family.

First, have to say it's a crying shame what's going on with this corona virus and how it has affected the sports world over the past couple of days.  I get what's going on and that people want to protect themselves, but we've survived Zika, Ebola and a whole host of other viruses that have come our way in the past couple of decades, so I have no doubt that the brilliant minds out there that handle medicine will come up with a way to control/cure this current strain.  For me, patience is key, and if you know me at all, that's one virtue that I usually lack....

Now back to what everyone comes by for, I just finished a trade with TCDB compatriot Paul (TCDB ID: pjdionne) who was very generous with me, and sent a page worth of cards from sets from the past 3 years.

The Green GQ set build from last year is still going, and these 3 cards bring me just past the 75% mark.  13 of the remaining cards are RC's (surprised there are that many), so it might take me a bit of time to hunt them down, but I believe that the Green set will not take me forever like some other parallel sets I've worked on it the past.

I've tried to strike while the iron is hot and go after the '85 inserts from this years Topps set.  I've made a few trades already for them, most of the 1-4 card variety, but that's OK because it's always about the thrill of the chase, right?  5 more A&G's from 2017 round out the package, including the Warren Spahn SP.  '17 A&G is just over 50% done but that's not a big deal since I'm already 3 years late to the party.

Thank you for the cards Paul, they are appreciated!!

Enjoy the hobby!

Robert

Royals doubles

While surfing card twitter one night last week, I came across a conversation between AJ from the Lost Collector blog and Matt (Twitter ID:@jmswyo) talking about TCDB and how Matt had just started on there.

Matt's a KC Royals collector, so I interjected my 2 cents and advised him that there may be a few Royals on my trade list he might need.   Next day, I had an offer waiting for me.  Nice!

No doubt that these 4 cards are doubles, as I'm sure I wouldn't have them if that weren't the case.

Nice vintage mix here!  All of them in nice shape, nothing too glamorous but definitely good enough for this guy.  Jim Campanis from the '70 set is especially good since his card # 671 is one of those dreaded high numbers I'll need to start chasing eventually (there's 86 of them...ugh!).  Two '72s and a '69 rounded out the vintage.

I really need to get back on the '69 train eventually, I love that set very much but have been slow to get rolling on it.  I just hit the 200 card mark this week.

Even the Ichiro Matt sent me is blue!!

I'm glad that I've finally figured out the scanning problems...love this scan!

2016 Gypsy Queen blue framed parallel in hand brings the Ichiro collection up to 243 cards, a mere blip on the mega amount of cards that he has out there.   I'm still having fun though adding cards here and there of the superstar.  One day I'll have to maybe pick up an auto or a jersey card or two.  His is the largest player PC I have that doesn't contain a hit.

Matt's TCDB ID is the same as his twitter, jmswyo, and he comes recommended highly.  Thank you for the cards Matt, they are appreciated!!

Enjoy the hobby!

Robert

When 1 turns into 3

Like a magician, old friend and trading partner AJ from the Lost Collector turns 1 card:

Into 2:

Then into 3:

Scanning skills improving

AJ for several weeks now has been reminding me that he's had a single GQ green card for me (see AJ, I wasn't ignoring you!!).  So we agreed upon a quick trade on TCDB where I sent him a Gleyber Torres card from 2020 Topps for the GQ green above.  By the way, I'm just 2 cards short of 75% complete for the Green set, very exciting.

But when I open the envelope, not only do I see the 95 CC silver signature card featuring Joe Carter's HR to win the '93 world series, but then  I see the Larry Fitzgerald Air Command card from 2012 Panini Gridiron.  

I guess now all that's left to say is TA DA!!

Thank you very much AJ, as always.  The cards are very much appreciated!!

Enjoy the hobby!

Robert

Maybe this set should have been one of the 10

At the beginning of the month, I wrote a post about the next 10 sets that I planned to finish to start 2020.  So far, I've done well sticking to that plan, as I've finished the first 2 (81 & 82 Topps), I'm closing in on the 3rd (83 Topps) and I'm picking up cards here and there for some of the others on the list.

But, there's one set that I put up a want list for last year, the '19 Gypsy Queen green parallel set.  Figuring that I didn't have a parallel set that would take me a while to finish, I decided to add this on as another project.  I expected this to take a couple of years, and be something that I'd slowly work towards.

Funny how a lot of people don't see it that way....

I just recently completed two more trades on TCDB, which takes the want list below the 80 card mark.   Far better than I would have ever hoped to have already had in hand.

Colbey from the Cardboard Collections blog sent me these two in return for a bunch of set help I sent his way (which I was very glad to do).  I will say that David Price's card features him looking quite happy, probably throwing someone out at first.  I'm guessing that the logo just under his feet is for Sam Adams beer, written out in full as Samuel.  Framber Valdez's card also features some advertising, for the Bank of America. 

New trade partner Jeff (TCDB ID: jcouvy) sent me these 5 greens along with the blue parallel below

The blue he sent by mistake, thinking it was a green.  I actually didn't get his message about it until yesterday, and I felt kind of bad about it so I sent him a Clayton Kershaw card today to hopefully "even out the trade". 

The want list is at 78 cards as of this morning, and I'm also looking for an extra green and blue parallel for my Andrew McCutchen collection. 

Thank you to both Jeff and Colbey for the trades, they are appreciated!!

Enjoy the hobby!

Robert

A couple of small ones

I boasted in my last post about how I was into the 90+ trade count for this year.   Jon had sent praise in the comments, and then wondered if he could keep up with that kind of pace. 

He made me think for a couple of minutes about all the trades this year, and how I've actually kept up.  I'm going to do a stats pack probably late in the year about all of them, but the trades for the most part have been reasonably easy (PWE), and have come in spurts.

About the beginning of last week, I lamented to my better half that the trade market had dried up a bit; I'd actually gone roughly 2 weeks without a trade offer coming my way.  Then all of a sudden, the damn broke, and I've been on a hot spell ever since.

I'm showing off 2 more trades today, both of them coming in the mail yesterday.   First off is a quick 2 card mail day from everyone's favorite Royals blogger, Josh (TCDB ID: royals {what else would it be} ).  Josh had seen the many posts I've done showing the '19GQ green parallels, and he had one for me.  

He didn't want Josh Harrison to be alone in the envelope, so he threw in a '68 Topps Dodgers Rookie Stars card to go along with it!   Great stuff.   Hadn't added a '68 in quite a while, so this was great to see.

Next up is 7 cards from Bill (TCDB ID: billwill), that added a few more GQ Greens to the build:

To be honest, this set build was a bit of a lark when I first decided to put it together.   I thought that it would be similar to the MVP hockey silver signature set that took me 2 decades to finish, but that hasn't been the case.

With these in hand, I'm at 134 of the 300 needed, and there's another 10 on the way.  So within the next couple of weeks, I'll be near the 50% mark, very surprising to say the least.  Maybe this will only take me one decade to finish....

A couple of recent Andrew McCutchen cards were also part of the envelope, '19 GQ (maybe the only GQ card I'll own from this year that's not green), and the '18 Topps Fire.   My McCutchen collection is over 160 cards now, and it's one of those collections that I have where I don't pursue cards to add to it, but it doesn't hurt to have them come in trades or just fall into my lap at a card show.

Not all trades have to be big.   Thank you to Josh and Bill for the cards, they are appreciated!!

Thanks for reading!

Robert

The Green Machine keeps rolling

I've built a grand total of 2 complete parallel sets in my collecting "career", so there's not a lot of data to go on.  But if past indications hold true, my latest parallel venture, the 2019 Gypsy Queen green parallel set should be finished around the year 2039. 

I'm happy to say I'm a bit ahead of that pace already, as two more trades from the TCDB  rolled in yesterday, bringing my total to 101, just over 1/3 complete already!

First off, my 2nd trade with Colin (TCDB ID: nwcardsupplies) was another successful one, as I was able to bring in 5 more for the set, along with an Ichiro GQ base card that I needed for that PC.

The next group of green cards comes from 2nd time trade partner Pat (TCDB ID:  itsjustoldcardboard), who sent me 17 not so old cards for this set...

Love the Jackie Bradley Jr. card in the first of the 2 scans, it looks as if he took a bit of a beating to make that catch!   I also love the two catchers cards side by side at the top of the 2nd scan, both of them fully outfitted in the tools of ignorance; for me I'd like to see more catchers cards in the crouch pose. 

I believe that this set will look great in a binder and pages, and I'll be pretty excited when I get far enough into the set to make buying a binder worth it.   I guess it's just a matter of deciding when that's going to occur.

Thanks for reading!

Robert

The Green Machine

Sometimes I just can't help myself.   Sometimes, I do put some thought into what sets I put together and why.   2019 Topps Gypsy Queen, to me, is a good looking set.  I'm sure that there are those out there that think the opposite, which is fine.

But what really got me attracted are the retail green parallels.  I actually debated for almost a month about whether or not to chase the set.  I wound up choosing to go for the set for 2 reasons.

1. The look.  Yes, I really like the look, and I think that in a binder and pages this will be a very nice addition to my collection
2. Something modern.  I'm still trying to keep the trades going on the TCDB website, and adding a modern set or 2 will help keep the trade market going.

I recently completed 2 trades within a week with Scott (TCDB ID: bravefan1) that netted me 11 of the GQ Green cards.

This is my first scan in a month.  

I made a mistake on this trade, sending a Mark Teixeira StarQuest card to Scott instead of a Chipper Jones, but instead of turning that into a negative, he offered up another trade almost instantly after I confirmed the mistake and was ready to send him the Chipper separately.   That trade netted me 5 more....

Fabulous looking cards (as I have said a few times already).  I only have 19 out of the 300 so far, but I'm looking forward long term to finishing this set. 

Scott, thank you very much for the trades, the cards were really appreciated!  Look forward to more trades in the future.

If you have any of these, please let me know, I'd love to take them off your hands (if I can afford it).

Thanks for reading!

Robert

Pink

October is breast cancer awareness month, but I'm sure that many of you(if not all) already know that.  If you read Collecting Cutch at all, he provides some of the breast reasons to be aware.

I actually have a couple of friends who have lost their breasts to cancer, so I am not only aware of it during the month of October, but year round I am reminded of what cancer can do.

Maybe unwittingly, maybe not, I found a table at the monthly card show on the weekly that had dime boxes, and I bought a few pink cards.

The Bryant was a buck, but the other 15 GQ pink cards were 10 cents apiece.  I'm sure I'll find good homes for them before too long.

I also found nearly 20 of the pink Optic cards, all for a dime apiece.  One has already been shipped off as part of a trade, one is a Marcus Stroman card that goes into the Blue Jays collection, and the others I'm sure will find a home. 

I tried keeping this under the 5 minute allotted time (that is a thing now, right?) but had no luck.

I tried to be cool, but when I think of cool I think of this guy...

Thanks for reading, Robert

Perk Me Up

One of the things I really like about Twitter is how specific you can make it.  Specific meaning you can add certain people who talk about the things you want to see on your timeline.

Start following someone that talks about crap you don't want to read about?  The mute button works fantastic. 

The major reasons that I use twitter are for sports, and for cards.  Simple.  I want fun on my down time, not stuff that's going to depress me or make me angry. 

Last weekend, my good buddy AJ from the Lost Collector turned on the Twitter card world (me especially) to a code that eBay was providing for $5 off of any transaction valued at $5.01 or more.

PERKMEUP was the code.

Immediately I went hunting for Joe Sakic cards.  $5 off of a nice limited parallel would help the Sakic collection.

2001/02 Pacific Atomic gold die-cut parallel.  It's a shame that Beckett doesn't list Pacific in their monthly guide, so I have to use COMC as a rough estimate.   The red parallel version (#'d to 290) of this card on COMC is right at $5.25, so I think I did OK with this purchase as....

the gold parallel is #'d out of 200.  The seller had this up for $5.99 with free shipping, so after the $5 Perk Me Up discount, I got this card for 99 cents.

Can't beat that with a stick....thank you AJ!

Thanks for reading, Robert

Try a Pack #16: 2018-19 O-Pee-Chee

I mentioned on Saturday's post that I got my first look at 18-19 OPC in the lot of cards that Doug had sent me.  Well, I was impressed enough that I had to make a run to Target on Saturday and bought myself a jumbo pack (32 cards) and a blaster (11 X 8 cards). 

I really like what I've seen so far.  I'd only opened the jumbo pack as of writing this post, so I haven't hit all that there is to offer in the set, but I did get a good start on hitting cards to show off.

It is the standard 600 card set, base cards #'d 1-500, cards 501-550 are rookies which are short printed, 551-560 are SP season highlight cards, 561-591 are team checklists, which are numbered in order by division standings.  For example, the first 8 cards are the Atlantic Division, with the order being Tampa Bay, Boston, Toronto, Detroit, Montreal, Ottawa and Buffalo. 

Finally, cards 592-600 are league leader cards, also short printed.

Here's a few for your viewing pleasure.

As I also mentioned on Saturday, I like that they added the All Star bar on the left hand side of the card.  I now have 4 of these, including the Auston Matthews card from the other day.

The base cards are really nice, I like the silver border and the design.  With 500 cards in the set, there's no shortage of cards for team collectors no matter what team you cheer for.

The only detriment for me is that the minis are back.   There's nothing wrong with the card per se, it's just that I don't care for the smaller cards and will probably move them on to someone who will enjoy them more.  As you can see with the Alex DeBrincat cards here, the mini uses the same picture as the base card.

I will always love the team checklist/logo cards.  This goes back to my childhood and the team logo cards that were found in sets back in the 70's.  As you can also see, the cards are printed in both English and French text.  Would be interesting down here in S. Florida if OPC created a Spanish parallel....

Finally, my parallel weakness is exploited with these two retro cards...

Now, these might look plain to the average collector, but I love the magenta background.  Did a little digging and there are other cards that have different color backgrounds (McDavid is dark blue, Kuznetsov is a light blue), but they also all seem to be horizontally oriented.  I believe that I'll be chasing this parallel over time.   I really like the design, and a good chase is always fun. 

There's other cards that are in the packs but not shown here.   Playing cards are back, 52 in total (of course).  Parallels of the minis and retro cards (including a no-name scratch off parallel) and several other inserts which should be interesting pulls/photos.

I'll keep you apprised of my progress on these set builds.

Thanks for reading, Robert

Strike a pose

I hadn't gotten around to posting my PC additions from my last COMC order, they just sat there on my desk staring at me for the past week or so.  I'd found other topics to talk about until today, when going through the cards I came across this beauty...

I love the line on the bottom of the card "An icon of consistency".  This pose that the photographer captured on this card could be called iconic (a word that does get thrown out too often in today's vernacular), Ichiro pulling up his right sleeve while holding his bat out toward the pitcher.

It also got me to thinking; I'm sure that there are collectors out there who collect cards like this.  Batters in unusual poses, pitchers hitting/bunting, etc.   Someone with the time and money could probably put together a good collection of Ichiro in this particular pose (I'm not that someone by the way).

Would love to hear about your unique collection, poses, catches, shots, etc.   Let me know in the comments.

To continue with the PC pickups from my last COMC order, there weren't a whole lot of them to show off, just about 10 in total.

Yes, Felix Potvin is still on my collecting radar.  He still stands as my favorite Leaf goalie, and the cat mask and equipment design doesn't hurt the appeal either.  Picking up cards from his stints with the Islanders, Kings and Bruins also won't hurt as he used variations of the cat mask with those teams, much like Ed Belfour did with his famous eagle mask.

I'm sure that there's a few people out there yawning right now saying "jersey cards, boring", but for me I still get a bit of a kick when I get them.  It's even better when I can get them for a couple of bucks apiece, such as I did with these Beehive and Black Diamond cards.  The blue swatches didn't hurt the cause as well.

The final 4 cards to show off feature one Sakic card, an Ichiro parallel (less than a buck, was excited to get that card at that price!) and a pair of John Olerud cards.  Yes, I've started an Olerud PC, as his sweet swing and calm demeanor made him one of my favorite baseball players.  Cleaning up my Blue Jays PC allowed me to find about 40 doubles to get the PC started, and I grabbed a couple of cards off COMC that feature him from his time with the Mets and Mariners. 

Maybe a bat on shoulder pose could be another idea for a PC?  I've seen quite a few of those over the years...

Thanks for reading, Robert

A little obsessed

I normally get home from work between 615-630 in the evening, depending on traffic.  With all the preparations going on down here in S. Florida over hurricane Irma, I decided to turn on the evening news.  CBS and NBC both led off with storm coverage, and it's been interesting to watch what all the different forecasters are predicting for the storm's path.

I've also been obsessed with posting the goalie cards lately, largely because $$ has been tight because of bills and of course, buying supplies for the storm.  No buying means you have to get creative with what you post, and starting to put together this goalie set has helped with that.

So in the meantime, with Irma reaching category 5 status this morning, here's 5 more cards for the goalie frankenset.

It's a little hard to see on the 98-99 Upper Deck card, but Byron Dafoe's mask has his nickname "Lord Byron" on his chin, and the Bruins logo with a growling bear on the side.  There's a rare sighting of a Curtis Joseph mask in the center that doesn't contain his trademark CuJo design.  Bill Ranford's design was never a big thrill for me, so if I ever find a #226 card featuring a goalie, chances are this card may be replaced.  These 3 cards are # 221,222 and 226.

I picked up the Mike McKenna card last month at the card show, largely because it was a gold medallion card from Fleer Ultra.  I believe that the mask he's wearing is from his time with the Norfolk Admirals of the AHL. 
The other card is easily my favorite card of the post (and yes, it's miscut) featuring Robb Stauber with the playing card King on his forehead.  Of course I'd like to find a more centered card of Stauber, but it'll be tough for me to part with it because of my love for playing cards.  These 2 cards are #234 & #248.

There's 5 more cards off of the list.  I'm going to try and get some more posts in by the end of the week, and then we'll see where nature takes us....

thanks for reading, Robert

My Top 10 PC cards for Joe Sakic

Nothing like leaving a contest entry to the last minute, right?  As many of you may know, Joe Sakic has been my longest running, and favorite Player Collection.  I haven't counted in a while, but I'm sure that 600 cards is a good estimate for what I have that features Sakic right now.  Lots of parallels in varying colors, shapes or signature styles (think MVP) account for quite a few of those cards. 

Limiting this post to 10 was tough.  But I managed to do it, and here they are...

2010-11 Score #1  Joe Earns a Spot in the Rafters

Colorado didn't delay raising Joe's #19 into the rafters, retiring his number opening night October 1, 2009.   Part of Joe's history with the Nordiques/Avalanche was the great battles that they had with their Western Conference rivals the Detroit Red Wings, featured on the next two cards.

1993-94 Upper Deck Next In Line #NL3

A pair of 19's, both the leader of their franchises.  If only Upper Deck knew what was coming over the next decade, they could have named this card differently.  Yzerman was the reason that Joe wore #91 for Canada in international tournaments.

2013-14 Panini Totally Certified Red #CC-YS

What better way to show off a pair of legends than with a piece of their jerseys!  I picked this up not too long ago from COMC for less than $10, and I'm very happy to add it to my Sakic collection. 

1994-95 Upper Deck Electric Ice #404

One of the cards that suckered me into the parallel collecting monkey that still exists today for me.  As I mentioned earlier, I have so many different parallels of Joe they probably account for a 1/3 of my Sakic collection.  But this is one of the first, and will always be one of my favorites.   I'm still trying to collect that set.

2008-09 O-Pee-Chee Retro Rainbow Parallel #369

Getting this card from fellow blogger GCRL (Jim) was one of the highlights of my holiday season last year.  Upper Deck going out on a limb and using one of Topps designs was also a great thing to see.  The 79-80 Topps/OPC hockey set was one of the best designs of all time, and seeing Sakic on one of those cards is just awesome for me. 

2003-04 Topps Lost Rookie Cards #LRC-JS

I had Gavin from Baseball Card Breakdown make me a custom card using this design as well.  I loved the push pin set from 88-89 and would love to see a company re-use it a la Topps Heritage. 

1994-95 Parkhurst You Crash the Game Gold #19

I was never very big on redemptions, my mistrust of the Postal Service having a lot to do with that.  But getting a gold set of these back in the day was one of the biggest joys of my collecting career, and having the Sakic was the icing on the cake.

1996-97 Upper Deck #240

Here's what it's all about, raising Lord Stanley.  How can you not like a card featuring your favorite player raising the greatest trophy in sports. 

2006-07 Upper Deck MVP Gotta Have Hart #HH5

Look at the hardware on the table in front of Joe.  Stanley Cup.  Hart Trophy.  Lady Byng Trophy.  What shocks me about the whole thing is that this is on a MVP card.  MVP was never known for their great insert sets, but this card to me is something else. 

1989-90 OPC #113

Have to end this post with the ultimate Joe Sakic card, his OPC rookie.  I once had about a dozen of these, but in need of money a long time ago, I sold a bunch of them.  I don't regret the decision as I kept this one, the best of the bunch.  It's also one of a few cards that feature him wearing the #88, which he did only in his rookie season before switching to #19 in year 2. 

A quick thanks as well to the Collecting Cutch blog for the contest and allowing me a chance to go over my Sakic collection again.   There's a lot of good stuff there and any chance to look over it is well worth the time for me.

thanks for reading, Robert

Just five more

I was going to post this last night, but got busy with things around the house and wound up too tired.  I wanted to show off 5 more serial numbered cards for the hockey version of SNI as a nightcap to the first Serial Saturday post.

So instead, you get these 5 today.  Hope you enjoy!

Ryan Close 2013-14 OPC black parallel #35/100.  Out of all the packs of OPC I've bought since it returned almost a decade ago, this is the only black parallel I've ever pulled.  Now, I have some use for it.

I've had this Guy Hebert 2000-01 Pacific Revolution Premier Date parallel in my collection forever, but for the life of me cannot remember how I came across it.  No matter, it too has a place now, and is serial #'d 37/60.

This Dan Hinote Sapphire parallel from the 2000-01 BAP Memorabilia set I remember quite well, pulled from a pack in the box I opened at the time.   I remember the box being truly disappointing.  This is serial #'d 49/100.

Ziggy Palffy was pulled from a pack of Black Diamond many years ago, and has sat in many a box over the past decade.  He too has a place now, and is serial #'d 997/2000.

His name is very hard to see, but this is Alexander Svitov of the Tampa Bay Lightning.  I bought a couple of retail boxes of 2002-03 Pacific Quest for the Cup about 2-3 years ago, and have found a cache of numbered cards that I pulled.  This card is numbered 923/950, and is the first of over a dozen of Quest for the Cup cards that you'll see as part of this set.

The Hockey version of SNI is coming along nicely, I have over 60 cards towards the 1200 card set already; all I have to do is sit down and get them posted.  I'll have to try a little harder to get some of these posted on Saturday's as well...

thanks for reading, Robert