Saturday, August 13, 2011

Grand Theft Larceny - eBay Style!

So I happened upon a little lot of cards earlier last week on eBay with very little in the way of a description and a picture of the 20 or so cards in the lot (http://cgi.ebay.com/ws/eBayISAPI.dll?ViewItem&item=150640526250&ssPageName=STRK:MEWNX:IT).  So as I am one to do if I am even moderately interested in a lot, I will bid the minimum and watch it over the course of its listing to see if it moves.  Part of the reason for bidding as opposed to just watching is that I might like the cards and if I get it for $.99 I am not going to complain, and part of it is to see how much it will go for (lets call it "market research").  Anywho, back to the story...

I bid the minimum and waited to see what happened.  From just the picture, I saw what appeared to be a number of 2010-11 Black Diamond cards including a Luongo Team Canada die-cut, a 4 diamond Joe Thornton and a Jamie McBain RC as well an assortment of other cards.

Well the cards arrived today...lets see what we received...

For you younger collectors, inserts and parallels are the norm in packs these days...however, back in the day (70's and 80's) the best you could expect in terms of an insert was an All-Star or Helmet numbers sticker...of course all of that changed in 1990-91 when Upper Deck introduced the first set of holograms...you know the ones that made the player move (somewhat) when you tilted them?  They evolved over the following two years and UD produced a moderately nice set in 1992-93 featuring a Euro-Rookie Team that included the Dominator as well as Lidstrom, Bure, Ahola (HI!), Semak, and Forslund.  Having bought enough 1992-93 packs to build a house out of, I have seen my share of these over the years, but its always a nice to look back to the past.

Kind of a neat looking card produced by Leaf/Donruss from the mid-90's.  I don't have any of these, so its a nice addition.

Fleer went through this phase in the mid-late 90's that incorporated a metallic look to their cards.  This one from an insert set that featured this look as well doing a vertigo kinda thing with the spiral...ok, gonna blow some chunks now...so dizzy...

It was all the rage in the early-90's to feature players who participated in the annual IIHF World Junior Championships in their home country's colors.  They were in base sets and inserts a plenty, including the set below that featured Mr. Allison (who during warm-ups before a game while he was a rookie with the Capitals missed the empty net with shots a number of times...I proclaimed to my girlfriend that he could not hit the broadside of a barn if he was standing a foot away from it...sadly he went on to have pretty good career so I have not lived it down since).

Another card from the afore-mentioned 92-93 Upper Deck set that, surprisingly, I did not have!!

I saw this card in the picture but was not sure who it was.  It turns out it is Petr Hrbek...um OK...never played a game in the NHL and part of a season in the AHL.  At least its an on-card auto...right??
Still with me???  Here is where this gets interesting...

Card #7 - 08-09 Black Diamond #188 Roberto Luongo (Quad)
I don't have a lot of cards from the 08-09 set, so this was a nice addition to my collection!


Excellent!  One of my favorite American players of all time!  Sweet!  Unfortunately, the sides of cards have some wear...but its still a nice card and a welcome addition to the collection!
McCabe has played with six teams over the course of his career and put up 528 points (145 goals) in 1135 games.  Respect...
Yup, there's that Jumbo-Joe card!  One of the league's premier top line centers!  Had a bit of a dip in his production last year (21-49-70) posting his lowest point totals since his last full season with the B's in 03-04 while playing 80 games.  Will Havlat be enough to return Joe to form for 11-12?  We shall see.  Nice card!

Yup, as I noted at the start, here it is!  Will this be his year to finally claim the cup?  I feel for you Canucks fans, so close last year...BTW - this card is available for trade if anyone is interested...I am looking for any UD Ice Jersey cards from either before or after the lockout (before preferred, but I will take what I can get).

Card #12 - 2010-11 Black Diamond #180 Jamie McBain RC
Yup, there it is...as I noted in the opening.  Woohoo...only six triple diamond RCs left...WTFMcBain...its FREAKING JEFF SKINNER!!!!  Scratch that crap out from before...it should read:

Card #12 - 2010-11 Black Diamond #213 Jeff Skinner RC
The current NHL Rookie of the Year Jeff Skinner!!  Need I saw more???  This freaking lot just went from pretty good to f-in great!!!  WOW!!!!



BTW - I HATE MY SCANNER...these cards look so much better in person...

On with the rest of the cards from the lot...like I really care at this point seeings as how I went from thinking I had picked up another XXX diamond to quad city!  But I shall press on...

Yes sir, not a bad pick-up if I say so myself...not as good as a JEFF SKINNER DB RC...but still nice!  This lot just keeps giving huh???   BTW this card is also available...my comments above still apply about trades.

OK, not bad...Jason give me a nice raised lip like you are annoyed would you???  PERFECT!  HOLD THAT LOOK!!  An annoyed Arnott!!

Dem R ducks...A R NOTT...they R TOO! Moving on...

Very nice!  I actually have a number of Victory black cards from 08-09, but none from 09-10...I like!


OK...one of the seven different parallels found in 08-09 Artifacts...hope he able to resume his career...if not, he should be allowed to cold-cock Cooke right on the kisser for ending his career!!



Time to get JIGGY with it!!!  Will JS be the answer to the Aves goal tending woes in 2011-12 or will Capitals sendoff Varlamov stay healthy and emerge as a #1 goalie (the Aves brass must think so after giving up their 2012 1st and a 2nd in 2012/2013)?  After serving up three different goalies in 2010-11 to the wolves (Budaj, Elliot, Anderson)...not one of the three ended up with a GAA below 3.20 or save percentage above .900...it just might be a LONG year for anyone manning the nets in Colorado!
And lastly but not leastly...the only card in the lot that appeared to be a base...Was not a base! 

The Mule potted 28 goals after missing most of 09-10 with a torn ACL.  Not a bad ending to what turns to be a really good lot of cards!!


So, what do you think??  Worth the $6.00 ($0.99 + $4.99 shipping)???  Lock my ass up and throw away the key cause that seller got robbed blind!!!!

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