I am referring to the annual set put out by our oh so favorite card producing mogul Upper Deck. The current sets feature base cards produced on a thicker card stock and usually feature the player photo raised on the card. The rookies are always printed on acetate (plastic) cards and garner some major attention by collectors, especially those looking for those hard to find rooks numbered to 99.
However, the first few years UD produced the cards, they were all printed on the acetate stock. A trend that continued until the 2003-04 release when they switched to the current iteration.
OK, enough history...I happened upon an auction last week for a near complete box of the 2001-02 Upper Deck Ice release. It featured 15 out of the 18 packs that come to a box...so I figured lets go for it. I ended up getting it for $16.95 with $6.95 for shipping...really a small price to pay in my mind in the quest to complete these sets!
It arrived yesterday and I wasted no time at all ripping into the packs. Each box of 2001-02 Ice cards contained 18 packs with each pack containing 4 cards. These sets were never loaded down with tons of inserts, just slick base cards as well as jersey, stick, and autographs (on acetate one and all).
Odds for finding the inserts are stated on the back of the box:
The packs and box featured Pavel Bure on them. Here is a scan of a pack front and back:
So what did I get you ask...well...plenty of base cards...a sampling of some of the cards follows:
As for inserts...well as any of you that have purchased loose packs from eBay can attest, you are never quite sure if you are getting packs that have been tampered with or not. HOWEVER, I can say with some certainty that my worries about tampering on these was quickly abated by ripping my first pack and seeing the following:
Well BOO-YA!! A hit on the first pack!! I LOVE these jersey cards! The use of the acetate to produce the card just fits the whole ice theme so well. The other cool feature on the card is found on the back where you can see the other side of the jersey swatch...
So I was honestly happy at this point...if the rest of the packs were base, I would have been OK with it given the ratio of 1 jersey per box hit rate...I use the word "if" because three packs later I pulled...
Oh yeah, I have a reservation for a rookie card of a player that debuts in the 2001-02 season...of course the redemption period expired seven years ago...the card itself still must hold some collectible value since it is numbered 1359/1500. I would have to imagine that this very card is sitting in some UD warehouse waiting to see the light of day, one day hoping to be redeemed and go to a collector who will keep it forever...if it was not for that darn redemption period...I pressed on...the very next pack produced the best pull of the box in the form of UDs first hockey jersey/stick combo card for the aged Mike Modano!!! WOOHOO!!! Grade A hit baby!!!
So now, as you might imagine, I was absolutely thrilled with this purchase...a nice looking jersey, and sweet stick/jersey card, a numbered expired redemption card, and a bunch of base in a pear tree!!!!
But wait...what was this...how about ONE more jersey??? Yup, just one more...
Granted it is for Patrick "I flubbed an empty net goal, landed on my @$$ and it ended up costing my team the game" Stefan...you know what I am talking about:
BTW, if anyone who reads this is looking for a base cards from the set, LMK, as I have a few now!!!
Thanks!!
Chris
To this day I don't understand how he couldn't just tap that thing in. My four year old could do that.
ReplyDeleteNice Stefan. That goal and his play in general will make him easy and cheap to go after once I can get around to it. Someday...
ReplyDelete