Group Break #6: THE GRAND FINALE; 2003-04 Pacific Crown Royale Hobby

Drum roll, please!!  

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For the last and final, grand finale box in the REAL DFG's FIRST EVER MID-SUMMER PRE-SEASON AFFORDABLE COMMUNITY GROUP HOCKEY BOX BREAK EXTRAVAGANZA!!! we have a hobby box of 2003-04 Crown Royale.

Crown Royale had been around in the hobby for a while at that point in 2003 and was known for a higher end feel compared to many other Pacific releases.  It was a set that is loved by many in the collecting community for it's elaborate, sometimes garish design, die-cut base cards, and almost gross over use of foil stamping.  For the 2003-04 set, Pacific toned it down a bit, laying off the foil stamping, and changing the design to feature a die-cut "cup" design.  The foil is limited to only the brand logo and outlines at the bottom.

For a hobby box, we have 20 packs with 8 cards per pack...that's 160 cards for the math illiterate.  There are an average of 4 Game Worn Jerseys in a box, giving us our final 4 guaranteed hits, and a chance at patch variations that are lower numbered.  There is also a host of insert sets and parallels to chase including a blue and red version of the base and rookies.  The blues come about one per pack (actually 2 every 3 packs) and the red are a much harder pull.  Rookies are all serial numbered and the big fish include Patrice Bergeron, Eric Staal, and Marc-Andre Fleury.  We also have a return, once again, of the Pacific Complete cards.

For those inclined, here is the video of the break.  For some reason, the sound is weird in places but the video was ok this time.  I don't get it.





If we'd rather skip to the good stuff, here are some scans of a few of the non-base cards we pulled. (the base look just like the rookies and parallels)

First, the rookies.  None of the big names are here but I suppose they could be worse.  No, you are right.  They couldn't. I still haven't figured out what those little white boxes next to the ROOKIE logo's are.  Almost like a serial number box but the numbering is stamped on the back.  Weird.

 

 If I didn't know better, I would swear this was Kenan 

Thompson, not Trevor Daley.

Here is just a sampling of the blue parallel cards.  It's hard to see the blue unless you blow them up.

 

 Next up are the inserts.  First, the Lords of the Rink collection.

 

 I guess you can call this a Rookie Insert of Eric Staal.

Then the Gauntlet of Glory cards which feature all the leagues goaltenders.

 

Followed by the Royal Portraits which feature rookies in either an action pose or at the Rookie Photo Shoot, and Global Conquest cards which feature a tandem of players from the NHL who are fellow countrymen.

 

Finally, we have our hits.  These weren't too bad considering the subjects.  We got a few star players instead of a handful of scrubs.  Plus, the Fedorov Patch Variation card is pretty cool.

 

So that's it.   The REAL DFG's FIRST EVER MID-SUMMER PRE-SEASON AFFORDABLE COMMUNITY GROUP HOCKEY BOX BREAK EXTRAVAGANZA!!! is now complete.  All that is left is to tally up the totals and get everything sorted, packed up, and sent out.

I hope everyone enjoyed participating in the break, watching the videos, and seeing all the cool stuff we pulled.  In my next post, I will try to get a running total of who is getting what cards.  I also need to figure out who I owe "hits" to and split up the few multi-team cards we pulled.  Those without a hit, I will give you something from the team you actually paid for, not your freebie.  That way at least you had some part in making the conscious decision to pick them.

I will most definitely do this again sometime because it was kind of fun.  It just might be awhile before that happens.