It's Not A Card, But Still Very Cool

At the Sun Times show a few weeks back, I mentioned I did some trading with some other collectors.  One of those fine fellows was Sal from Puck Junk.  Sal needs no introduction to the hockey collecting community so I will save my breath and just link to his site.

At any rate, Sal generally takes the trading thing to a whole new level with not only the cards you are looking for, but even more rare pieces that you don't see everyday.  This time was no different.  Sal presented me with a little something that was quite awesome.  Here it is...

First the front...

You can see some serious wear and tear on here, mainly around the creases in the tin and around the slot holes where the paint is chipping.  But other than that, the colors are still great.  Those old Pens jerseys are classics.

And then the back...

Much more wear and tear and what looks like some weathering.  Probably someone had this in a basement that was damp so the tin started to corrode.  You can see lots of scratches on the back of the goalie, probably from rubbing up against the net on the playing surface.

So where did this come from???

Back in 1954, Eagle Toy Company of Montreal began producing a metal version of the already popular rod hockey/table hockey games from decades earlier.  Eagle's difference?  The previous games made by companies like Munro Toys were made of wood.  Eagle received the endorsement of the Montreal Canadiens and was one of the first games to feature detailed player images, team logos, and because of the metal construction, allowed 360 degree player movement. 

For years, Eagle and their competitor Munroe, were huge in the industry.  Each release throughout the 50s and 60s got better with more realistic looking players, the addition of goal lights, timers, automatic puck droppers, and other interesting "upgrades".  The games continued to be produced throughout the 60s and 70s, but more companies got into the game as the years went by.  When the NHL expanded in 1967, demand increased in the US market and production had to expand too.  Eagle was sold to a company many of you may remember, called Coleco.

By the mid-late 80s, the popularity was waning for toys that didn't have buttons, run on batteries, beep, or have video screens.  While the table hockey games were gradually losing popularity in the US, demand in Canada was still high.  Some new companies got into the game, with Coleco selling off their rights to their designs.  Even The Great One himself put his name on a version in the early 90s. 

This is from the 2011 Let's Play Hockey International Expo in Las Vegas.  Yes, they still have tournaments.

Getting back to what I have here, Sal gave me the goalie of the Pittsburgh Penguins team set from, what I think is a 1971 Eagle Toys game.  Based on the short amount of research I've done, it doesn't appear that there was a set made with the Penguins included (unless it was regionally).  The Pens, as well as many other teams had to be ordered for the grand total of 75 cents per team plus shipping.  You can see by the wear and scratching that the less than stellar defense of the early Pens teams put a beating on their only goaltender.  So like many toys of yesteryear, this one was well loved.

But finding items like these in decent condition is tough, especially in recent years as collectors have gotten much more nostalgic and want to find the toys of their youth.  I have seen a few team sets in nice shape go for as much as $100+.  The Pens set that is supposedly in it's original packaging that is out there for sale now is priced at $65.

This is a very cool piece for my Penguins collection.  A little different but definitely a keeper.  

Recapping My National Plan

When I announced I was going to attend the National Sports Collectors Convention last week, I created my "gameplan", if you will, that I would follow to the letter in order to get out of their in one piece.  Well good intentions are not just paving material for the gateway to hell. 

I set out with my goals in hand, ready to attack at the moment my 5 year old Nike ACGs hit the floor of the convention center.  What I failed to remember was the sheer size and magnitude of the show.  Last time I went was 1993 and the show was held at McCormick Place in Chicago, the former "IT" place for conventions until they ran into the UNION problem a couple years back.  Of course that show seemed big.  I was only like 16 or something so everything seemed bigger (or is that when you are six?).  At any rate, I got immediately overwhelmed by the scope of what was present in front of me.

I hit a few tables right off the bat, looking for a few cards that would get my collecting juices flowing.  After browsing about a dozen or so, I made my way through the carpeted area with all the Premium vendors.  This is where the card manufacturers were along with many of the show sponsors, broadcasters, and larger dealers.  It was there that I was sort of sucked into the hype of the promotional packs being given away for pack redemption.  I watched for a bit as people were busting boxes left and right at the Panini booth and the Upper Deck kiosks, in hopes of pulling any of the rare cards that both manufacturers put into their show packs. 

As that excitement wore off, I hit a few dealer tables in hopes of scoring a great deal on some wax.  I was just looking at this point because who knew how many other dealers may have had the same thing for a dollar or two less?  Certainly not I, at that point.  It was then that I ran into my buddy Sal from Puck Junk.  We chatted a moment before he had some business to take care of with the guy from The Wantlist, the Canadian collector magazine that has all the great kind of articles that Beckett used to have eons ago when it was relevant as well as real time pricing and of course, the biggest, most comprehensive Wantlist you can imagine.  If you are a hockey collector and don't get this publication, what is wrong with you?  Go here and check it out. 

Next thing I know, Justin from The Hopeful Chase strolls by and we all decide to go to the special VIP Lounge to do some trading.  Yes, I said it.  Actual trading of cardboard took place.  So when they say there's no trading in the VIP room, they are wrong.  Since I have already sort of alluded to it being something I picked up, I might as well share.  First, I traded for this beauty.

Is that a Mario Lemieux Rookie, you ask?  Yes.  Yes it is.  Sure it is a little off center but the corners are all sharp and the back of the card looks almost perfect.  Did I mention it's a Mario Lemieux rookie?  Sure I gave up one of the most iconic football cards of all time to get it but I really had no emotional attachment to it despite is uber-coolness and if I wasn't going to cash in on this garage collection project anytime soon, the least I could do is flip stuff for my own PC.  Right?  RIGHT?!!?

Also in the mix were a few other cards that I needed including...

I have been off-and-on putting this set together.  Occasionally I pick up one or two and then I don't see or hear from them again for months.  Kind of like one of those relatives that you really want to see but then are sick of them after an hour or so.  Of course, seeing them here on this scan makes me want to start looking for them again.

A couple of singles that I didn't have for some reason.  The Rookie Finalist Lemieux I actually have never seen before so that was cool.  The Tangradi I thought I had but turns out I didn't.  I have some weird man-crush on Tangradi which I can't really explain so don't expect him to be on the Pens that much longer.

You may recall seeing this in another blog post on another blog.  Well it's mine now.  A Sweet Dual-Sweater Swatch of Flower.  The colors are actually the same and come from the dark sweaters (not the one in the picture).  The interesting thing is the two different textures.  One is definitely from a sleeve, the other, not too sure.  It's out of /35 too. 

 
So with those trades out of the way, that leaves my goals. I only had four.  Let's see how they turned out.

1.  Pick up 2 boxes. - - As usual, I went overboard on this one.  Atlanta Sports Cards had quite a few boxes that have been on my radar.  In fact, I have been on their website numerous times and had these in my cart but never pulled the trigger.  In all, I picked up 7 boxes including ITG Decades: 80s, a blaster of BAP, and a variety of Pacific products from the early 00s.  If you haven't seen them already, I'll be posting most of the breaks on the blog. So on a scale of 1-10, 1 being complete failure; 10 being triumphant success...this goal would rank a 10.

2.  Pick up 5 cards for each of my main player collections - - Well since I have 3 player collections, 15 cards didn't seem like a big deal.  Well, it was.  I picked up quite a few Mario's.  If you count the ones I got in trade, I picked up a total of 9.  As for Jagr, I'm really not on the Jaromir kick at the moment.  Looking at some of his cards, while cool, makes me want to burn them.  I don't know why.  Maybe it's the image of the up coming orange and black jersey he will be wearing. As for Billy G., do you know how hard it is to find Guerin cards?  Pretty damn difficult unless it's an auto or GU card and even then, you have to dig.  So using my scoring system, this goal ranks a 5 out of 10.  Three players, five cards each, 33% per player.  Bonus points for the extra Lemieux's.

3.  Pick up at least one autograph or memorabilia card for each of my Pittsburgh team collections - -This one kind of fell flat as well.  While I did get a few nice autos of Penguins that I didn't have (3 to be exact), the Pirates I sought out to pick up were no where to be found and I really didn't even look at Steeler cards at all.  I give this one a 3 out of 10.

4.  Sell something.  Alright, you can't say I didn't try on this one.  I had about a dozen or so cards to try and get rid of.  The only one that I had any traction on was this one.  I offered up stuff to about a dozen or so guys at the show and 7 of them were all interested in this one in particular.  Only one guy made me an offer to which I politely refused.  The others weren't really sure what to offer.  I had one guy who wanted it but really couldn't come up with a number.  I threw out a Ben, not knowing if that was fair or not, but even at that, couldn't get anyone to bite.  So I can't really give this one a legitimate score other than for trying.  We will say 1 out of 10 in this case. 

So adding up my score, with 40 possible points I scored 19 in completion of my goals.  But if you take into account that all 9 of the Mario cards were ones I needed and I picked up a Lemieux rookie, as well as three autograph Penguin cards, a hockey HOFer signed puck, an Olympic hero signed photo card, a bunch of fun boxes to bust, and some pretty cool memories from the show, I'd say that's pretty close to a perfect score.

More on this later.