My "Outrage" Over the OPC SPs Has Subsided

I build the O-Pee-Chee set every year.  I have yet to complete one, but I put forth an effort to do so.  This year is no different regardless of whether there is no product on the ice to coincide with my cardboard fixation.  Upper Deck did a few interesting things in this years set which I have posted about before including:  stickers, pop-ups, retro parallels, rainbow foil parallels, black foil parallels, etc.  There were even black & white cards that remind me of the baseball "deckle edge" equivalent, inserted at a rate of one in a million (slight exaggeration but not much).

Well in my travels of busting OPC (which included 2 hobby boxes and a couple blasters) I came across what I thought was this little nightmare...

I didn't post about it before in my mass OPC postings a couple weeks ago because I really didn't know what it was and didn't really care.  Frankly, I was kind of disappointed that these were included in there because I wasn't a big fan of the manufactured patches that Topps has been doing for the last few years in baseball and football.  A few of them were cool and well designed but most were just filler in my mind.  Why should Upper Deck jump on that bandwagon and desecrate one of my favorite hockey products with manufactured junk?  And JUNK is exactly what I thought it was.  I figured it had to be some kind of per box insert that I just got shorted in the second box.  I really didn't think about it much after that because, as I said, I didn't care.

Well that was until I realized that these things are "HOT"!  The new Beckett came out with their listings and I was shocked.  SHOCKED!!  I don't generally rely on the values in the guide because 90% of them are unrealistic, especially for newer cards.  The market dictates the value and places like Ebay, COMC, the Beckett Marketplace (not the guide), and other retailers are the market.  So why so surprised???

Most of the ones numbered above 50 have pricing in the $50-60 range.  The ones above 90 are pushing $80-135.  Past  95...$100-350!!!  This can't be serious, I said to myself.  Checking the monthly "Hot List" that they publish featuring the supposed best selling secondary market cards, there are two of these listed in the top five.

Apparently these are much harder to pull than I thought.  The Odds are 1:96 overall on a per pack basis.  

• 1-50 fall 1:125, 
• 51-62 are 1:852, 
• 63-73 are 1:1,704, 
• 74-86 are 1:1,922, 
• 87-96 are 1:3,748 and 
• 97-100 fall 1:14,056

This one above is #96 so....1:3,748!!  That, again, is insane, but what about those values?

I just checked Ebay's completed listings for these.  SHOCKED!! AGAIN!

The key card to these seems to be the Vancouver Canucks Cartoon logo.  It is listed in Beckett for $350 and has fetched $383 and $175 respectively (although the later was listed much higher and had a OBO).  They are numbered #100 which considering the odds, I suppose I get it.  The Washington Capitals "9-11" patch managed to pull a cool $160.  The Predators Cartoon logo fetched $120 and the Gretzky Retirement Patch pulled $150.

The one I pulled above...$130.29.

I guess I shouldn't be as upset with these anymore but I still don't like them.  I don't like the design.  I don't like the concept.  I don't have any desire to keep this, either.  So I suppose I should try to strike while the iron is hot and the market isn't flooded with them, don't you think?

Trade Post

I got an email a while back from a reader that was interested doing a trade so I obliged.  Why wouldn't I?  This is what the hobby is all about.  Since I haven't done a trade post in quite a while, I figured now was as good a time as any to chalk one up on the board.  So if you are one of the many that hates Trade Posts...change the channel now. 

My new friend Shane offered up some trade fodder that included some Penguins as well as some set need love.  We are always in need of some set building love.  All he asked in return was some reciprocation on the set needs.  Let's do it.

First there were two 2012-13 OPC Retro Penguins.  We have Zbynek Michalek and Pascal Dupuis.  Matt Niskanen was offered up too but I already had one and I'm not greedy.  These put me two steps closer to the team set of retros.  

Next in the mix was another Zbynek Michalek.  This time it was a Pinnacle Rink Collection parallel from last years collection.  The Nufex material doesn't scan very well but this doesn't look too bad.  I thought I had this one too but after I shuffled through a box or two of Pens cards, I realized I must have been mistaken.

Next up was this awesome Crosby Rainbow card from this years OPC set.  I pulled a Crosby shiny a few years ago but now I don't have to for this years set.  I thought about putting together at least the Rainbow foil set of just the Pittsburgh players but I haven't decided for sure yet.  It is tough to track all these down sometimes.

There were also cards for some sets as I had mentioned.  Shane threw in 9 O-Pee-Chee cards from this years set.  He also tossed in 9 2009-10 Artifacts cards that I needed for my base set.  That was pretty much all we had discussed.  He had a couple others in there which I took a pass on and when all was said and done, I sent him 80 or so "commons" from the base 12/13 OPC set.  Based on that, it seemed fair to me. 

But then....

THERE WAS THIS BEAUTY!!!!

For those not familiar, this is a Marquee Legend Gold Variation Mario Lemieux #G6.  These are available one in every retail Hanger/Box Pack.  The traditional Rack Packs don't have these.  But there is a special box, quite similar to the Topps Baseball/Football Hanger boxes, that contain a cello wrapped pack of cards. Those yield these little beauties!  There are 10 cards in the set and they include the likes of Bobby Orr, Bobby Hull, Patrick Roy, Joe Sakic, Mark Messier, Wayne Gretzky, Jean Beliveau, Eric Lindros, and Brett Hull.

All I know is, this isn't just some run of the mill parallel card.  Not to me it isn't.  Now I feel like the trade suddenly tipped in my favor.  Since I know Shane is a big Patrick Roy fan, I will have to have something sent his way to even this thing up in the near future.

Thanks a bunch, Shane!!!

Retro Legends, Batter-Dipped

You know, I have been trying for the life of me to figure out what these cards reminded me of.  When I pulled the first one, I felt there was something familiar about them but I couldn't put my finger on it.  I looked through my guides and my vintage card box, thinking I may have come across something like these, but nothing popped out at me.

I'm talking about these 12-13 O-Pee-Chee Retro Legends cards and their colorful yet quirky design pattern.

Here is what I mean...

But it donned on me as I was watching reruns of Pawn Stars this evening.  These wonderfully ridiculous cards remind me of ...

Those wonderfully, delicious breaded meat tubes that I used to love as a kid but can't stand the sight or smell of now.

I can't even walk past one in a mall without wanting to throw up.  Literally!!  I'm not kidding.  I hate hot dogs.  I saw them being made once...in person (the hot dogs, not the hot dog on a stick).  Live!  It wasn't pretty.  And while I generally live by the philosophy that anything is better batter-dipped, deep fried and put on a stick, even I can't stomach these concoctions.

But the uniforms...That is what these remind me of.  The hats specifically.  Even Bathgate and Doug Wilson up there have hair shaped like those hats.  

So forever, these O-Pee-Chee Retro's shall be know as the "OPC On A Stick" cards.  At least, that's what I am calling them.  Feel free to use that term as well. 

(Sorry, ladies. If you are in any of these pictures and are offended by being compared to a hockey card, I totally understand.  I will remove you from the page if requested to do so.  But you should be more careful about what pictures you let the Google Search Engine find of you in your work clothes.)

The Sticky

2012-13 O-Pee-Chee has a bunch of retro designed insert stickers.  They are very colorful.  These can be found about 1 per every 3 packs in hobby boxes and 1 in 6 in retail.  There are 100 cards in the set mixed with both current and past veteran players.

Here are my stickys...

And that concludes my parade of stickys.

The Shiny

2012-13 O-Pee-Chee has lots of shiny.  They fall about 1 in every 4 packs.  There are regular shiny.  There are Marquee Rookie and Marquee Legend shiny SPs.  There are also black border shiny numbered #/100.  

Here are my shiny...

 

This concludes my shiny.