OT: Hockey Cards

[shrader]

My brother and his son started streaming some card sales recently and it got me hooked.  Is anyone else a collector at all?  I wouldn't call myself that, but I'm having fun picking up random hockey stuff that I see.  I've decided to try to complete the full set of this year's Upper Deck series 1 and 2. It brings me back to when my parents would buy me a random pack of cards after my hockey games/practices.  I'm hoping my son will enjoy it in a few years too.

Apparently I've been ridiculously lucky with this process too.  I just opened a pack this morning and was greeted by one that could sell for about $300 right now.  My new habit has now been funded.

[Wyldnwoody44]

22 minutes ago, shrader said:

My brother and his son started streaming some card sales recently and it got me hooked.  Is anyone else a collector at all?  I wouldn't call myself that, but I'm having fun picking up random hockey stuff that I see.  I've decided to try to complete the full set of this year's Upper Deck series 1 and 2. It brings me back to when my parents would buy me a random pack of cards after my hockey games/practices.  I'm hoping my son will enjoy it in a few years too.

Apparently I've been ridiculously lucky with this process too.  I just opened a pack this morning and was greeted by one that could sell for about $300 right now.  My new habit has now been funded.

In my teenage years I collected them all, got the monthly Beckett grading guide and even had a trading card shop in Springville I'd hang at after school. I'm 99% sure my parents took all the cards when I left for the Navy, jerks 🤣 

Sadly I'm out of touch with the new cards, I'm hoping it makes a comeback 

Days at the superflea haggling for cards was a core memory for me 

[French Collection]

Card collecting is a lot of fun. It used to be a lot simpler with only O-Pee-Chee here and Topps in the US. Buy as many packs as your parents could afford then trade with your buddies to try and complete sets.

I got out of it when the market was flooded with cards and brands in the early 90’s. Specialty cards within sets skyrocketed in price but many came back to earth when demand was almost non existent. The card companies try to create a panic by limiting the printing of certain cards. Some neat innovations imo were game worn sweater fragments imbedded in cardboard.

You can still have fun by trying to collect basic sets but getting all of the added cards in every brand is a rich man’s game, not for kids learning about a sport.

Keep in mind that what someone on eBay or another marketplace asks for a card is often not what it is worth. A post about a super rare card spikes the price but only until the next big thing. Price guides are pretty good but there is a lag time in gathering the information, printing and distribution. Some stuff seems to fluctuate like crypto currency.

[Taro T]

16 minutes ago, French Collection said:

Card collecting is a lot of fun. It used to be a lot simpler with only O-Pee-Chee here and Topps in the US. Buy as many packs as your parents could afford then trade with your buddies to try and complete sets.

I got out of it when the market was flooded with cards and brands in the early 90’s. Specialty cards within sets skyrocketed in price but many came back to earth when demand was almost non existent. The card companies try to create a panic by limiting the printing of certain cards. Some neat innovations imo were game worn sweater fragments imbedded in cardboard.

You can still have fun by trying to collect basic sets but getting all of the added cards in every brand is a rich man’s game, not for kids learning about a sport.

Keep in mind that what someone on eBay or another marketplace asks for a card is often not what it is worth. A post about a super rare card spikes the price but only until the next big thing. Price guides are pretty good but there is a lag time in gathering the information, printing and distribution. Some stuff seems to fluctuate like crypto currency.

Collected as a kid.  Got back into it briefly when Bowman, Upper Deck, and the rest joined in during the early 90's and got most everything from that 1st year of the card explosion.  (Missing a few of the French Upper Deck set and pretty sure there's 1 of the "tiffany" sets missing from the collection too.)

But there are just too many around now to collect so pretty much forego trying.  

Bought some packs for the kids when they were younger, but they never really got into collecting them so kind of stopped getting them.

[Pimlach]

Collected Baseball, AFL Football, NHL Football, Hockey, and Basketball cards as a kid. 

Stopped after 8th grade, stored them in shoe boxes, moved away after college and never got them back from my younger brothers. 

None of my sons collect them anymore so I don't care to ever get them back, but I was into it as a kid. 

 

[shrader]

Yeah, I’m moving that Schaefer card as fast as I can before the value drops. 
 

I’m solely looking for the base sets. Some of that added stuff looks pretty cool and it might be nice to have a sabre or two, but otherwise I’d just sell that stuff for whatever I can get. 
 

The big cards that came out when I last was getting them were the holograms. I always remember hearing that they were slightly wider than the normal cards, so you could feel them if you held the sides of an unopened pack. I never got one though, so I wouldn’t know if that was true. That was probably just my older brother (7 years older) messing with his two little brothers. 

[French Collection]

4 hours ago, shrader said:

Yeah, I’m moving that Schaefer card as fast as I can before the value drops. 
 

I’m solely looking for the base sets. Some of that added stuff looks pretty cool and it might be nice to have a sabre or two, but otherwise I’d just sell that stuff for whatever I can get. 
 

The big cards that came out when I last was getting them were the holograms. I always remember hearing that they were slightly wider than the normal cards, so you could feel them if you held the sides of an unopened pack. I never got one though, so I wouldn’t know if that was true. That was probably just my older brother (7 years older) messing with his two little brothers. 

Not sure about wider but some cards were thicker. I know a guy that carried a caliper into a card shop to measure packs. His success rate was really good but I ‘m not sure if they let him do that indefinitely.

[Taro T]

9 minutes ago, French Collection said:

Not sure about wider but some cards were thicker. I know a guy that carried a caliper into a card shop to measure packs. His success rate was really good but I ‘m not sure if they let him do that indefinitely.

Yeah.  Guys would paw through every pack looking for the thicker ones that had special cards in them.

Card shops got wise to it and wouldn't let people do that eventually.

[Big Guava]

A long time ago as a kid...I still have quite an impressive baseball card collection including a lof valuable cards from the 60s and 70s

Edited March 27 by Big Guava

[St. Pete Gogolak]

My favorite series is the 1965 Topps AFL. Oversized cards, each team had a different background color (Bills were pink!).  Joe Namath’s rookie card is the most valuable of the lot.

[shrader]

I like seeing shops selling really old packs. I want to see what happened to the gum in those packs. 

[French Collection]

3 minutes ago, shrader said:

I like seeing shops selling really old packs. I want to see what happened to the gum in those packs. 

It used to go flat in about 38 seconds, I can’t imagine what it’s like 50+ years later.

[Taro T]

1 minute ago, French Collection said:

It used to go flat in about 38 seconds, I can’t imagine what it’s like 50+ years later.

Probably exactly the same.  😉

[shrader]

Weren’t they always rock hard? All I can picture is a shattered piece of gum. 

[Slack_in_MA]

I have a bunch of NFL and MLB cards (and a few NHL cards) from 1973-75 in a plastic container. I checked some websites to check their value, and unless you have a superstar's rookie card in pristine (unopened) condition, the best you're going to do is maybe a couple hundred bucks.

Still cool thinking those cards are fifty-odd years old. 

[freester]

I got a few shoeboxes full of 1970-76 football baseball hockey and basketball cards. Unfortunately not in pristine condition. 

[Apollo]

12 hours ago, shrader said:

Weren’t they always rock hard? All I can picture is a shattered piece of gum. 

Brittle pink rectangular pieces covered in a white powder.

[shrader]

This is a new card I wasn’t expecting in 2026.

 

[Rico7]

Big collector in 70's and 80's. Opeechee and Topps. My NHL gems are Gretzky rookies and Bossy rookie among others. Have complete sets from 73-74 to 86-87. Never had Gretzky rated because I'm uncomfortable putting the card in an envelope and mailing to someone i don't  know across the country. I know the relative value of Gretzky card. Will get passed on to my kids.

Funny thing is a friend of mine told me if I didn't get milk with my lunch in elementary school, I could save 5 cents, which I would stop at Dow's Red and White store on way home. Started building my collection 1 pack at a time.

Also, meant to mention in thread, they flooded the market in 90's and 2000's. Cards aren't worthless but it certainly brought values down. When Covid hit, a lot of people, including me got back into collecting which brought the values way back up.

Edited August 1 by Rico7

[pastajoe]

I still have cards from the 70s, 80s, and 90s. I’m looking to get rid of all my sports cards as my son doesn’t want them. I didn’t like the Bruins so Bobby Orr and Phil Esposito got the bike spokes treatment.

[shrader]

19 minutes ago, Rico7 said:

Big collector in 70's and 80's. Opeechee and Topps. My NHL gems are Gretzky rookies and Bossy rookie among others. Have complete sets from 73-74 to 86-87. Never had Gretzky rated because I'm uncomfortable putting the card in an envelope and mailing to someone i don't  know across the country. I know the relative value of Gretzky card. Will get passed on to my kids.

Funny thing is a friend of mine told me if I didn't get milk with my lunch in elementary school, I could save 5 cents, which I would stop at Dow's Red and White store on way home. Started building my collection 1 pack at a time.

Also, meant to mention in thread, they flooded the market in 90's and 2000's. Cards aren't worthless but it certainly brought values down. When Covid hit, a lot of people, including me got back into collecting which brought the values way back up.

It’s crazy the amount of money I watch people throw into stuff. I’ve watched one guy spend deep into 5 figures chasing any Schaefer card he can find. I’ve seen him come away with absolutely nothing a few times while spending $4k. 

[Rico7]

40 minutes ago, shrader said:

It’s crazy the amount of money I watch people throw into stuff. I’ve watched one guy spend deep into 5 figures chasing any Schaefer card he can find. I’ve seen him come away with absolutely nothing a few times while spending $4k. 

The market has certainly changed. I'm not a guy who looks to make $ off this stuff. But that sounds like chasing stupid money 

[French Collection]

1 hour ago, Rico7 said:

Big collector in 70's and 80's. Opeechee and Topps. My NHL gems are Gretzky rookies and Bossy rookie among others. Have complete sets from 73-74 to 86-87. Never had Gretzky rated because I'm uncomfortable putting the card in an envelope and mailing to someone i don't  know across the country. I know the relative value of Gretzky card. Will get passed on to my kids.

Funny thing is a friend of mine told me if I didn't get milk with my lunch in elementary school, I could save 5 cents, which I would stop at Dow's Red and White store on way home. Started building my collection 1 pack at a time.

Also, meant to mention in thread, they flooded the market in 90's and 2000's. Cards aren't worthless but it certainly brought values down. When Covid hit, a lot of people, including me got back into collecting which brought the values way back up.

I am leary about sending a card in the mail. I am bringing my Gretzky rookie to KSA for grading. It is not as high profile as PSA but it is relatively close to me (Kitchener) and I hand my card to the grader and can watch the process.

[shrader]

22 minutes ago, Rico7 said:

The market has certainly changed. I'm not a guy who looks to make $ off this stuff. But that sounds like chasing stupid money 

I just want some fun sabre stuff. Anything else I luck my way into with any value I’ll use to fund me. I pure lucked my way into a Celebrini autograph that will hopefully get me $2k plus at some point. I’d really love to keep that one, but not with that price tag. 

[#freejame]

I like to buy my son cheap cards and we have a couple neighbors who have generously given him a great deal of cards as well. I’ve also spent about $50 total on a Benson rookie JC, Östlund rookie JC, and Kulich rookie JC for him. They are his and somewhat protected in their cases, but he’s 3 and thinks they’re cool to play with so they certainly aren’t for reselling. There’s a couple of Geoff Sanderson cards I’ve eyed for myself but haven’t pulled the trigger. I’ve got a couple of Sakic rookies floating around too which are special to me.