Thought I would start a thread on this, as it is a renewed interest for me.
I collected cards during the late 80s/early 90s junk wax era, and then fell out of interest.
The Tim Horton's cards got my daughtered interested, and then we started to dabble in the overall hobby and have gotten increasingly into it.
I'll preface this by saying I'm not interested in discussions around the fact that you don't make money on sports cards. I'm not doing this to make money. My primary reasons are it is wonderful to have a shared interest and hobby with my daughter, it strikes a nostalgic chord with me, and I'm now in position where I can spend a little bit of money on it.
Curious if others are into it and what sets they are collecting. Everyone is chasing Bedard right now, which is fun. I bought a box of Allure the other day, and I think it's one of the more solid products from this year. Curious what others are into and what they think are fun packs.
But I've also dabbled in ripping some junk wax. I bought a handful of junk wax from a shop in Montana, and pulled a Ray Bourque certified auto-card that somehow seems to be in mint or near-mint condition. In addition, I found in my old collection a rookie card of Chipper Jones I didn't know I had. And I have pulled RCs of Kirby Puckett and Orel Hershiser from junk wax packs. I know there is a ton of this stuff around, but still fun.
Amongst newer stuff I've gotten a couple Bedards, no autos and not his YG but I did get a numbered card of his.
Any other discussion would be great, including favorite card shops in Calgary, etc.
We could potentially also get into some trading on here.
Last edited by Jiri Hrdina; 07-29-2024 at 03:01 PM.
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Funny timing. I saw the upheaval with these guys publicly revealing that you can use CT scans to reveal sealed packs. Given the amount of money and scams out there it's probably been a thing for a while for a while now and will likely accelerate. The whole "randomized" pack is going to be interesting in the next few years.
I collected a bunch as a kid in the 80's/90's. Still have most of my collection, minus some that got destroyed in the flood. I've got back into it in the last few years but have mostly been buying singles. I try to get autographed cards of the Flames players and other favorite players and some of the Young Guns cards for Flames players. My four year old son has just discovered hockey cards so I might have to find some cheaper boxes to break with him. As far as local stores go, I usually use Eastridge but that's only for convenience. I'd love to hear recommendations for where others prefer. I do most of my shopping on COMC and EBay.
COMC was also great for selling a bunch of my older cards. Shipping them there is expensive and so is the processing fees, but I've made a good amount by selling old doubles from the early 80's.
Collected as a kid in the 90's and then got back into during Covid and totally in it all again.
Mostly collect 90's rookie (high grade), signed 90's rookies (most of these guys do signings now), high end Iginla and high end Kipruosff.
Will snap some pics later tonight maybe.
I don't open much new stuff but did get a Bedard YG and it graded a BGS 9.5, but sold it to afford more PC stuff.
Eastridge is good. I buy all my singles off ebay or various Facebook card groups. Made a couple purchases off COMC but their service is atrociously slow and awful.
I had a massive collection pre-pandemic. I was trying to get every YG out there, and I was pretty close. The prices all tripled, and I sold them off. Not only for the opportunity, but I also started getting nervous just having $100+k in sports cards in my house.
I have a smaller collection now. I'm also opening less, as the prices on new stuff is ridiculous. I made an exception for the Bedard stuff, which I got for $70 all-in per tin. I hit 4 Bedard YGs. 2 I sent back to UD as they had dings in the top. Haven't gotten them back though, and it's been 3 months. I have a feeling I won't get them back and I'll be stuck with a sub-par replacement.
I still have my private Flames collection, a Gretzky Topps Rookie card, and the stuff from the last 3-4 years that I haven't sent to PSA yet, plus some remnants. The Flames have sold off most of their players, so my collection of Gaudreau graded YGs isn't so hot right now. I had a pretty big collection of Tkachuk rookies, including his Cup rookie. Sold those off in the Panthers 2023 run. Sad but also nice to make a big profit. I think I was selling his graded YGs off for $500-800 each and I'd paid $10 each for them.
The market has obviously tanked, but it's a good time to pick up some cards. I'm hoping the Flames hit a very high draft pick in 2025, and UD series 1 features a lot of Flames rookies. 2023/24 Series 1 was pretty good with Wolf, Pelletier, and Zary. The break prices were stupid though, breakers wanted $200 each for the Flames break. Got in on one for just over $100 and hit all the YGs plus a Pelletier silver outburst and a Wolf canvas.
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Thought I would start a thread on this, as it is a renewed interest for me.
I collected cards during the late 80s/early 90s junk wax era, and then fell out of interest.
The Tim Horton's cards got my daughtered interested, and then we started to dabble in the overall hobby and have gotten increasingly into it.
I'll preface this by saying I'm not interested in discussions around the fact that you don't make money on sports cards. I'm not doing this to make money. My primary reasons are it is wonderful to have a shared interest and hobby with my daughter, it strikes a nostalgic chord with me, and I'm now in position where I can spend a little bit of money on it.
Curious if others are into it and what sets they are collecting. Everyone is chasing Bedard right now, which is fun. I bought a box of Allure the other day, and I think it's one of the more solid products from this year. Curious what others are into and what they think are fun packs.
But I've also dabbled in ripping some junk wax. I bought a handful of junk wax from a shop in Montana, and pulled a Ray Bourque certified auto-card that somehow seems to be in mint or near-mint condition. In addition, I found in my old collection a rookie card of Chipper Jones I didn't know I had. And I have pulled RCs of Kirby Puckett and Orel Hershiser from junk wax packs. I know there is a ton of this stuff around, but still fun.
Amongst newer stuff I've gotten a couple Bedards, no autos and not his YG but I did get a numbered card of his.
Any other discussion would be great, including favorite card shops in Calgary, etc.
We could potentially also get into some trading on here.
What is "ripping some junk wax"?
I was big into collecting hockey and baseball cards as a kid. I still have them in these large plastic marker boxes today stored away somewhere. My most prized card is an autographed Guy Lafleur Nordique Upper Deck card that I got him to sign while he was serving time in the penalty box at an old-timers game in Calgary that my pops took me to.
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I was big into collecting hockey and baseball cards as a kid. I still have them in these large plastic marker boxes today stored away somewhere. My most prized card is an autographed Guy Lafleur Nordique Upper Deck card that I got him to sign while he was serving time in the penalty box at an old-timers game in Calgary that my pops took me to.
Junk wax is a term for the overproduced cards of the early 90s. During that fad, the big companies turned on the printing presses making far more copies of each card than had been previously made. It devalued rookies to the point that hall of fame rookie cards might worth less than $1 each.
Collectors overspeculated on the market, with some having warehouses full of cards that became worthless.
Ripping = opening packs.
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That would be the time when I was into collecting cards haha. Thanks for the explanation!
That's when everyone was collecting cards. Hence why they made so many of them. So many people also preserved those cards in binders and boxes, as opposed to the pre 90s eras when most cards ended up being destroyed by kids.
Location: Close enough to make a beer run during a TV timeout
Exp:
Quote:
Originally Posted by blankall
as opposed to the pre 90s eras when most cards ended up being destroyed by kids.
Yes, I know that my friends and I definitely destroyed a Gretzky rookie card back in the early 80s. I can accept that as if everybody had kept them in good condition, they wouldn't be worth so much now.
The manufactured scarcity of sports cards is a turn off for me. As in the "good" cards can only be found in the breaker boxes that cost a lot more. There doesn't seem to be the randomness of card packs like we had in the past.
Last edited by KTrain; 07-30-2024 at 03:35 PM.
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As is the "good" cards can only be found in the breaker boxes that cost a lot more. There doesn't seem to be the randomness of card packs like we had in the past.
Upper Deck/hockey has done retail vs hobby boxes (with different hits) for a very long time. But breakers aren't getting any special hockey hits.
Can't speak to other sports or Panini or Topps shenanigans.
I got fully back into collecting cards around 2017. I've built up a massive collection since then. I usually collect the Upper Deck Series 1, 2, and extended sets. I'm missing a few of the bigger Young Guns (Matthews, Bedard, McDavid), but I do have a Crosby.
My recommendation for card shops is Andy's in Hidden Valley. He is such a nice dude and I like to support him. Unfortunately it's a long way for me to get there from the deep south.
I'm looking to pare down my collection a bit as it's getting out of hand. Have lots of jersey cards, inserts, duplicate YG's that I would be willing to trade / sell for cheap. PM me if there's anything specific you would be interested in.
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The manufactured scarcity of sports cards is a turn off for me. As in the "good" cards can only be found in the breaker boxes that cost a lot more. There doesn't seem to be the randomness of card packs like we had in the past.
IMO hockey has done a good job with the tier levels for collection. The YGs are the main rookie cards, and those are hard but totally attainable to get. Then if you want to spend more money you can on higher end products with patches/autos.
My problem is with the diminishing value and increasing prices that Upper Deck has been gauging collectors with. A tin of the Cup is over $1,000.00 each now on release, and unless you hit a big card, you get back $200-300 in cards. Then with the lower end stuff, you pay $200-300 and get a couple of jersey cards and a no name auto.
With other sports, you pay $200 for a box an get 3-4 autos and a couple of jersey cards. UDs lack of competition has made them cheap and lazy.
I got fully back into collecting cards around 2017. I've built up a massive collection since then. I usually collect the Upper Deck Series 1, 2, and extended sets. I'm missing a few of the bigger Young Guns (Matthews, Bedard, McDavid), but I do have a Crosby.
My recommendation for card shops is Andy's in Hidden Valley. He is such a nice dude and I like to support him. Unfortunately it's a long way for me to get there from the deep south.
I'm looking to pare down my collection a bit as it's getting out of hand. Have lots of jersey cards, inserts, duplicate YG's that I would be willing to trade / sell for cheap. PM me if there's anything specific you would be interested in.
Andy is the best guy in the business. Haven’t bought much lately as I’m broke, but still have some cool stuff from back in the day. Lafleur and Dryden rookies, some cool signed stuff (Dryden, Howe, Koivu, Roy, Lafleur) . First set I collected as a kid was the 76/77 O Pee Chee. My Gretzky rookie has writing on it. D’oh.
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Andy is the best guy in the business. Haven’t bought much lately as I’m broke, but still have some cool stuff from back in the day. Lafleur and Dryden rookies, some cool signed stuff (Dryden, Howe, Koivu, Roy, Lafleur) . First set I collected as a kid was the 76/77 O Pee Chee. My Gretzky rookie has writing on it. D’oh.
Any Gretzky rookie is a cool card! Mine is a low grade and I love it.
Collected as a kid in the 90s. Got back into it in 2011 and spent a lot of time collecting Flames / hockey from 2011-17 and then got back in a second time during the pandemic. No longer collect anything hockey instead just some focused areas (Young Guns, Future Watch, The Cup, Panini Prime). My grails are a Gretzky rookie PSA 5 and a 1979-80 Gordie Howe autographed Whalers card. Was into vintage cards for a while and have a few mostly completed sets from the 70's-80s.
Have switched to soccer as that is my real passion now and have poured far more money than I should have into it. Going higher end on soccer than I ever did on hockey.
IMO the best card shop in the city is Eastridge. They usually have at least a few cards at good prices each time I go in. I was at Maple Leaf on Friday to check it out and there isn't much there. Tried Collectors Books and Cards on Fairmount and it's beyond overpriced. Have never been to Andy's.
If anyone wants to expand their Flames collection I'm sure I can work something out for a good price. Name a failed prospect from 2011-17 I probably have a bunch of good stuff of theirs.
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Last edited by shermanator; 07-30-2024 at 07:57 PM.
I collected a bunch as a kid in the 80's/90's. Still have most of my collection, minus some that got destroyed in the flood. I've got back into it in the last few years but have mostly been buying singles. I try to get autographed cards of the Flames players and other favorite players and some of the Young Guns cards for Flames players. My four year old son has just discovered hockey cards so I might have to find some cheaper boxes to break with him. As far as local stores go, I usually use Eastridge but that's only for convenience. I'd love to hear recommendations for where others prefer. I do most of my shopping on COMC and EBay.
COMC was also great for selling a bunch of my older cards. Shipping them there is expensive and so is the processing fees, but I've made a good amount by selling old doubles from the early 80's.
Edit: Seems like everyone loves Andy. For good reasons. Dude is just super nice, will give you honest recommendations and really wants to keep his customers happy.
My favorite in town is Andy's collectibles in the NE. He does up some surprise envelopes for $25 where you get a random selection of cool cards - usually an auto graph and a few others. More value than $25. But more importantly a great gift for a kid starting their collection and wants to get some cool stuff. My daughter was over the moon with it.
Maple Leaf sports on Centre street is also good. He has a similar deal with $10 surprise packages.
I prefer to support the little shops, and more often than not the guy behind the counter is the owner.
Last edited by Jiri Hrdina; 07-30-2024 at 08:22 PM.
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I was big into it in the junk wax era like everybody else… Gave it up for a long time other than buying autos of some of my favorite players and Flames legends but then randomly bought a several year old box of Topps Archives baseball or something at a card show and pulled a redemption card for an autographed Don Mattingly Rookie! The box was so old at that time that the redemption card was going to expire in a month or so but I managed to get it in on time and got the card. I’ve often wondered if I should get it graded but have no idea how it works. Is there anybody in Canada that does it? Or do you have to send it off to the US and then by the time all the shipping is paid is it even worth it? Other than being the coolest card I’ve ever pulled I have no real connection to it or the player so it’s probably better off going to somebody who will really cherish it.
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Hockey/Sports card collecting
