OT: Hockey Memorabilia and Hockey Cards Collectors

[Daximus]

I've recently really gotten into the memorabilia and card world and it's tons of fun. What do our fellow Jets fans collect?

I have a rookie season Laine signed home jersey with COA framed. (Got as a gift for my Bachelor Party)
An Ehlers rookie season signed home jersey with COA framed.
A Scheifele rookie season away jersey with COA framed.
A Rod Langway HOF induction jersey with COA from a jersey break (can't get rid of it)

I'm almost finished Upper Deck 17/18 Series One, just started collecting.

Have a Brock Boeser young gun, a red shining star Auston Matthews, Braden Holtby and Johnny Guadreau, young gun Alex Debrincat, young gun UD canvas PLD, Canada's Rookie and 17/18 Canvas Patrick Laine, Mikko Koivu game worn jersey patch and Jake DeBrusk young gun.

Also have a signed Mike Sillinger rookie card and jersey. (my dad was friends with him)

What do you guys have or collect?

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[razorsedge]

I don't collect personally, but I do have a hobby business custom framing sports memorabilia. So I've had some neat stuff come through.

I framed the game worn jersey of Ryan Smyth. It was the Jersey he scored his last goal in, before he retired.

I also have an aquintance that is a high end card collector. He's considered to have the most valuable Connor McDavid collection. He had the Connor McDavid shield card from the 2015-16 The Cup series. He didnt pull the card, but bought it off ebay as an investment. He sold it privately earlier this year for 6 figures.

I stick to upper deck series 1 and 2, and Tim Hortons cards personally. It's an expensive hobby.

 

[mazmin]

Thanks for sharing and welcome to the fun!

I've been collecting cards since the early 90's. The problem with that is all those cards were mass produced and pretty low value. Luckily I got my hands on some 80's cards as well such as: Yzerman rc, Lemieux rc, Francis rc, Hawerchuck rc, etc. Newer cards I have and love include Laine Younguns canvas graded 9.5 gem mint and a Scheifele SP rookie autograph graded 10 gem mint. With the birth of my daughter I'm more of a seller than buyer these days LOL!

Speaking of the 90's, when I was 9 years old I used to walk over to River Height Community Centre (now renamed) to watch the Jets practice and stalk them for autographs. I got a bunch but remember a very young but (suprisingly) kind Tkachuk interaction and a very nervous and shy Zhamnov. The attention made him blush!

I lucked into some neat items a few years back. My auntie married into a Swedish fanily here in Winnipeg who used to be surrogate parents for the early Swedish and Finish players in Winnipeg. The players gifted the family all types of memoribilia, and when it was time to settle their estate years later they gave some of these items to me. I have a signed stick that looks really old, say late 50's. It's signed by the whole international Swedish hockey team from tjat time. I need help identifying the right year, tournament, and players. I know Thomas Steen really wants the stick. He's seen it, and lots of the players were his "heroes growing up."

I also got two gold rimmed Jets beer mugs from the WHA days that were given out to Three Stars. From what I know mine were from Willy Lidstrom. Lastly, I once found a signed Boston Bruins pennant from the 70's at a garage sale. Sadly it was because the young man who lived there passed away so I couldn't ask questions about it. I think I paid 50 cents. I was dying to buy the huge stack of Playboy mags but I was only 12-13 year old and chickened out. Lots of big names on that penant but no Orr or Esposito from what I can see. I'd need help to figure this one out as well.

 

[razorsedge]

I forgot to mention, an uncle of mine gave me an autographed front page of the Edmonton Sun, completely autographed by the 1986 Oilers. So it has Gretzky, Messier, Kurri, Fuhr etc on it. I've been meaning to museum grade frame it, but haven't gotten around to it.

 

[Wolf357]

If you are going to get into the hobby...take it for what it is...A HOBBY... it’s fun but can be overwhelming with the sheer amount of special inserts from each card company.
The 90s were a gong show for the industry and almost completely killed the hobby. It has come back and you can make money in it...but if that’s why your into it your in for the wrong reasons.
Personally I would just pick to one particular segment..70s/80s cards which can be collected at a reasonable price. Or a personal favourite player..try and get every Schefelie card ever made, or a particular team... try and just collect winnipeg Jets players... otherwise you will simply be overwhelmed with the sheer insanity of how many cards are out there...

 

[Daximus]

If you are going to get into the hobby...take it for what it is...A HOBBY... it’s fun but can be overwhelming with the sheer amount of special inserts from each card company.
The 90s were a gong show for the industry and almost completely killed the hobby. It has come back and you can make money in it...but if that’s why your into it your in for the wrong reasons.
Personally I would just pick to one particular segment..70s/80s cards which can be collected at a reasonable price. Or a personal favourite player..try and get every Schefelie card ever made, or a particular team... try and just collect winnipeg Jets players... otherwise you will simply be overwhelmed with the sheer insanity of how many cards are out there...

I've bought a few boxes already. I realized that its probably a huge money pit but the fun of opening packs is all I really do it for. I've got a few nice cards I'm hoping to flip for some Jets cards at the local sports store. The guy has Helle, Connor and Ehlers young guns so hopefully he see's something he likes in my small collection and I can snag those. I've almost got the entire Series 1 base set for 17/18. Not worth much even together but cool to look at.

My buddies bought me that signed Laine rookie jersey and I'm going to make my own shadow box for it in my dads shop and I want to surround it with Rookie Laine cards and eventually a signed goal puck if I can find one. I've found a few Ehlers rookie season signed goal pucks and Connor as well but never pulled the trigger on them.

 

[Daximus]

I forgot to mention, an uncle of mine gave me an autographed front page of the Edmonton Sun, completely autographed by the 1986 Oilers. So it has Gretzky, Messier, Kurri, Fuhr etc on it. I've been meaning to museum grade frame it, but haven't gotten around to it.

That's awesome. I was in an antique shop and found a mint "The Great Gretzky" book that was in a protector. It's from Gretzky's rookie season in the NHL (not really a rookie) but it goes into a tonne of detail about his early life and the 79/80 season in general. There are a bunch of reprints of it but I saw one of the originals on ebay for like $100. Not sure if it's worth anything but it's definitely one of the originals and I got it for $1. Would be awesome if I could get him to sign it but unlikely.

 

[Hank Chinaski]

If you are going to get into the hobby...take it for what it is...A HOBBY... it’s fun but can be overwhelming with the sheer amount of special inserts from each card company.
The 90s were a gong show for the industry and almost completely killed the hobby. It has come back and you can make money in it...but if that’s why your into it your in for the wrong reasons.
Personally I would just pick to one particular segment..70s/80s cards which can be collected at a reasonable price. Or a personal favourite player..try and get every Schefelie card ever made, or a particular team... try and just collect winnipeg Jets players... otherwise you will simply be overwhelmed with the sheer insanity of how many cards are out there...

Thanks for answering the question I was about to ask. As a hobby, totally understand. Is there still money to be made? Seems like the sports memorabilia market is absolutely saturated, and there’s a lot of public skepticism about authenticity.

 

[Wolf357]

Thanks for answering the question I was about to ask. As a hobby, totally understand. Is there still money to be made? Seems like the sports memorabilia market is absolutely saturated, and there’s a lot of public skepticism about authenticity.

Yes you can make money... kinda like a stockbroker predicting what stocks will go up...
What I foresee really killing the hobby is counterfeiting.. as technology gets better the process to make counterfeit cards gets better... eventually the market may get so saturated with counterfeits that it may die.
Particularly older 70s/80s cards will be so easy to counterfeit that it will be impossible to tell the real thing from a fake...killing the collecting industry

Here is a really good article on fake Gretzky Rokie cards
How to Spot a Counterfeit Wayne Gretzky Rookie Card

 

[TheGovernment]

Im 39, I was collecting as a kid for about 10 years. I have pretty much every set from 1985 to 1995. Lots of earlier ones too.
My best cards are Gretzky, Mario, Yzerman, bourque , Roy etc. All mint rookie cards. If they played in that era, I have their rookie cards in multiple sets.
All the expensive one are tucked away in a safety deposit box but I have at 6 big uhaul cardboard boxes filled with sets of cards.
Also have tons of baseball cards as well.

Theres a pretty substantial $ there, so hopefully my daughter can have some retirement money!

 

[MrGrinch]

I have 3 Gretz rookie cards, one I got him to sign as a kid. Are they worth anything? Have a funny story about the day I got him to sign but I’ll save that for another post...

My most prized collection is an almost complete set of 1924/25 Maple Crispette cards of the Montreal Canadiens. Included in the set is a George Vezina. No word of a lie, found them at a west end garage sale in an old shoe box for $5.

I actually don’t collect many cards. But I do love collecting game worn jerseys.

 

[mondo3]

Im 39, I was collecting as a kid for about 10 years. I have pretty much every set from 1985 to 1995. Lots of earlier ones too.
My best cards are Gretzky, Mario, Yzerman, bourque , Roy etc. All mint rookie cards. If they played in that era, I have their rookie cards in multiple sets.
All the expensive one are tucked away in a safety deposit box but I have at 6 big uhaul cardboard boxes filled with sets of cards.
Also have tons of baseball cards as well.

Theres a pretty substantial $ there, so hopefully my daughter can have some retirement money!

If you really want them for an inheritance, my suggestion would be to get the key cards graded by PSA or Beckett. There's a chance your daughter would just sell them en-mass for a fraction of what they are worth. If they are graded, it's easy to see what they are worth on eBay. You could even put a price sheet summary in with them. Most kids / adults who aren't interested in the hobby would just be happy to get rid of them at any price. For example, if the cards are worth $100k, and someone comes along and says here's $20k cash for them, she might just sell them as she would have no idea if that's a fair price.

 

[mondo3]

Another thought - if they really are valuable, make sure it's spelled out in your will. A friend (who passed away suddenly) didn't have it documented properly, and it's been in the courts for at least 5 years now.

ps: sorry for 2 "downer" posts in a row. The hobby should be just for fun.

 

[TheGovernment]

If you really want them for an inheritance, my suggestion would be to get the key cards graded by PSA or Beckett. There's a chance your daughter would just sell them en-mass for a fraction of what they are worth. If they are graded, it's easy to see what they are worth on eBay. You could even put a price sheet summary in with them. Most kids / adults who aren't interested in the hobby would just be happy to get rid of them at any price. For example, if the cards are worth $100k, and someone comes along and says here's $20k cash for them, she might just sell them as she would have no idea if that's a fair price.

Oh dont worry, all the good ones are graded and in plexi. That was first thing I did before they went into the box.
There was about 90k in there 8 years ago for everything. We have a family friend who is into mega collecting, he goes to conventions all over the world, so he got them all graded about 7 years ago. Close to 130k now!

 

[DudeWhereIsMakar]

I collect things, but I don't collect hockey cards no more. I have a few framed jerseys and I try to get as many players as possible.

Slowly turning my basement into Jets Heaven.

 

[blues10]

I've been collecting since the late 70's. Used to do it all, hockey, baseball, football cards and memoribila. Love my 76/77, 77/78, 78/79 and 79/80 o' pee chee hockey sets as well as my 77/78 WHA set. Just love the Howe card and Hull's toupee. Bought a set of Winnipeg arena seats and many Jets jerseys. About 11 years ago I just began collecting Jets stuff. I already had quite a bit of stuff, Tkachuk rookie game worn road jersey that appears on a hockey card, programs dating to the early 70's etc.. Around 2007 I began collecting every Jets hockey card made from 72-96. I think I have almost all of them now. Its a fun collection to look through. I have 2 pairs of hockey pants, socks, gloves and numerous game used sticks from Jets 1.0. My favourite being a Staniowksi goal stick and an old Sherwood of Serge Savard. I even have Bobby Hull's beer mug from the Molson 3 stars. I also started collecting old Jets signed 8x10s and likely have 50 of them. They are all authentic. Beware of the junk out there.I was also buying old Jets negatives and slides to print my own rare Jets photos. I was collecting anything Jets.

When 2.0 started I targeted #55 from the get go as my guy to collect. I went right to game worn stuff and #55 cards for the 1st two seasons. As posted before I was able to get #55's game worn jersey from the Jets v2.0 1st win against the Pens. I have since added #55's pants, gloves and stick. Grabbed the Enstrom playoff gamer from 2014 and much maligned Ben Chiarot young stars jersey from 2011. Some of the HF'ers gave me a hard time when I wore it out to a game a few years back. For fun I have been buying Upper Deck 16/17 series 2 boxes and letting the kids open packs when the Jets score. They love it. Of course they will eventually pull a Laine card.

Lots of people know I collect so I have received some pretty nice things as gifts from others collections over the years. Mario Lemieux signed jersey and stick. Brett Hull signed jersey. A jersey that was worn on the ice during an NHL players jersey retirement ceremony. Game worn NHL skates, super bowl memorbila etc... NHL record book from 1917, a former NHL GMs game worn college jersey and the list goes on. I have always been so appreciative of these gifts and they have found a good home. It has helped that our family has been friends with several former NHLers and executives. I will never forgot the 1st time my Dad took me into a visiting NHL teams dressing room after a Jets game. I still have my autographed media guide from that game back in 79/80. Went rinkside for the Bill Heindl benefit game in 80 and got both Orr's and Gretzky's autograph in the same program. The only time Orr and Gretzky played in the same game.

I'm always interested in WHA and Jets 79-96 so if the right pieces come along I will buy them.

I'll always collect but I have so much stuff in secure storage and so little can be displayed that I've slowed down a bit. Currently just a few items in the house. Framed jerseys not too good for kids bedrooms. I'm sure when the kids are all grown I'll break out the boxes! Great hobby! Nice to read about everyone's collections and interest in sports cards and memorbilia.

 

[Jaytee]

I have the autograph of every single player who played for the Jets in their very first year in the WHA, 1972-1973. This includes third-string goalie Gord Tumilson, who played in only three games, and defenseman John Shmyr, who played only six games. Every single one of them.

I also have the program from the very last WHA game, Game Six of the 1978-1979 finals, when the Jets beat the Oilers 7-3 (I think) to win the very last Avco Cup. This program is autographed by Joe Daley, one of the very first Jets signings.

 

[Daximus]

Thanks for answering the question I was about to ask. As a hobby, totally understand. Is there still money to be made? Seems like the sports memorabilia market is absolutely saturated, and there’s a lot of public skepticism about authenticity.

I got into it because of my buddy who is a big Leafs fan. He's added me to a tonne of facebook groups that are actually all really active. From what I can gather there is 3 ways to actually make money at this.

1. Luck - Buy packs, boxes and cases and hope you score big on a rare card. Seems that 1 of 1 patch auto's and stuff like that go for a fair amount. Then straight up sell them online or trade them for something you think may have potential or similar value.

2. Do razzes (raffling). Have 10 people go in for $10 a piece on something worth $60. They all have a good shot at winning something worth $50 more and you walk away with $100. This is just an example but a lot of these break groups do this with cards, jerseys and other memorabilia. Again this requires some luck when going in on something as well but if you get lucky you can snag some great pieces. My buddy won an Auston Matthews signed rookie auto patch out of 99. Worth a good amount now and he only payed $45 for his spot out of 20 people. Guy who razzed it walked away with $900. I've seen a few estimates that it is worth over $2000 now.

3. Box Breaks - these look pretty much similar to razzes but this time you pay a certain amount for a team. And someone breaks open a case or box and shows everyone every single card. So if you pay for the Jets spot you get every Jets card out of the box. Team values tend to vary but as someone doing the breaks you can also make a lot of money but of course you need the interest and have to have fair prices for the product. Leafs, Canucks and Jets spots tend to be the most expensive spots right now. Typically any team with a good crop of rookie will be expensive as well.

 

[Wolf357]

I have the autograph of every single player who played for the Jets in their very first year in the WHA, 1972-1973. This includes third-string goalie Gord Tumilson, who played in only three games, and defenseman John Shmyr, who played only six games. Every single one of them.

I also have the program from the very last WHA game, Game Six of the 1978-1979 finals, when the Jets beat the Oilers 7-3 (I think) to win the very last Avco Cup. This program is autographed by Joe Daley, one of the very first Jets signings.

Now this...is a awsome collection.. I would seriously enjoy this more than a complete ‘79/‘80 OPChee cards.. for the sheer joy of collecting something that means something to a collector and not just $$$

 

[LucianoBorsato]

I used to be a hockey card nut but got out of the hobby when the market crashed in the early 90s. I got burned by how worthless my Score hockey cards became lol.

My current prized possession is the blue replica jersey (the 90s style logo and design) I bought in 1991. Have the crest autographed by Bob Essensa, Dale Hawerchuk, Kris King, Phil Housley and Teemu Selanne. I haven't washed it in over 20 years and wear it to games occasionally, much to my wife's chagrin.

 

[oldcoot]

Once I was in an antique shop in the Exchange and saw a big stack of Canadian Magazines, which was a cheap newsprint magazine included alongside the colour comics in the Saturday Tribune. They were all from the late 60s/early 70s. One of them had a headline on the front that said "Hockey's Next Superstar: He's 11 Years Old!" I had to look to see and, sure enough, it was a big colour spread on Wayne in Brantford complete with a full-color picture of his peewee hockey card. I bought the magazine for $2 and still have it kicking around somewhere.

 

[cbcwpg]

I used to be a hockey card nut but got out of the hobby when the market crashed in the early 90s. I got burned by how worthless my Score hockey cards became lol.

My current prized possession is the blue replica jersey (the 90s style logo and design) I bought in 1991. Have the crest autographed by Bob Essensa, Dale Hawerchuk, Kris King, Phil Housley and Teemu Selanne. I haven't washed it in over 20 years and wear it to games occasionally, much to my wife's chagrin.

That's when I got out as well. Also got out because everyone was starting to make a billion specialty cards that made finishing a set near impossible.

My prized possessions, and not for monetary reasons, because I don't know what they are worth, but because I was a fan..

My game worn jerseys from the 80s.. Watters, Boschman, Wilson, Arniel, Elynuik, Ellett, Picard... and my Teemu autographed game used stick

 

[LucianoBorsato]

I used to have a few 90s Jets programs from games I attended. You used to be able to go downstairs where the players would walk out of the locker room after the game and they would often stop to sign autographs. So because people would be crowded around Selanne, Tkachuk, Zhamnov etc I'd go to the loveable 3rd and 4th line guys first like Phil Sykes and Dave McIllwain to sign the programs. Once I saw Butsy Erickson just standing there looking kind of lonely so I got him to sign the program, he was genuinely pleased to do so. Unfortunately I've since lost them.

I never did get Luciano Borsato's signature :-(

 

[Daximus]

I used to be a hockey card nut but got out of the hobby when the market crashed in the early 90s. I got burned by how worthless my Score hockey cards became lol.

My current prized possession is the blue replica jersey (the 90s style logo and design) I bought in 1991. Have the crest autographed by Bob Essensa, Dale Hawerchuk, Kris King, Phil Housley and Teemu Selanne. I haven't washed it in over 20 years and wear it to games occasionally, much to my wife's chagrin.

Yeah most of the circles I frequent online have said there was a major resurgence in the last couple of years. Mostly on the back of Crosby and Ovechkin but that once McDavid arrived the market went to a new level with all the limited prints. Matthew's and Laine have kicked it into high gear. I've seen some 1 of 1 McDavids auto cards go for absurd amounts. With guys like Dahlin, Svehcnikov and Petterson in coming sets it looks like it wont be cooling down to much anytime soon.
My Boeser young gun went for $50.

 

[HannuJ]

i used to have so many. Think i trashed all my 90s cards (remember Pro-Set? all those errors? my god).
I still have my cards from 1980-1983. some nice ones.