It’s a name that’s a blast from the past, but this time around the sport is different.
Pro basketball collectors will remember Upper Deck’s Chronology product slightly more than a decade ago. Upper Deck, which lost its NBA licensing agreement but now has one with the NHL, brings the Chronology brand to hockey.
The 2018-19 Chronology Vol. 1 product will be available in hobby shops the week of July 31. It will be the first release that partners Upper Deck the NHL Alumni Association and will highlight retired players. That means collectors should expect this inaugural release to be tilted strongly toward former NHL greats. Chronology Vol. 2, set for release in the summer of 2020, will have a mix or current and retired NHL stars.
“The checklist includes a bevy of first-time signers and players who haven’t signed in ages,” Upper Deck stated. “It’s going to be a really special product.”
Chronology will contain four cards per hobby box, and Upper Deck is promising that an average box break will have one base card or a 0° Celsius card, a guaranteed autograph card and two cards that will either autograph or chase cards. Base set cards will be numbered to 222, and the Celsius cards will fall once in every three packs.
Chronology fans will recall the dramatic look of the framed Canvas Masterpiece cards, and Upper Deck brings that same design to its new hockey set. The 50-card set features artwork of some of hockey’s greatest players. There will be parallels, too: Red Border, numbered to 25; Green Border, numbered to either 10 or 15; and Black Border, which will be 1/1 cards. Red Border Autograph Memorabilia parallels will be numbered to 25 or less.
Autographs will be a big part of the Chronology set. Franchise History Autographs will fall once in every 10 packs and contains up to 300 signed cards. The cards will feature team-based prefixes, which will be a big help for team collectors wanting to build sets. “Key team” will average between 12 to 20 autographs apiece.
Letterman Patches will be numbered to 35 or less per letter and will have approximately 200 different players in its checklist, including approximately 90 Hall of Famers. Ninety percent of these cards will be autographed, and those cards will be numbered to 20 or 
less. Upper Deck is predicting between four and six of these cards per inner case.
Chronology will have rip cards, too. The Time Capsules inserts will have minis inside, with 50 cards in the subset. There are parallels: Times Capsules Variant Tier One and Tier Two, along with Gold (numbered to 25) and Black (numbered to 15 or less). Some of the possibilities inside the rip cards are one of 192 Canvas Mini cards, numbered to 60, and Mini Black Autographs numbered to 30.
Within the mix of minis are 50 different Canvas Masterpiece Original Art 1/1 redemption cards, along with Easter Egg mini cards.
Other highlights include Diamond Relics (numbered to 36), which will have autograph versions (numbered to 9); Gold Premium Parallels numbered 25 or less with autograph, memorabilia or autograph-memorabilia cards; dual, triple and quad autographs; and a 1 in 100 chase set that will have autograph, memorabilia and autograph-memorabilia cards.
Combo cuts will have 1/1 dual cut signatures on a card.
Boxes of 2018-19 Upper Deck Chronology are available on eBay for around $150.
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