A couple of weeks ago, I waxed poetic about how many of the recent releases were facing struggles. It has been fun hearing from some of you in response to my “Chicken Little” piece. Fortunately things aren’t dire at my shop at least since I wasn’t deep in too many of those products and the collectors at my shop are without parallel.
We have been buying and moving through some incredibly sick collections and have decided to be a bit more competitive on those same releases that we expected to be when they hit. And then, 2013/14 Upper Deck The Cup arrived and kicked everything into high gear.
Sadly, the Colorado Avalanche have been in a bit of a downward spiral that started during the preseason and has continued into the regular season. In seven games, last year’s wonder child, Nathan MacKinnon has a -5 +/1 and three points without a goal. To say he’s started off the season with a sophomore slump is like saying Shia Labeouf’s career has been on a bit of a downturn. This might be one of those moments to wonder how much more his rookies would be moving for if The Cup hit a month or so ago.
That having been said, it is not like people aren’t pricing them for the price of a few 6ct cases of The Cup. I do not like the odds of this seller pulling close to 10K for his MacKinnon card, but it should be interesting to follow either way.
Beyond the rookies limited to 99 made, The Cup also offers some of the coolest annual relic cards the market sees. The dual player booklet autographed NHL shield singles are the stuff of legend. We had a back-to-back booklet pulled a few years back and it is still talked about regularly.
Also back are the Crosby Rookie Tribute 05/06 rookie design cards. This lucky seller found the Tim Tebow /10. Other interesting player pulls include Doug Flutie, Eric Dickerson, Larry Bird, Roger Clemens, David Robinson, Warren Moon and yes, a few NHLers like Steve Yzerman, Phil Esposito, Rogie Vachon and more. We previously had the LeBron James pulled from my store and that one alone covered the 3ct case that it came out of.
Personally, the Autographed Monumental Rookie Patch Booklets might not have the ebay wow factor that the rookies /99 offer, but someone at Upper Deck deserves brownie points for coming up with this design. I can’t say that I’ve heard of all 34 players in the set, but all the ones you are looking for – MacK, Galchenyuk, Jones, Hertl and more make an appearance.
While there are another dozen plus types of relics, autos and parallels, the other insert set that has me hoping to see one of from our cases is the Property Of insert set. These gems are all 1/1 and if you don’t know all 20 of the potential players, you need to share with me how big the rock is that you live under. Starting with Wayne Gretzky (both as an Oiler and a King), other notable names include Joe Sakic, Mario Lemieux, Peter Forsberg, Alexander Ovechkin, Sidney Crosby, Martin Brodeur and enough other current or future HOFers to make for arguably the best team ever.
Fortunately The Cup hit in time to revitalize a slightly stagnant card market and after looking at restocking prices, you all might want to head to your LCS before they have to bring it back in. Well, that unless you like paying significantly more for it.
Mike Fruitman owns Mike’s Stadium Sportscards in Aurora, CO where they’ve got a brand spanking new look to their website. Normally, his column focuses on what products are selling best in hobby shops. See his eBay listings here. Enjoy new arrivals and big hits from Mike’s on Twitter. Mike’s is always looking for more friends on Facebook and you can email him at [email protected]
