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01-07-2019, 01:55 AM #1
New to collecting
New collector here and I could use some advice on where to start. I have already bought a few blaster packs. I'm looking to build a collection and keep them vs selling for money. My son and I will have these for years until he moves on his own. I also bought a few card already autographed and just need to get them certified. I guess my first question would be, is there a list of companies that are better than others? What brand and series do i look for or stay away from? I'm looking to do some retail collecting and some hobby collecting. Any help would be appreciated!
Last edited by Camacho1094; 01-07-2019 at 01:56 AM.
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01-07-2019, 09:47 AM #2
First, welcome to the site! Always nice to have some fresh faces around here!
Second, GET OUT WHILE YOU STILL CAN!!!!....OK, I'm joking. Kind of
What sport(s) are you looking to collect? In hockey, there are only two making cards at the moment: Upper Deck and Leaf. If you want rookies, Upper Deck is the way to go. Of the two, they are the only one with full licensing. If you want some beautiful cards at very reasonable prices, especially vintage, Leaf is your best bet. They are unable to show any logos for teams on their cards, and since they aren't licensed, many people don't consider cards of first-year players "rookie cards," and for both reasons, many find them undesirable.
If you're looking at older product, Panini had a license not too long ago for a few years. Even further back, Topps had a license for a long time too. In The Game is an unusual beast. They had a license for the first number of years of their existence, then for all of their brilliance, the NHL decided they only wanted one company to have a license after the 2004-05 Lockout, and awarded it to Upper Deck. This didn't stop ITG from producing great cards and sets for another 10+ years. A few years ago, they decided to close up shop, and this whole thing happened with inventory and whatnot, and you can look it up yourself if you want. Bottom line, they sold most of their game-used materials to Leaf, which is kind of how Leaf got into the game.
Anyways, that was probably more information than you wanted, but there you go. Upper Deck if you want current stars, Rookie Cards, and some other stuff. Leaf if you want beautiful vintage Game-Used and autos of stars of yesteryear. Welcome to the hobby
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01-07-2019, 01:42 PM #3
UD 1/2 is the most popular set year after year. The Young Guns rookies are popular and the better names are selling for good money.
If I was starting my collection again, I would be less going for boxes, and more buying well selected nice singles. Quality over quantity.
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01-08-2019, 12:27 AM #4
I agree with the single cards vs quantity. I have already purchased some single cards and some with autos. I have some u/d series 1. I had a friend gift me a set of victory hockey cards with some decent players, all in good condition. I just see a lot of brands out there and don't even know what series is better than the next. Someone told me anthology is junk and that SP is where its at.
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01-08-2019, 12:39 AM #5
I agree with the single cards vs quantity. I have already purchased some single cards and some with autos. I have some u/d series 1. I had a friend gift me a set of victory hockey cards with some decent players, all in good condition. I just see a lot of brands out there and don't even know what series is better than the next. Someone told me anthology is junk and that SP is where its at.
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01-08-2019, 08:54 AM #6
Best thing to do is just do research before you buy anything, especially boxes. Look at the secondary market, sales of previous years, etc. To respond to your statement, a lot of people are not high on the latest version of Panini Anthology, and SP Authentic is one of the most popular sets every year. Hard signed rookie cards, possibility of auto patches of rookies and stars, possible multi-signed Sign of the Times autos.
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01-08-2019, 12:14 PM #7
I find that it's easier to help people guide you if you can answer the following 5 questions. What's your budget? What type of cards are you looking for, numbered parallel, autographs, jerseys, patches, rookies, other game used materials? Do you want to focus on teams, players, sets? Do you have any local card shops near you? Have you looked into case breaking?
For example, I would answer as follows: fairly low compared to most people, I like autos and game used over parallels/rookies, I am more focused on individual players (MSU alumni plus debrincat), I have a handful within 30 minutes, I have my favorite case breakers.
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01-15-2019, 03:29 AM #8
So i have a few questions. What are number parallel? What series hold the most value, upper deck series one? I just bought U/D series one 18-19', in order to collect all the cards from that era do i just need to keep buying the tins? I found a list of players in what i guess is a series set, so do i just scratch them off as i get them? Numbers, are the numbers on a card like 9/50 the ninth printed card out of 50? I know i want to collect Tampa Bay Lightning cards and memorabilia, this is my home town and my sons favorite team. So I'm always looking for that however, I want to get a complete series. I don't have a budget per say, I just buy when and what i can afford at the time, collect as i go. I don't know if I'm using the terms correctly such as series etc.. Can someone tell me ways to collect. Hobby cards are worth more than regular? Does it say Hobby on the packs? I need someone to break it down for me. Right now im buying the players I like with a mix of U/D series one cards. Sorry for the ignorance in advance...
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01-15-2019, 10:17 AM #9
There's no "correct" way to collect. You collect what you like. If you want cards of a ton of players, then yes, UDS1 (Upper Deck Series 1), and later Series 2, are a great way to start. Good assortment of stars and minor stars in the league, and the Rookie Young Guns, then the inserts, game-used, and autos which you can hit as well. Another, even more comprehensive set with almost all players is O-Pee-Chee. It has some really good parallels like the Retros and colored borders, and even rare cards which are nice.
A "numbered" card, I think you are referring to serial numbering, correct? For example, UDS1 has Exclusives and HG parallels, which are serial-numbered on front to /100 and /10, respectively. So you are correct, a card serial numbered 9/50 was the 9th card of the group of 50 that was stamped. Serial numbering can run from extremely rare 1/1's, up to /10,000, which, in the early 90's when print runs for commons was way higher than they are now, was pretty rare.
Tampa is a good team to collect. Are you looking only for current players, or anyone who has played for them? There is no wrong way to collect, as I mentioned. For example, I collect RC's of any player who ever played a game for the Caps. Other people collect each and every card from every set of every player who has ever played for their particular favorite team. Some people only collect cards of current players of their favorite team; if a player gets traded/signs elsewhere, they remove the cards of that player from their collection. It's all about what you like and what you want.
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01-15-2019, 03:57 PM #10
If you want to focus on the Lightning, you may want to investigate group breaking. The main concept is that you buy a team in a master case, inner case, set of boxes, mixed products, etc and get all the hits from that specific team you purchased. You can go onto youtube and search for one of the following well respected breakers (Clouts n Chara, Top Notch Touch, Imperial Gardens, Sports Card Collective, KT Authentics, I know I'm missing some other non-facebook big names that others could fill in on) and watch those to see what type of products you like. Also, this page will give you a good idea of what products are available now/should be coming up later this year https://www.cardboardconnection.com/...8-hockey-cards. Another good source is www.breakninja.com.
To answer your question on product that hold value, I would argue that you're never going to see a product as a whole hold value, it'll more depend on the players in that product. That being said, the most popular products each year will typically hold value better than products that pop in/out of production and would include Young Guns (series 1/2 hits), Future Watch Autos/Patches from SP Authentic, Premier and the Cup.
Most people would suggest you not use the actual checklist to track your set but something like an excel spreadsheet/word doc/notebook.
Hobby means that only card shops can sell the product and those are the more expensive cards with better odds of hitting nicer cards. If you're set collecting Series 1/2, blaster boxes and tins from Walmart/Target are just fine for you to buy to help complete your set.
As mentioned above, numbered parallels would be like the Exclusive/Young Guns from Series 1/2. Another example would be the numbered variants from Artifacts and represent different print runs of that card. You are correct 9/50 would be the 9th card out of that print run of 50 cards (reducing the rarity of that card to 50 produced, but not all are packed out into boxes).
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Originally Posted by Camacho1094 
