Brand New

[wayyboredd]

hey im brand new to hockey cards or sports cards in general today i went out and bought an upper deck serios 2 pack that had twelve packs of cards. i wanna know where to go from here i dont know what packs have the best cards. i have no clue what the difference between sets is. any advice would be cool. thanks

[reoddai]

Hey there!
First off, welcome to SCF! You've picked a great place to start trading to help you get the cards that you want.

Where to go from here? Well, I think you man decision will be, what do YOU want to collect?
Try reading this:
http://sportscards.about.com/od/coll...ectortypes.htm

You got some Upper Deck Series 2 (UDS2). The Upper Deck S1 and S2 product is one of the more popular product, and also one of the cheaper ones. If you haven't already, try to find your local card shop dealer. If you don't have one, people here are SCF sell packs and boxes through the site. There are also many online retailers, as well as eBay. Here are the sets in Hockey that are most sought after:

Upper Deck S1, S2 - relatively low end, but contains some of the most popular rookies
SP Authentic - Usually contains the first on-card autograph of rookies each year. About 1.5-2x more expensive then on a per pack basis, also the chance for low numbered multi-autograph hits and patch/auto cards
Artifacts - same price as SP Authentic, but full of parallels. Set collectors try to collect this one
Ultimate - at 100$ a pack, this is the first set to get autographed shields from players
The Cup - at 300-400$ a pack, this is UD most expensive hockey product, but you can get some crazy stuff in there. Lord Stanley cut autograph, dual autographed shield (think gretzky/messier or Roy/Brodeur), and a host of other 1/1 items!

Don't forget the competition though! In the game (ITG),
http://www.itgtradingcards.com/
also releases non-licensed hockey sets. So you won't find any NHL logos, but you will find current and former players, as well as some unique stuff as well. Their main sets include:

Heroes and Prospects - (~5$ a pack) cards of players at just below the NHL level (like pre-RC of Crosby, Tavares, etc.)
Between the PIpies - (~5$ a pack) A set dedicated to goaltenders
Ultimate - ~100-120$ a pack - Similar to UD's Ultimate, but with a distinctive retro flavour
Superlative - 400$ a book - this brand has had three releases in the past two years with three different directions. Go check it out online and their website and decide for yourself what's in there.

Also, there's a guide here about hobby collecting in general:
http://collectibles.about.com/od/spo...portscards.htm

Just remember that you want to enjoy your hobby, that you can afford your hobby and that you only go after what you really want, not just because its the 'in' thing. That, along with a healthy dose of online trading here at SCF, will help you enjoy your cards year after year!

Hope that this helps. If you have any questions (or want to work out a trade!) please feel free to send me a personal message (PM).

Cheers,
reoddai

[wayyboredd]

nice. yea i think im gonna start pretty team and player specific and move up. i really like the cards with used equipment. outta all the random packs ive bought over the years i finally got my first one yesterday. also i have a jochen hecht card with a typo in the player description. is this more rare?

[Ray33]

if you want the best of the best buy the cup.

[reoddai]

nice. yea i think im gonna start pretty team and player specific and move up. i really like the cards with used equipment. outta all the random packs ive bought over the years i finally got my first one yesterday. also i have a jochen hecht card with a typo in the player description. is this more rare?

Enjoy collecting your player and team then! Like I said, if you want to work out a trade, PM. I'll work you a nice deal to get you started.

Jerseys these days are very easy to come by with the more common ones being 1$ each (sometimes less). So, if you like them, you'll find lots for cheap. Don't expect to re-sell for big bucks though. While Jerseys are more rare than base cards, but not much more so. If you are just starting out, I suggest you get a Beckett. While the prices inside aren't accurate, it gives you a nice ball park. For example, your Hetch may have a High Beckett Book Value (BV) of $8, even though it only sells for 1$ sometimes. What a Beckett does is help you decide rarity and relative value to gauge trades. Is your Hetch worth an Gretzky insert? How does your Young gun stack up against a Martin Brodeur Game used? No one is an expert and Beckett has plenty of mistakes, but it gives you a nice starting point.

As for your Jochen Hecht typo card, typos are now common place and generally, no premium is attached to the card. If there was a set without a typo, I'd be surprised. Typo or error cards are only worth something if they are noticed by the distributor and then pulled, thus creating a short printed (SP) card. These days, with the exclusive license and UD releasing upwards of 20 different sets, typos are left in the set. None are pulled generally and no effort is made to correct them. Your error card may actually be worth less to a player collector since they might be able to find another similar card from another set which has no typo.

There's a whole blog that documented the UD errors and typos for three years:
http://vegaspuck.blogspot.com/

It got too much for them and they stoped posting, but left the site up. You can go see which kind of errors were found, some more serious than just a typo. None of these error cards have a premium though.

Cheers,
reoddai

[wayyboredd]

yea im not trying to make money off my cards. i dont really have the money to even buy premium packs or anything. i just want some cool stuff. thanmks guys. is there a place with a rundown of what kind of cards are included in what sets. so i dont buy a pack when i know there isnt anything i dont want in that whole set

[FuriousD82]

I usually use Upper deck's website www.upperdeck.com
Click on Sports --->Hockey-->Checklists

Also, I'd recommend buying "Hobby" versions rather than "Retail" versions of packs (Retail you can get at Target, KMart, Walmart etc).

If you want some base SP Authentic, send me a PM and I am more than willing to send you free cards.

[maradona]

if you want the best of the best buy itg ultimate.

imo.

[wayyboredd]

im a pretty cheap guy so ive just been buying the 10 dollar boxes the the new victory set. ive bought the $20 set of artifacts and two boxes of series 2 09. i cant stop buying cards now. i think ive bought a box at least everyday this week.

[Habs4life31]

Upper deck is good