creasecollector's Top 10 cards of 2019

[creasecollector]

I forgot to show my pickups from last year, so I made sure to buckle down and make a Top 10 for 2019.

I've also posted this Top 10 on my hockey card blog. If you'd like to check that out, here's the link below:

https://creasecollector.weebly.com/b...itions-of-2019

To preface this thread, I wanted to say thanks to everyone who I've dealt with over the course of 2019. Whether we've made contact about a deal or just to message one another to talk cards or about our personal collections or anything else, I want to say that I really do enjoy hanging around these hobby forums and hearing from other collectors about whatever topic is on your mind. Aside from sharing my own hobby victories, I do very much enjoy seeing other collectors succeed and enjoy this awesome hobby year after year. I think taking the time to appreciate other collectors' pieces really make me appreciate my own cards that I bring in, whether big or small. There has been some negativity around the hobby the past little while, whether it's the Exclusives, the graded card scandals, etc, I just wanted to say that we should all try collectively, as a community, to focus on the good and what brought us to the hobby in the first place.

Now with all that being said, here's my Top 10 additions of 2019:

10) 2012-13 Panini Prime Namesakes /75 Letter "T" - Jhonas Enroth




It may not look like much, but the Autographed Letter T in this nameplate was the final letter I needed to finish off this Enroth nameplate from Panini Prime. After being outbid or sniped for years, this one finally became availible for me to finally put this nameplate to bed. Feels good man.

9) Upper Deck 300 Win Club Terry Sawchuk


I picked this up at the Spring Expo. So glad I was able to cross this off my 300 Win Club Want list. Aside from the Belfour, the Sawchuk is probably the most saught after card in the ongoing 300 Win Club set. They don't come up for sale too often, so I'm glad I was able to add this card to my collection. A nice piece of Terry's stick, too!

8) 2011-12 Dominion Peerless Patches Dual Miller/Enroth /15


I'm not a big fan of booklet cards to be honest, but this one is the exception to that rule. This beautiful card features two awesome patches from Ryan Miller and Jhonas Enroth. I was eyeing one of these for a long time on eBay, but the price tag was way too overpriced for what I was willing to pay. Sure enough, another copy became availible and I was able to win this at auction. Funny enough, when I attended the Spring expo not too long after getting this card in hand, I saw another copy of this card at someone's table. It was also very overpriced in my opinion, so I am glad I was able to snag a copy for my collection when I did.

7) 2018-19 SeReal KHL 11th Season Premium Jersey /10 - Jhonas Enroth


As soon as I saw the checklist for the 18-19 SeReal KHL 11th Season Premium, this card jumped out to me immediately. I just knew I had to have it. This card features a piece of Enroth's 2018 Winter Ice Break game jersey when Dinamo Minsk faced off against Dynamo Riga in the great outdoors for the KHL's second ever outdoor game. The picture used on the card was taken during that game, which is also a nice touch.

6) 2008-09 ITG Ultimate Memorabilia Complete Package Silver Jacques Plante /9


Picked this card up at the expo as well. This card just jumped out to me when flipping through a random bin and I just knew I had to have it. Just a beautiful looking card with 4 pieces of vintage memorabilia, limited to 9 copies. Incredible piece for my goalie collection.

5) 2013 Tre Kronor Team Issued Oversized Card - Jhonas Enroth


It's not everyday that you find cards you didn't know existed. I was browsing Tradera one night when I saw this oversized 5x9 Tre Kronor (Three Crowns) team Sweden team issued card come up for sale out of Germany of all places. It is the correct size when looking at other team Sweden stuff, but I hadn't seen this copy before. I'd like to say I won it with ease, but there was an intense bidding war for this card during the final morning. I'm glad I was able to add this unique piece to the collection.

4) 2012-13 ITG Superlative Past, Present And Future Enroth/ Miller/ Hasek /9 and 1/1



These next two additions I'll count in one spot. They both came from a single deal with another Enroth collector who to my surprise made these availible to me out of the blue. I had onlt intended to make a deal for the Silver /9 (Left), but this generous collector made the Gold 1/1 (Right) availible to me as well. I never thought I'd add these cards to my collection, so these two were huge.

3) 2018-19 SeReal KHL Exclusive Collection Part 2 - KHL Goaltenders Printing Plate 1/1 - Jhonas Enroth


Printing plates have been around in this hobby for a long time now. I think they've lost their initial appeal over the years, but I've always loved picking them up when I can and this one is no exception. This KHL Goaltenders Insert Printing Plate marks my very first KHL 1/1 in my Enroth collection. Considering the intense competition for Enroth's KHL cards, crossing 1 of the 4 printing plates off my list was a big accomplishment for this collection of mine.

2) 2011-12 Score Black Ice - Jhonas Enroth


I picked this one up at the beginning of 2019 and it has been one of my most elusive additions of this year. The Score Black Ice parallels are very saught after by player collectors everywhere. These parallels might not look like much, but the black border on these 11-12 Score cards really stands out from the rest and is probably one of my favourite parallels in my collection. It's simple but it works. I had to do a double-take when I saw this card pop up on COMC back in January.

1) 2011-12 ITG Between The Pipes Dual Autograph Enroth/ Barrasso /5



If you frequent my Enroth collection threads online, then this card needs no introduction (Check our my "White. Whale." blog post for more). This White Whale of a card appeared on eBay not too long ago, and this was one I was not going to let go. A true white whale in every sense of the word. With a print run of just 5 copies, I knew of (at least) 3 copies that had previously surfaced and were locked away in Tom Barrasso collections. With the known competition for Barrasso collectors over the years, I wasn't sure if I'd ever find this card, but sure enough I finally did.

As for 2020 and beyond, I am not sure what it will hold. Enroth has recently parted ways with his KHL team Dinamo Minsk and it's been heavily rumoured that Enroth will be returning home to the SHL in Sweden next year from the looks of it, which means the steady stream of regular season cards will cease to exist since the SHL hasn't had a trading card manufacterer since 2015 or so. In the short term, I still hope that Enroth is included in 2019-20 SeReal KHL 12th Season product(s) though since he did play 30 games with Dinamo Minsk this season. We'll have to see what unfolds.

I will never stop the collection, but new additions may become fewer and farther between. Ah well, things had to go that way one of these days, right? Lets hope Leaf Trading Cards can produce some Enroth cards next year, as I think they still own one of his gamers.

Until next time, everyone!

[Uhtred.the.viking]

Great intro Aaron, I applaud your enthusiasm for the hobby, and agree that connections we make can be so rewarding. Hopefully you will find more Enroth cards to chase next year. Congrats on the great pickups this year, finding a white whale is always an exhilarating experience, and finishing a nameplate is very satisfying as well. All the best for the New Year!

[creasecollector]

Great intro Aaron, I applaud your enthusiasm for the hobby, and agree that connections we make can be so rewarding. Hopefully you will find more Enroth cards to chase next year. Congrats on the great pickups this year, finding a white whale is always an exhilarating experience, and finishing a nameplate is very satisfying as well. All the best for the New Year!

Thanks so much, Al! I appreciate your kind words as always.

[30ranfordfan]

The Tre Kronor is awesome. Weirdo team issued type stuff, and international stuff (like the KHL cards) is what I most enjoy seeing these days.... not sure that the international companies are actually doing THAT great of a job, but it's something different from UD doing the same thing over and over and over again.


The whole thread is great though. That booklet is outstanding. Finishing off a nameplate is excellent. I do really dig rare parallels (like the Score Black) and that dual auto.... we've talked about it already, but I was happy to hear you (1) needed it, and (2) landed it.

[creasecollector]

The Tre Kronor is awesome. Weirdo team issued type stuff, and international stuff (like the KHL cards) is what I most enjoy seeing these days.... not sure that the international companies are actually doing THAT great of a job, but it's something different from UD doing the same thing over and over and over again.


The whole thread is great though. That booklet is outstanding. Finishing off a nameplate is excellent. I do really dig rare parallels (like the Score Black) and that dual auto.... we've talked about it already, but I was happy to hear you (1) needed it, and (2) landed it.

Thanks man! I agree, team issued stuff and/or international stuff is really fun cards to add, since we don't normally see that stuff here in North America.

As for the KHL products, collectors across the pond do have their gripes with SeReal's product content at times, similar to what we have with Upper Deck over here, but since SeReal releases only a handful of products per season, their stuff (at least, to me ) if very refreshing to look at and hopefully acquire some pieces for my collection. It's been a blast adding KHL cards to my collection for the past 2 seasons now. I am hoping I can add some more this year.

Thanks for the heads up about the dual auto also. I am very happy to have landed that!

[pwskelly]

Great additions to your already impressive collection. Really digging the Plante Complete Package and the Enroth/Barrasso dual auto!

[creasecollector]

Great additions to your already impressive collection. Really digging the Plante Complete Package and the Enroth/Barrasso dual auto!

The Plante Complete /9 was more of an impulse buy for my general goalie PC haha. I just saw it and had to have it. It was also my first piece of vintage memorabilia in my collection at the time as well. Thanks!

[RGM81]

That's a great year of additions, my friend. Congrats on all the great PC pickups and keep up the fantastic work. If we ever get word of a 300 Win Club for Carey Price, we'll coordinate to make sure we don't step on each other's toes. LOL

[creasecollector]

That's a great year of additions, my friend. Congrats on all the great PC pickups and keep up the fantastic work. If we ever get word of a 300 Win Club for Carey Price, we'll coordinate to make sure we don't step on each other's toes. LOL

Thanks for the kind words!

And yes, definitely! That will be one sought after card if (I'm thinking when) Price gets added to the 300 WC set. Can't wait!

[Frendo]

So you actually managed to getting that card, so good for you!
Sorry that I couldn't help with you since I has retired from the hobby (almost, but my limit is now at $30 for a card), but the card were crazy expensive when I bought it in 2011 I think. I was a different time when ITG was quite popular and their licensed cards went for nutty $$$ and now the same card struggles to selling at $4.99-$9.99 for mostly, when they went for +$100 during early 2010's. So I had overpaying violently for that Barrasso/Enorth /5 card then...plus that Barrasso didn't had that many auto since that as he does in today, mostly of his AU's were SP/SSP which means big bucks, as comparison you can get a Barrasso Au for less than $10 at ebay in nowadays!

Well just buy what you're able to afford, don't end up as me....I were a pitiful human being, my addiction took over me completely... I still has severe economy problems yet now thanks of my unreal buying spree...I had depression (still has it) but I was buying everything just to not feeling empty or something alike, but in the end I messed up myself and had to cutting back completely during sep-17. So i'm only buying cards when I ACTUALLY can and having a $30 limit, but $40 is maximum if it's an extremely nice card like The Cup Emblems of Endorsement with Barrasso for $39, but it seldom happens that I pays more than $10 actually. I only bought THREE cards at whole 2019, just tells everything.

I were a really nut-case which had a huge collection of Barrasso, Hedberg, C.Ward, H.Lundqvist, Inserts and were still dabbling with my former PC's of J.Carey, B.Lacher, #66, #68, M.Richter, CuJo, Dominator....My economy completely imploded in 2017 when i took loans after loans to curbing my addiction and obsession (but it actually only got worser and worser), really lucky that I didn't began with a Geno collection...yikes!
Plus many were exploiting my weakness and required so much extra from me, just because I were a Barrasso collector like when a jerk required a non-negotiable $1000 tag from me for a Barrasso card, I refused. Guess what...well, he sold it for $220 to another collector shortly afterwards!!! Or that another a**hole wanted $400 for a Barrasso jersey card when the Bure 3-color patch AU version went for $150-$170 something! I told him about it, but still $400 because of me...but it my own fault too, since I was pursing to having EVERYTHING of Barrasso & Hedberg!

Ok enough of rambling, but this is just one time occasion, or a yearly occasion, I'm not going to be active at this site or something, since I very easily falls back to my addictions.