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Collector's World 0205

The Hockey News Collector's World 0205

<div class="image-hero"><img title="f0032-01" src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0032-011548/10261180-1-eng-US/f0032-012.jpg"></div> &#9632;

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IN THIS ISSUE

POSTER

<div class="byline">BY WAYNE HEPBURN</div><div class="image-hero"><img title="f0022-01" src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0022-011629/10260990-1-eng-US/f0022-012.jpg"><figcaption class="caption-body">George Kennedy started producing Parkhurst hockey cards in 1948 as a promotional scheme to sell his gum.</figcaption></div>Competition always brought out the best in George Kennedy whether it be in card promotions, gum producing or just combating the Germans in war.The founder of Parkhurst hockey cards thrived under the pressure of making a living walking a tightrope of intuition and imagination.He started producing Parkhurst cards in 1948 as a promotional scheme to sell gum. The cards eventually went on to fame and value, but it was his earlier ideas that earned kudos from a war-fearing nation and got him going in the gum business.Kennedy was 24 and enrolled at the University of Toronto when World War II broke out in 1939. He had spent previous summers working at Dunlop tire manufacturers, stuffing cushions for theatre seats and busses.That employment didn&rsquo;t satisfy Kennedy&rsquo;s imagination, but it did give him the break he needed when Dunlop received the government contract to work on a dive-bombing suit to be used by pilots during the war.Dunlop recommended Kennedy work on the project so the Air Force went to his Dean at U of T and asked that he be permitted to leave university. The opportunity to work against the clock on a vital project whetted Kennedy&rsquo;s appetite.&ldquo;This was important,&rdquo; Kennedy recalled. &ldquo;Back then, we were behind the Germans in research and we had to pitch in and work hard.&rdquo;He worked as a chemical engineer doing research under Dr. Franks and Drs. Banting and Best who had earlier discovered insulin.Kennedy assisted the doctors in finding a solution to the dilemma of allied dive-bomber pilots blacking out after they came out of their dives. The development of a pressurized suit to remedy the problem was a priority.&ldquo;My first job was to translate an article in a German Aviation magazine that had come into our possession,&rdquo; he said. &ldquo;It read that if the pilots were immersed in a bath tub of water the problem could be solved.&ldquo;As they came out of their dives, blood from the brain was rushing to fleshy parts of the body: the calves, thighs, back of the upper arms. The theory behind the suit was to prevent blood from leaving the brain and equalize pressure on the fleshy parts by placing a saline solution the same density as blood in a snug suit.&ldquo;We tried a suit where the solution was against all parts of the body but it was awkward-it took a man half an hour just to get into it. Finally we concentrated on putting the solution against just the very fleshy parts like the calves and upper arms.&rdquo;The tested suit could handle a G-Force measure of seven, high enough to enable the pilot to &lsquo;come to&rsquo; quicker-if he blacked out at all.Kennedy completed that project in 1940 and was hired by Wrigley&rsquo;s Gum as assistant plant manager in Toronto. He worked on an emergency ration kit for the armed forces and received his first gumbase experience.In 1946, the Toronto native went into business with the ex-president of Wrigley&rsquo;s. The two formed the Hud-Kennedy and Parkhurst the most notoriety. Although Parkhurst hasn&rsquo;t produced a card in more than 25 years, collectors knows about them.Kennedy never pursued a career in hockey, but it was close to his heart. A childhood friend in Toronto was Bill Dumam, who later played goal for the Montreal Canadiens. &ldquo;We lived on Rosewealth Ave.,&rdquo; Kennedy said. &ldquo;I would shoot pucks son Research Foundation which was located two blocks from Topps in Brooklyn, N.Y. They produced synthetic gum base for American gum producers like Bowman Gum of Philadelphia.During the war, raw materials necessary for production of gum base were restricted. By 1948 this supply was available to big manufacturers, but Hudson was unable to compete.That bothered the competitive Kennedy, so he returned to Canada and got into business for himself forming Parkhurst Gum Company.Parkhurst gum promotions like hockey cards earned Kennedy the revenues, experience and reputation necessary to expand into other businesses The It Company, the Haws Company, Woodman&rsquo;s Horseradish and the Sunbright products. He also got into producing Saran Wrap and Handiwrap for Dow.But it was cards that earned at him. He used magazines for pad; and horse manure for goal posts.&rdquo;Parkhurst stopped making cards in 1964 and a year later the company merged with Grant Products Kennedy retired in 1975 and his son in-law took over Grant Products. The Parkhurst legacy ended in 1985 when Grant closed.Now 76, Kennedy lives in Toronto and spends his winters in Florida. Some of Kennedy&rsquo;s fondest memories were of Warren Bowman, one of his gum compatriots.&ldquo;He knew how to enjoy life and was an entrepreneur very successful with Bowman Gum and land development in Florida,&rdquo; Kennedy said. &ldquo;He took chances and succeeded.&rdquo;The same could be said for George Kennedy. Collectors may still trade his Parkhurst cards, but he&rsquo;s not about to trade in his. &#9632;

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PARKHURST FOUNDER KENNEDY STARTED AS WAR TECHNOLOGIST

I recently came into possession of a catalogue from a company in Winnipeg called the HOFF Inc., advertising something called Replicards.As a collector, this really bothers me to see such high-quality reproductions being sold as if it were either legitimate or fair to real collectors.To many, the hobby ranges from a stress reliever to a source of pleasure and pride. If this sort of business operation were deemed legitimate, then I would have to reconsider any plans of buying any big ticket rookie cards.How can anyone buy these Replicards when it appears completely obvious that with a few extra hours of work, a perfect replica could be produced that would completely fool the card collecting public.I&rsquo;ve shown the catalogue to three dealers and to many other collectors and all of them were outraged.Some legitimacy needs to be returned to this hobby and getting rid of these guys would be a start.Dan ImreToronto, Ont.<h2>Hey, big spender</h2>I read the story in the December, 1991 Collectors World about the hand-painted Wayne Gretzky stick. 1 only have one question: What average working collector has $5,000 for a hockey stick or anything else for his collection?I, along with several other of my collecting friends in the U.S. and Canada only collect Wayne Gretzky items and all have very large collections.We all felt a kick in the guts when we heard about the stick that only very rich people-or as the story stated, &ldquo;most have been already bought by corporate buyers&rdquo;-can afford.How is the true collector in this hobby that has an average job able to afford such an item?The story goes on to say the artist needs &ldquo;two whole days&rdquo; to paint each stick. 1 would like to know how much money the artist makes per stick and then what all the other fingers in the pie (Gretzky, Gary Green, the NHL and NHLPA) make.It just proves once again that the rich keep getting richer and the average working collector is left out in the cold.Rick ShefllerWheeling, 111.<h2>Keep the integrity</h2>I have of late been somewhat disillusioned by the greed and obsession with money that seems to have invaded the world of hockey card collecting.As an avid hockey fan and card collector for many years, it is indeed a sad thing to think this wonderful hobby may be ruined by the desire of people to enjoy it solely for the monetary gain.Every time 1 open a pack of cards there is something to get excited about, even if I don&rsquo;t get the much sought-after Eric Lindros or Pavel Bure.This is what has been lost in the scramble to collect only the most valuable cards.1 am a great fan of Theoren Fleury and have collected all of his cards. 1 treasure these cards and enjoy them with a great deal of joy.In my mind, Fleury epitomizes what the sport of hockey used to be. He loves to play the game and gives his heart and soul every time he steps on the ice.These are the values I strive to in still in my children who are constantly bombarded with mixed messages concerning money vs. pride, money vs. honesty and money vs. integrity.They share my enthusiasm for card collecting and 1 encourage them to collect what they want to collect, not what the media, their peers or greed dictates they should collect.Rosanne KeenSudbury, Ont.<h2>Thumbs up, down</h2>1 just wanted to give my opinion on the cards put out this season.My favorite are Score, O-Pee-Chee and Pro Set Platinum. I like Uppr Deck but the quality is down this year. The cards are very flimsy.My dislikes are Pro Set Series I and Stadium Club. Stadium Club is priced very high at $10 a pack around here and that&rsquo;s way too much for all the commons in the series. I like the idea of showing a player&rsquo;s rookie card on the back, but the picture quality isn&rsquo;t as good as Platinum&rsquo;s.My true love are the cards from the 1960s and&rsquo;70s with the posed pictures.My favorite set of all-time is the 1970-71 O-Pee-Chee series. That&rsquo;s when 1 first started collecting cards and when 1 see them, they always put a smile on my face-which is what cards are meant to do.Mike LanceMerritt, B.C.<h2>Sneak a peek</h2>1 wonder if there is any fuss being raised by retailers and hobbyists about the packaging used by Score for its individual hockey wax packs.The relatively transparent packaging makes it easy to &ldquo;fan and scan&rdquo; the edges of each pack. The black-bordered Bobby Orr inserts really stand out. &#9632;

CARD CLONES DISGUSTING AVID COLLECTORS, DEALERS

The space below this column is reserved for our Tip of the Month feature and although there is no byline on the story, yes, I do pick the featured player.If you&rsquo;ve been following this season&rsquo;s Tips you&rsquo;re probably quite surprised to hear me admit 1 made the selections.Alexander Mogilny, Stephane Morin, Peter Bondra and Mike Craig didn&rsquo;t exactly set the hockey card community on fire after their Tip of the Month appearances.Mogilny has been by far the best of the bunch. After a horrible start (three goals in his first 19 games), he has been one of the league&rsquo;s hottest scorers. He scored 15 times in his next 19 games.But Morin, Bondra and Craig seemed to fall prey to some sort of Tip of the Month jinx.Morin&rsquo;s season has been so disappointing, he was demoted to the Halifax Citadels of the American League Jan. 7. He had two goals in 30 games this season.The selection of Bondra, the Capitals&rsquo; talented winger seemed like a safe bet. He had 16 points in 13 games and was on the No. 1 line for the league&rsquo;s highest-scoring team.Well, the Capitals are still scoring lots of goals, but Bondra isn&rsquo;t. He had 14 goals through 22 games and then two in his next 19.A similar story holds true for Craig. He had 18 points in 21 games, was named Tip of the Month and then recorded three points in his next 13 games, including just one goal.Sorry Stephane, Peter and Mike.The purpose of Tip of the Month is to identity players who are on the rise but whose cards are still affordable. In other words, you won&rsquo;t find Pavel Bure whose card is already selling for more than Sergei Fedorov&rsquo;s some places-as Tip of the Month.<div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0008-021880/10260721-1-eng-US/f0008-022.jpg" title="f0008-02" width="670" height="881"><figcaption class="caption-body">RAND SIMON</figcaption></div>Before you lose total faith in our selections, remember who we told you about last season. Fedorov, Adam Oates and Pat Falloon were Tips long before their cards skyrocketed in value.Just how much choice do collectors have this season?Consider this: If you collected every NHL licensed card this season, you would own more cards than someone who bought every Topps card ever made from 1954-55 to 1990-91. That&rsquo;s not even including all the Pro Set, Score and Upper Deck French-language or bilingual issues.There are close to 6,000 cards for you to collect this season. Included in that figure are nearly 40 cards of Chicago Blackhawk goaltender Ed Belfour.There used to be collectors who just bought cards of one company or one team. Now we&rsquo;re going to have people who just collect one player.This past summer, three non-NHL licensed companies came to Toronto to photograph players for their draft pick sets.Smokey&rsquo;s put players in uniforms bearing the company&rsquo;s name. Arena Holograms dressed the players in tuxedos. Star Pics, looking like the least-organized of the lot, had players in uniforms loosely color-coded to the team that drafted them.The fourth company. Classic, had already struck a deal with the Canadian Hockey League enabling it to use game-action photos and didn&rsquo;t attend the photo shoot.That hot, summer day in Toronto it appeared Star Pics was way behind the other companies.Now that the cards are available. Star Pics is the big winner.Some excellent, up-close photography hides the blandness of the nonlogo uniforms; the card backs feature the best design ever to appear on a hockey card; and the write-ups (by Hockey News senior writer Al Morganti) are well-done.Most importantly, Star Pics scored with its player selection. Bure, Jiri Slegr and Alexei Kovalev are some of the exclusives which make Star Pics the best of the non-NHL licensed sets. &#9632;

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RANDOM THOUGHTS

1 have a 1965-66 black and white set of the original six teams in mint condition. This set was produced as a promotion by Coca-Cola. Could you tell me the number of cards that make up an entire set and any other information regarding the set?Dave JacksonNipigon. Ont.This month we have published a special food-issue price guide starting on page 14 which includes the Coca-Cola set. There are six panels (one for each team) of 18 cards. A near-mint set with panels intact is listed at $200, while a separated set is listed at $100. There was also an album available as a mail-in premium to hold the cards.I recently purchased a wax box of 1990-91 Pro Set and found Steve Yzerman and Theoren Fleury on the same card. Yzerman&rsquo;s picture is on the front and Fleury&rsquo;s is on the back. Are there many of these cards and have they been corrected?Doug PecarskieBarry&rsquo;s Bay, Ont.since pro sent series I came out last September, there have been numerous reports of wrong back cards. In some cases, football cards have appeared on the backs of hockey cards. While we haven&rsquo;t heard of any other Pro Set cards with the Fleury-Yzerman combination, Upper Deck&rsquo;s most famous wrong back from last season involved Yzerman and Rob Blake.<div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0008-012452/10260690-1-eng-US/f0008-012.jpg" title="f0008-01" width="646" height="854"><figcaption class="caption-body">Minnesota nabbed Mike Modano first overall in 1988.</figcaption></div>I have two Mike Modano cards, a 1990-91 Upper Deck all-rookie team and a 1991-92 Pro Set. The Upper Deck card says he was drafted first overall in 1989. The Pro Set card says he was picked in 1988. Which is correct?Justin GagnonGillam, Man.This is one case where the Pro Set card does not contain the error. Modano was picked first by the Minnesota North Stars in 1988 from the Prince Albert Raiders of the Western League.How much are the cards that don&rsquo;t appear in your Price Guide listings worth?Steve RobertsSt. Paul&rsquo;s River, Que.For each set listed in Collectors World, we include a price for all rookies, stars and minor stars. Everyone else is considered a common and is worth the same price. That price is called the common price and can be found directly under the headline for each set. There is a different price for common players and common goalies, as goalies are generally more expensive. Depending on regional factors, some players considered to be commons may be worth more in their home city.I started collecting all the O-Pee-Chee Calgary Flames&rsquo; cards dating back to their first appearance in 1972-73.1 believe I am missing only three cards. Do my cards have a group value or just an accumulative value of the individual cards? Carl KleinRegina, Sask.Normally cards sold in a group (or a complete set) sell for less than cards sold individually. However, it&rsquo;s much easier and less time-consuming to sell all the cards at once. In your case, you could sell your cards as a group for closer to their individual values if you found another devoted Calgary Flames&rsquo; fan.I am hoping you can tell me how many different hologram cards Upper Deck produced with their 1990-91 hockey cards. I&rsquo;ve only read about six of them, but I definitely have seven. How much are these holograms selling for? Graham Peace Pittsburgh, Pa.There were eight holograms produced in total three of Wayne Gretzky, one each of Mark Messier. Brett Hull and Steve Yzerman and two Hull combo holograms, one with Messier and one with Yzerman. There have been reports regarding a variation with the Yzerman hologram. The holograms usually sell for just $1 or $2. The poor quality of the holograms is likely responsible for their low price. This season&rsquo;s Upper Deck Holograms are attracting more collector interest.In each issue of Collectors World, we&rsquo;ll answer your questions about hockey cards and memorabilia. We&rsquo;ll only be able to respond to questions which appear in the magazine. Send all inquiries to:Collectors WorldAttention: Rand Simon85 Scarsdale Rd., Suite 100 Don Mills, Ont., M3B 2R2 &#9632;

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COCA-COLA SET INCLUDED IN FOOD ISSUE PRICE GUIDE

Since Sergei Fedorov burst onto the card scene in last season&rsquo;s O-Pee-Chee Central Red Army insert set, collectors have been well aware of the impact Soviet players can have on the hobby.It wasn&rsquo;t long after Fedorov started climbing up collectors&rsquo; want lists that other Soviets such as Valeri Kamensky and Arturs Irbe also drew attention.So when Upper Deck included six cards of Soviet players from the Canada Cup in its Low Number Series, it was surprising collectors largely ignored the player who is considered the Soviets&rsquo; best center.Alexei Zhamnov is an outstanding playmaker with good defensive skills. Scouts surveyed for the 1991-92 Inside HOCKEY Yearbook called him the best prospect in the Winnipeg Jets&rsquo; system. He was drafted in the fourth round (77th overall) in 1990.But to collectors, who have ignored his cards despite their low price tag usually around a quarter he is a virtual unknown. Zhamnov also appears in the O-Pee-Chee insert set this season. That&rsquo;s a 10-cent card which has undeservedly found its way into most dealers&rsquo; commons bins.<div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0008-031340/10260752-1-eng-US/f0008-032.jpg" title="f0008-03" width="660" height="860"><figcaption class="caption-body">ALEXEI ZHAMNOV</figcaption></div>Zhamnov, 21, isn&rsquo;t flashy, but he is effective. He is the No. 1 center on the Soviet national team and the Jets are hoping he will come to Winnipeg after the February Olympics.He was one of the best players on the Soviet team at the Canada Cup, leading the team with three goals as the Soviets stumbled to a disappointing fifth-place finish.Through 17 games this season with Moscow Dynamo, the 6-foot-l, 187-pound Zhamnov had seven goals and five assists. He was third in team scoring last season with 16 goals and 12 assists in 46 games.For card collectors, Zhamnov is an hidden gem waiting to be discovered. Once he appears in the NHL, his cards won&rsquo;t stay cheap for long.The Zhamnov Checklist: 1991-92 O-Pee-Chee: No. 48R; Upper Deck: No. 5. &#9632;

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TIP OF THE MONTH

<div class="byline">BY RAND SIMON</div>One of the best ideas in sportscards was when Topps put photos of rookie cards on the backs of its 1991 Stadium Club baseball cards.It created a great opportunity for collectors to leant more about the hobby while seeing something different than the usual head shot on the back of a card.Unfortunately, the idea which worked so well in baseball, fails in Stadium Club hockey. On more than one-third of the cards, the card shown as the rookie card is not actually the rookie card, but rather the first Topps card.Topps did not produce hockey cards in 1982-83 and 1983-84 and in every other season, made smaller sets than the O-Pee-Chee issues.Going by the backs of Stadium Club hockey, collectors are led to believe Mark Messier&rsquo;s rookie card is in the 1986-87 Topps set, when it&rsquo;s really his 1980-81 O-Pee-Chee card. Messier appeared in six years of O-Pee-Chee series before making his Topps debut. Cam Neely&rsquo;s rookie card is in the 1984-85 O-Pee-Chee set, but is shown in Stadium Club as being in 1987-88 Topps.Topps could have at least covered itself by identifying the cards as &ldquo;first Topps cards.&rdquo; Now there will be collectors who buy the&rsquo;87-88 Neely card thinking they bought his first card. What&rsquo;s even worse, is that some unscrupulous dealers may actually pass off the&rsquo;87-88 card as Neely&rsquo;s rookie and sell it for $50 the true value of his rookie card. The&rsquo;87-88 fopps Neely card lists for $6.<div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0012-012369/10260814-1-eng-US/f0012-012.jpg" title="f0012-01" width="848" height="652"><figcaption class="caption-body">Rookie cards on the back can be very misleading.</figcaption></div>Topps didn&rsquo;t have the same problem in baseball, because the company printed cards every season and always made the largest sets. It rarely failed to include a rookie that could be found in another company&rsquo;s set. But in hockey, Topps has misled collectors.It&rsquo;s still a good idea to put a photo of a card on the back of another card, but accuracy is important, too.In Stadium Club, Topps has entered the premium hockey card market to compete with Pro Set Platinum, O-Pee-Chee Premier and Upper Deck. Stadium Club is a 400-card set released in one series with no special insert or limited cards. There are no team or trophy cards, just 397 player cards and three checklists.A low production run-believed to be 18,000 12-box cases (but unconfirmed by a company spokesman who did say Topps made the same amount as it did for its Stadium Club base-ball)&mdash;is the key to the future investment potential of the product.But the minimal amount of true rookie cards hurts the set&rsquo;s collectibility. It&rsquo;s inexcusable that a set of cards that came out after one-quarter of the season failed to include leading Calder Trophy candidates such as Tony Amonte, Nicklas Lidstrom, Nelson Emerson or Donald Audette when there is no second series to follow. The regular Topps issue even includes cards of Amonte and Audette and that came out two months earlier than Stadium Club.Card fronts feature a borderless design with the player&rsquo;s name and Stadium Club logo. While the photography is generally good, there are too many poorly sized (see Bob Sweeney and Grant Fuhr), poorly lit (see Steve Kasper and Chris Nilan) and poorlj reproduced (see Mike McPhee and Randy Gilhen) pictures for a premium set. There is a good variety in the shots, which feature a combination of action and profile pictures. A number of horizontal card fronts adds variety.<div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0012-021855/10260807-1-eng-US/f0012-022.jpg" title="f0012-02" width="651" height="848"><figcaption class="caption-body">Dark photos, such as this one of Chris Nilan plague the set.</figcaption></div>Card backs include an analysis of each player&rsquo;s strengths written by The Sporting News. At least most cards were written by the magazine. Several cards, including Joe Nieuwendyk&rsquo;s, Bill Ranford&rsquo;s, Rob Blake&rsquo;s and Geoff Courtnall&rsquo;s are missing The Sporting News logo.The logo was also missing from the back of New Jersey Devils&rsquo; goaltender Chris Terreri&rsquo;s card. It&rsquo;s not surprising no one wanted to take credit for the sentence on his card which reads: &ldquo;His helter-skelter style leads to breathtaking saves and deflating goals.&rdquo;Huh? If Terreri is allowing deflating goals, why do the Devils use him? Since when is allowing deflating goals a strength?The backs include the traditional biographical information but contain just the 1990-91 season and career NHL statistics.Topps deserves full marks for concept and full criticism for execution. Better quality control and rookie selection would have made a set comparable to the extremely popular baseball series. Topps&rsquo; first venture into the premium hockey card market is something less than an unqualified success. &#9632;

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TOPPS STADIUM CLUB NOT EVEN IN THE BALLPARK

<div class="byline">BY CW STAFF</div>For the second month in a row, Upper Deck leads the way on the Power Play list. But it may soon have a challenge from other premium card issues.If last season was the time of the great hockey card, explosion, this season will be remembered for the increase in premium card issues.Only Score has refrained from entering the upper-class hockey card market, but it will in March when the 420-card Pinnacle set is released.For now, the biggest challenger to Upper Deck&rsquo;s reign may come from Pro Set, which has a stranglehold on the No. 1 spot in the Penalty Box for its error-filled 1990-91 Series 1.But Pro Set Parkhurst may just have what it takes to make it on the Power Play. The keys for Parkhurst are a limited print run and a strong rookie selection.Pro Set produced 12,500 cases of English foil and 2,500 cases of French foil. Each case is numbered, stamped and signed-a first for an NHL-licensed company.Parkhurst is the first card set to show defensemen Nicklas Lidstrom and Vladimir Konstantinov in a Detroit Red Wines&rsquo; uniform.The set also includes popular rookies Donald Audette of the Buffalo Sabres, Tony Amonte of the New York Rangers and Pat Falloon of the San Jose Sharks.<div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0013-021432/10260859-1-eng-US/f0013-022.jpg" title="f0013-02" width="591" height="836"><figcaption class="caption-body">High-flying Owen Nolan is scoring big with collectors.</figcaption></div>Card collectors also have Topps Stadium Club and Pro Set Platinum to consider buying in the premium card market.Both sets are hurt by poor rookie selection, but Platinum Series II isBoth products have been dropping in price since their release, but there are signs a recovery may soon happen. (For more on Stadium Club, see the review on page 13.)The final premium issue is O-Pee-Chee Premier, due out at the end of January for its second season. Dealers were limited by the company to an order of five cases, so it should be a hot product again.However, this time Premier will have a lot more competition and player selection will be more important than it was last season when the company overlooked then-hot rookies Ed Belfour of the Chicago Blackhawks and Ken Hodge of the Boston Bruins.Last season&rsquo;s Premier is currently No. 7 in the Penalty Box as collectors grew tired of paying the high prices demanded for the cards. The days of the never-ending upward spiral for Premier appear to be over.Nothing highlights the fickle nature of card collectors any more than Eric Lindros&rsquo; presence in the Penalty Box.A poor World Junior Championship notwithstanding, he is still the best player in the world not in the NHL.<h2>POWER PLAY</h2><div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0013-012063/10260852-1-eng-US/f0013-012.jpg" title="f0013-01" width="572" height="891"><figcaption class="caption-body">Kevin Stevens</figcaption></div>1.&rsquo;91-92 UPPER DECK (1)2. WAYNE GRETZKY (3)3. SERGEI FEDOROV (4)4. JAROMIR JAGR (2)5. OWEN NOLAN (5)6. PATRICK ROY (10)7. BRETT HULL (7)8. JEREMY ROENICK (12)9. MARIO LEMIEUX (NR)10. B. SHANAHAN (9)11. KEVIN STEVENS (NR)12. JOE MULLEN (NR)Number in parenthesis is last month&rsquo;s ranking.<h2>PENALTY BOX</h2><div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0013-031026/10260845-1-eng-US/f0013-032.jpg" title="f0013-03" width="577" height="888"><figcaption class="caption-body">Ed Belfour</figcaption></div>1. 1990-91 PRO SET (1)2. RON HEXTALL (3)3. BILL SMITH (5)4. JOHN CULLEN (4)5. BRAD PARK (6)6. WENDEL CLARK (2)7. OPC PREMIER (10)8. ERIC LINDROS (11)9. ED BELFOUR (9)10. RON FRANCIS (12)11. SERGIE MAKAROV (NR)12. BERNIE NICHOLLS (8)Number in parenthesis is last month&rsquo;s rankina &#9632;

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UPPER DECK STILL STANDING STRONG AT TOP OF POWER PLAY

<div class="image-hero"><img title="f0014-01" src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0014-012349/10260897-1-eng-US/f0014-012.jpg"></div><div class="figure-block image-bleed"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0016-012115/10260890-1-eng-US/f0016-012.jpg" title="f0016-01" width="3420" height="3770"></div> &#9632;

f0014-01

PRICE GUIDE

<div class="byline">BY MIKE CHARK</div>Since their inception 21 seasons ago, the Vancouver Canucks have never had a superstar. While Trevor Linden is popular, he has yet to really capture the adulation of collectors across North America.However, the situation may be changing in British Columbia as investors and shop owners scramble to find cards of the Canucks&rsquo; latest Soviet import, Pavel Bure.For a while, his Upper Deck rookie card (No. 526 in the 1990-91 issue) was selling-no make that disappearing from display cases for up to $25 each. At recent shows, the card has settled in the $15-18 range. His second card, No. 54 in&rsquo;91-92 Upper Deck, is selling for around $6.<div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0017-011806/10260928-1-eng-US/f0017-012.jpg" title="f0017-01" width="610" height="841"><figcaption class="caption-body">Star Pics was wise to sign up Pavel Bure for its draft pick set.</figcaption></div>The only other card of this young speedster is in this season&rsquo;s Star Pics issue. With the glut of draft pick sets on the market, Star Pics may have struck gold with this move.Most dealers are keeping these sets intact, as opposed to breaking them up and selling singles. This would seem to be a sign that only a couple of cards in these types of sets sell.Some collectors seem wary of these issues. They are waiting for these players to appear in an NHL-licensed set.<h2>Charity auction</h2>Serious collectors will want to circle May 9 on their calendars. On that date, a complete run of sets issued during the modern era will be sold to the highest bidder.However, this is not just another auction. All of the proceeds raised will go towards sending 45 minor hockey players on the trip of a lifetime.&ldquo;Hockey Tour&rsquo;92&rdquo; is an eight game goodwill tour that will see these youngsters play hockey in New Zealand and Australia in August.The collection of sets was donated by a private citizen, who hired a local dealer to assemble the cards over a nine-month period. Calvin Hall of &ldquo;The Sports Card Connection&rdquo; in Mission, B.C., was hired to find only the best-quality cards available. Those interested will want to plan ahead, as the complete run of sets will be sold en masse to the highest bidder.The event takes place at the Trade Ex Centre in Abbotsford, B.C. As an added bonus, some lucky collectors will walk away with one of four different uncut sheets of hockey cards.Among these rarities is a complete uncut set of 1979-80 O-Pee-Chee which includes Wayne Gretzky&rsquo;s rookie card. &#9632;

f0017-01

BURE SPEEDS TO TOP OF COLLECTORS’ WANT LISTS

<div class="byline">BY KEVIN ALLEN</div><div class="image-hero"><img title="f0018-01" src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0018-011993/10260959-1-eng-US/f0018-012.jpg"><figcaption class="caption-body">Pick a card: Faced with increasing competition, card companies are looking for new ways attract collectors. Pro Set is hoping to do that with its limited, numbered Parkhurst series.</figcaption></div>For years, consumers have clung to a credo that less is more desirable when it comes to card collecting. Now, Pro Set is asking collectors to buy into that idea, instead of paying it lip service.Pro Set became the first licensed card company to offer a limited and numbered hockey card issue with its new Parkhurst line, which was introduced into the market last month.According to company president Lud Denny, only 15,000 cases will be printed-12,500 English and 2,500 French and each case is numbered. The disclosure of production numbers. agreed upon by Pro Set as a condition to buying the right to resurrect the Parkhurst brand name, provides the industry a chance to see if collectors really want what they say they do.&ldquo;We see this as an excellent opportunity to test whether a limited, numbered product really makes a difference,&rdquo; Denny said. &ldquo;Parkhurst is a special name in hockey. We think it&rsquo;s an ideal product to be limited and numbered. Collectors have asked for this. Now they have it. Let&rsquo;s see what happens.&rdquo;Clearly, the industry is interested in the results. The Parkhurst set debuted at $50 a box in Toronto without any immediate escalation of price.Some view the Parkhurst numbered issue as a small step for an industry trying to cope with a scary marketplace confused by an overabundance of product.&ldquo;I definitely think there is too much product out there,&rdquo; said Upper Deck vice-president Jay McCracken. &ldquo;The toughest product to move was football. The number of licenses to make football cards is staggering.&rdquo;The Upper Deck cards, as a general rule, are the most desired in the industry, but McCracken admits his company continually reviews its standing and is very concerned about product overkill.Even with demand for Upper Deck high, he says there will be no increase in baseball production next season. He expects a decrease in football card production. &ldquo;There is still some growth in hockey and basketball,&rdquo; McCracken said.Score spokesman Dean Golembes-ki said his company has no plans to reveal production runs (though he admits many have logically deduced you can get a ballpark figure by trying to work back from the odds Score provides for winning its contests).But he said Score has addressed consumer worries about overproduction.&ldquo;We got hammered once for overproducing (on football) when we really didn&rsquo;t,&rdquo; Golembeski said. &ldquo;But we learned from that. We know that if you print too much product, people will react negatively to your whole line.&rdquo;Pro Set is fighting the over-producer label this season and some see the Parkhurst release as an effort to combat that perception. Clearly, the image has hurt the &ldquo;sell through&rdquo; of Pro Set products.For example, some believe Pro Set Platinum was a better card, in terms of quality and appeal, than the popular Topps Stadium Club. But Pro Set Platinum dropped in price because consumers worried it was overproduced.Fueling that idea: Cases of Pro Set 1990 Hockey were being unloaded for $50 per case by a distributor whose ties had been severed by Pro Set. One distributor was offered 100,000 cases of Pro Set 1 and 11, plus Hoops 1 and 11, by another distributor at about $50 per case and turned it down because the market for the product is weak.&ldquo;We got hurt because a distributor we are divorced from dumped some cards for a loss, Denny said. When you have a divorce, someone gets hurt. But that&rsquo;s yesterday&rsquo;s bananas. I know Pro Set II was a good set with plenty of rookies. Some people got a great buy.&rdquo;Pro Set is the only major card company that doesn&rsquo;t issue baseball cards. Denny is an extremely likable, free-spirited, aggressive businessman with no fear of taking his company into uncharted waters.&ldquo;Some companies are like aircraft carriers, and we&rsquo;re more like a PT-boat making little turns all the time,&rdquo; Denny said.Denny hopes the charm of the Parkhurst name-last appearing on cards in 1963 will further enhance what he believes is his best card to date. The unique design has the player&rsquo;s name descending down the side of the card.Even rivals think Denny probably made a smart move with his Parkhurst plan.McCracken said Upper Deck issued some production numbers in 1989 on baseball-the only time any other licensed company disclosed production numbers-because it wanted to establish credibility.&ldquo;With the limited (Parkhurst) product, I think it&rsquo;s probably a pretty good idea to number those,&rdquo; McCracken said. &ldquo;Pro Set is looking to regain some credibility. But as I&rsquo;ve said before we are a private company and we don&rsquo;t intend to release any types of numbers.&rdquo;McCracken said his company&rsquo;s production goal is to straddle the boundary between products impossible to get and those which are grossly overproduced.&ldquo;It&rsquo;s a narrow line between producing 95 per cent of what people want and 105 per cent of what they want,&rdquo; McCracken said. &ldquo;We monitor that very closely. But we get complaints that we don&rsquo;t get enough product to Canada and we are concerned about that.&rdquo;McCracken said because of the increase in dealers over the past year, Upper Deck will be forced to cut its baseball allocation from 20 cases to six per dealer.This difficult decision comes in lieu of letting the presses run non-stop to fill everyone&rsquo;s order. &ldquo;We think we are printing the right amount,&rdquo; McCracken said. &ldquo;So that&rsquo;s why we are considering cutting our hobby list right where it is.&rdquo;Everyone sees the market changing, but each company has its way of dealing with the evolution. Topps has unveiled the popular Stadium Club series but has no plans to announce production numbers, or eliminate its standard issue trading sets.&ldquo;There are still kids out there who don&rsquo;t put their cards in plastic as soon as they open the pack,&rdquo; said Topps spokesman Timm Boyle. &ldquo;We want to give them cards they can afford.&rdquo;Golembeski said Score is prepared for a new card world in which the consumer will be extremely picky.&ldquo;A collector will be like a car buyer,&rdquo; he said. &ldquo;He will have to pick one company and stick by it. He&rsquo;ll pick the one that treats him the best.&rdquo;Denny said Pro Set&rsquo;s policy is anything listed by the company as a limited product is guaranteed to have a production run of less than 15,000 cases.&ldquo;It&rsquo;s economic Darwinism,&rdquo; Denny said. &ldquo;The strong will survive and the consumer will decide who the strong are.&rdquo;Numbering sets and revealing production numbers is the norm among unlicensed companies. Four unlicensed companies Star Pics, Smokey&rsquo;s, Classic and Arena Holograms issued limited edition sets in hockey this season.&ldquo;It definitely makes a difference to number them,&rdquo; said Classic spokesman Steve Charend off. &ldquo;People commit to our cards before we print them because they trust us.&rdquo;The consumer&rsquo;s demand for premium sets seems to assure that Parkhurst will be a major seller. But not all dealers were happy Pro Set has another offering even if the quality is good and the production limited.&ldquo;There is already too much confusion out there,&rdquo; said former NHL goaltender Joe Daley, who owns a Winnipeg card shop. &ldquo;People come in and ask me what to buy. All I can say is: &lsquo;Buy what you like&rsquo;. Pro Set Platinum was a nice card. 1 wish they made those cards their (regular issue).&rdquo;Daley also doesn&rsquo;t like Parkhurst&rsquo;s return for sentimental reasons.&ldquo;It would be like bringing back Gordie Howe to play now,&rdquo; Daley said. &ldquo;There is no way they can duplicate Parkhurst&rsquo;s (lure). It&rsquo;s legendary. Bowman was a legendary name in baseball. But after they came out with Bowman again, I couldn&rsquo;t give the cards away.&rdquo; &#9632;

f0018-01

TESTING THE LIMITS

<div class="image-hero"><img title="f0023-01" src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0023-011389/10261021-1-eng-US/f0023-012.jpg"><figcaption class="caption-body">George Kennedy knew that Jacques Plante (above) was about to be traded by the Montreal Canadiens md didn&rsquo;t include him in the 1963-64 Parkhurst set but Plante was in the&rsquo;57-58 issue (inset).</figcaption></div>With Parkhurst cards making a comeback in 1992, what better time to examine the roots of original Parkhurst?Collectors World sent Price Guide researcher and writer Wayne Hepburn to the Toronto home of George Kennedy, the founder of Parkhurst and the father of the modern era hockey card.Parkhurst, which made its first cards in 1951-52, was the first company to issue hockey cards postWorld War II and until 1954-55 had the market to itself. Prior to the 195556 season, the Parkhurst sets include players from the original six NHL teams. Between the 1955-56 and 1959-60 seasons. Parkhurst cards featured only Montreal and Toronto plovers. From the 1960-61 issue through the last Parkhurst set of 1963-64. Detroit players joined the two Canadian teams.Some of the most-highly valued cards and sets in the hobby are Parkhurst cards. The 1951-52 and 1952-53 sets are particularly popular. The 51-52 issue contains the rookie cards of many of the game s I greats, such as Gordie Howe, Ted I Lindsay. Maurice Richard. Terry Sawchuk and Doug Harvey.The following are selected excerpts I from Hepburn&rsquo;s interview with Kennedy:CW: What made you decide to produce hockey cards?GK: I don&rsquo;t know. I guess it was when you tossed around ideas about I what you were going to produce next. I Hockey was very popular in those I days. There was a fellow by the name I of Leo Clavir who was just starting I up and he and I got together and 1 I went down to see (Foster) Hewitt and he gave us permission to produce. Then 1 wrote to the other teams to get I permission. Leo Clavir worked with I the printer to design those small cards that we came out with in 1951-52 I which we hand packed. The first I name we used for the cards was I &ldquo;Parkies.&rdquo; Leo was an independent I entrepreneur who was interested in I that type of thing.CW: You got permission to reproduce the players&rsquo; images from management?GK: Yes. For the Canadiens it was I Frank Selke, for the Rangers it was I Lester Patrick, and somehow (famous I play-by-play broadcaster for the Maple Leafs) Foster Hewitt had all I rights to the Maple Leafs. We paid I the Leafs and Canadiens $5,000 each I and we gave the American-based I teams $3,000. Mr. Selke and Fostei I Hewitt were two of the best gentleman 1 have ever dealt with in my life.CW: How did you know how many cards to produce?GK: We didn&rsquo;t. Hockey card: were a hit right away and we couldn&rsquo;t keep up. We produced 25 million ii&rsquo;51-52 and averaged 18 million after that. The first two years it&rsquo;s a wonder we got away with it. They were pretty bad.CW: What do you mean?GK: we were complete givenhorns green horns so we learned as we went. Our first printer was inexperienced, too. Later we changed to Ashton Potter and they became very expert at it.The first years the sheets were cut with a guillotine, a long knife. Later we got a slitter which was all sharp wheels. You would feed a sheet through widthwise then feed the strips through and cut them in the right lengths. It was very accurate whereas the guillotine had its shortcomings.CW: Was there any problem with the cuts? A friend of mine noticed the sizes of his cards in the&rsquo;52-53 set are not uniform and in fact some have a curved side.GK: Oh yeah, they would slip. The guillotine has a tendency to slide out as you cut. The sizes of them wouldn&rsquo;t be exact. We had a little bit of difficulty using those machines when we got automatic packaging because when we fed cards though the hopper sometimes the hopper would jam. Once we started using a slitter our packaging speed picked up considerably.CW: I understand you used a cement mixer to get a random mix.GK: Oh yeah, we bought a cement mixer. The only way we could get a good mix of cards was by putting all the cards in the cement mixer and tumbling them, then taking them all out and stacking them face up.When the printer cut them on the guillotine, he would have a big stack of sheets all printed the same way with, say, Maurice Richard&rsquo;s picture down in the comer. He would just cut them and stack them and he would have 25 Maurice Richard&rsquo;s in a row and then 25 Geoffrion&rsquo;s and then 25 Sawchuk&rsquo;s and so on, and that was no good. 1 didn&rsquo;t want to give the kid five of the same cards in a package so we put them in a cement mixer, which we payed about $100 for, and blended them. We had one girl doing it all the time, she would check for damage. It worked pretty well. It got us out of a jam. We did that for a couple of years before we went to a slitter and got a better method of collating.CW: What was you production schedule like?GK: The teams would send us the photos in July or August. We&rsquo;d produce in November and December and shin Ian 4 Before color film, the photos were in black and white, the printer would paint the photos, do the color separations and then print the sheets. I did all the write-ups on the backs.Since we started getting ready for the hockey season around August, we had to take a guess at who was coming up from the minors. Selke was the best at telling me who was going to play for his team. He treated me confidentially. He would tell me who was going to play for his team in the coming year and ask me to keep it to myself. He knew I had to have an up-to-date series.The year Jacques Plante was traded (1963) I guess I was the only guy who knew he was going to be traded. I remember the printer calling me and saying &ldquo;You haven&rsquo;t got Jacques Plante on the Canadiens&rsquo; team,&rdquo; and 1 said, &ldquo;No.&rdquo; That&rsquo;s all 1 said.CW: From 1951 through 1954 Parkhurst had the hockey card market to itself. What was it like having Topps enter the market?GK: Back then, many of my agreements were based on a handshake. My agreement with the NHL was more or less a contract in perpetuity and Topps found out that was illegal I and they paid the American teams $15,000 each. The U.S. teams signed I with Topps without telling me. 1 couldn&rsquo;t pay them that much and sell a package of gum for a nickel. So 1 kept the two Canadian teams and paid them $15,000 each and Topps had the four American teams.There was no way on the Canadian market that 1 could pay $90,000 for the six teams. Selling nickel gum and giving the kids some kind of value (five cards and a stick of gum for a nickel) there was no way 1 could do it.That&rsquo;s why 1 stuck with the two teams. My volume for the two teams was almost as much as it was with the six. The kids were trying to get a set of both Canadiens and Maple Leafs.CW: How did you distribute your cards?GK: At first we used a broker-John Stewart Sales. Later, we hired a sales staff which worked on our gum products as well as the other items we were getting into like margarine and packaging.CW: Why did you go to the larger size cards in 1953-54?GK: Baseball cards were larger and we felt we had to produce a larger card to keep up with the market. The reason we started with smaller cards was because of cost. We could fit more small cards on a sheet. When we were first starting out we wanted to keep our costs as low as possible.CW: Why did you stop producing hockey cards?GK: I found that gum was too time consuming unless we were going to make it the big part of our business and it wasn&rsquo;t at that time. It was probably in dollar sales one of our smallest sales units. Margarine was outstripping it and so was packaging. The margarine business was making 20 times what we were in gum. The other lines took a lot of time on producing and labelling and artwork and that sort of stuff so we just concentrated on those. I went to Mr. Hewitt and sent a letter to Mr. Selke and told them &lsquo;thank you&rsquo; for allowing me to produce the cards and told them 1 was dropping it and so they dealt with O-Pee-Chee and Topps.CW: Did you save any unopened boxes or sheets?GK: No, we were glad to get rid oi them at the end of one year to get ready for the next. I phoned Ashton Potter a little while ago. They said they destroyed all the plates.CW: What do you think about the recent collectibles craze?GK: I don&rsquo;t know anything about it. 1 have no idea what&rsquo;s going on.CW: You&rsquo;re not watching T.V. oi reading the newspapers?GK: Well I know that cards are ridiculously priced. I know that my grandson (Ryan Mains) is collecting them like mad. 1 can&rsquo;t see rhyme no reason myself for the special set being put out and suddenly becoming a collector set. &#9632;

f0023-01

PARKHURST REVISITED

<div class="byline">BY DAMIEN COX</div><div class="image-hero"><img title="f0024-01" src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0024-011565/10261059-1-eng-US/f0024-012.jpg"></div>Eric Lindros and Team Canada weren&rsquo;t the only disappointments at the world junior hockey championships in Germany this year.For, as much as this was to be Lindros&rsquo; tournament in his third appearance at the WJC, Czechoslovakian winger Zigmund Palffy was also expected to be one of the prime skaters to watch at Fussen&rsquo;s BLZ Ice Hockey Arena at the foot of the Bavarian Alps when the tournament began Dec. 26.Palffy&rsquo;s first world junior tournament 12 months earlier had been a ringing success, as he potted seven goals and six assists in seven games and finished fifth in tournament scoring behind gifted players Doug Weight, Lindros, Pavel Bure and teammate Martin Rucinsky.That performance along with a 34-goal, 50-point season with Nitra of the Czechoslovak elite league had scouts raving, and prompted the New York Islanders to select Palffy as the 26th player overall in last June&rsquo;s draft. His combination of speed, moves and ability to score had many observers convinced the talent-thin Isles had nabbed the next great Czechoslovakian.Well, many of those scouts are still raving, but some have more reservations. At this year&rsquo;s tournament, Palffy managed just four points in his first five games as the Czechoslovak team struggled. Other teammates, particularly Martin Straka, Robert Petrovicky and Jan Calhoun, were more impressive on the attack. Calhoun, for example, had 41 shots in the first six games of the tournament compared to Palffy&rsquo;s 14.In the second period of Czechoslovakia&rsquo;s sixth game, a 6-1 victory over Team Canada, Palffy&rsquo;s left shoulder was separated when he was taken heavily into the boards behind the Canadian net on a thundering bodycheck by defenseman Karl Dykhuis. Dykhuis seemed to simply lift the slender Palffy off the ice and ram him into the boards.That injury ended Palffy&rsquo;s tournament and damaged Czechoslovakia&rsquo; medal chances-they lost a bronze medal showdown with Team US/two days later-but also raised questions about whether his 5-foot-10 165-pound frame would be able to take the pounding he would comfrot in North American hockey.It&rsquo;s a question that also troubles hi: coach with the Czechoslovak national junior team, Bedrich Brunclik.&ldquo;He&rsquo;s absolutely one of the top young players in the world,&rdquo; said Brunclik. &ldquo;He is a great talent, and he has the opportunity to be one of the great Czechoslovakian players ever.<div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0024-021120/10261052-1-eng-US/f0024-022.jpg" title="f0024-02" width="583" height="832"></div>&ldquo;The question will be how he&rsquo;ll adapt to the rough part of the game. But 1 think he is a player with great agility, and great brains, and this will help him compensate.&rdquo;Brunclik compares Palffy&rsquo;s style to that of Russian-born Peter Bondra, a former star in the Czechoslovak league and now an improving forward with the Washington Capitals. The Czechoslovak coach said Palffy would benefit substantially from further seasoning at home before jumping to play in the NHL or minor pros.&ldquo;If he did that, 1 would guarantee he would adapt to the NHL,&rdquo; Brunclik said. &ldquo;1 have no doubt he would.&rdquo;Some scouts suggest Palffy may have the flash, but not the total package, to be a top-line NHLer.&ldquo;He&rsquo;s got a great touch around the net, and he&rsquo;s a good skater,&rdquo; said a Smythe Division scout. &ldquo;However, he plays a lot like a (Sergei) Makarov, but he&rsquo;s not as good. 1 just don&rsquo;t think he&rsquo;ll make that much of an impact.&rdquo;But others see Palffy as a future star and a player who could make an impact on the Islanders.&ldquo;He&rsquo;s a great scorer,&rdquo; said one NHL scout. &ldquo;He&rsquo;s explosive, like a soccer striker.&rdquo; &#9632;

f0024-01

PALFFY

<div class="byline">BY WAYNE HEPBURN</div>At a time when Vintage card values are generally remaining static, pre-World War 11 cards (1910-42) and the early Parkhurst cards (1951-52 and 195253) are selling briskly.For the past three months, reported sales have indicated upward movement for the first two Parkhurst Sets. Sales over the past months in British Columbia, New York, California and Ontario have indicated a definite upward trend.Maurice Neville of Neville Auctions in Brampton, Ont., has been operating for eight years and reported a number of above guide sales of early Parkies at his Dec. 17 event.&ldquo;Anything prior to 1970 is holding its price quite well,&rdquo; he said. &ldquo;Items since 1979 in certain cases are dropping, even the (Wayne) Gretzky rookie is moving down, but Parkhurst have really been selling.&rdquo;The following are some examples of 1951-52 Parkhurst card sales:<div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0028-011559/10261111-1-eng-US/f0028-012.jpg" title="f0028-01" width="639" height="383"></div>And here are some examples of 1952-53 Parkhurst sales:<div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0028-021086/10261104-1-eng-US/f0028-022.jpg" title="f0028-02" width="623" height="93"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0028-03805/10261097-1-eng-US/f0028-032.jpg" title="f0028-03" width="633" height="190"></div>Dave Colonna of Utopia Sportscards in St. Catharines Ont., reports the following transactions: 1951-52 Set, (NM) bought for $4500, sold for $8000.; 1952-53 Set (NM) bought $3000, sold $6500; 1952-53 Set (NM) bought $2000, sold $3200.<h2>Oldies in vogue</h2>A number of pre-World War II sets have come on the market recently through advertised sales, auctions and private sales, and from all indications, are selling briskly.&ldquo;They seem to make more sense from a investment perspective,&rdquo; said Ted Silverman of the Can-Am Card Company in Vancouver. &ldquo;The lack of supply is an important factor. It&rsquo;s one of the few things beginning to move.&rdquo;Reported prices from both private and public sales include:<div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0028-04576/10261090-1-eng-US/f0028-042.jpg" title="f0028-04" width="653" height="672"></div>Singles: C55-Walter Smail (VG), $215; C56Lester Patrick (Ex), $500; O-Pee-Chee Series A-Nels Stewart (Ex), $215; Hamilton Chewing Gum-Busher Jackson (Ex+), $150.<h2>Sold on auctions</h2>For collectors who don&rsquo;t have the time or inclination to set up at shows, auctions are becoming an increasing choice for moving vintage material.A collector can place a minimum bid on their items and if it sells, he pays only the 10-20 per cent auction fee.With the auction atmosphere often leading to high prices, it&rsquo;s not a bad way to sell cards.<h2>Help required</h2>Collectors World has recently catalogued a junior set from 1923-24 which will be published as part of a minor league listing in a future issue.Anyone with information about vintage minor league issues please write to Collectors World, c/o Rand Simon.<h2>Other sales</h2>Here are other reported sales of vintage cards: 1953-54 Parkhurst, Chuck Rayner, NM, $28; 1954-55 Parkhurst, Gordie Howe, Ex, $350; 1954-55 Parkhurst, Terry Sawchuk, Ex+, $90; 1954-55 Topps, Commons, NM, $24; 1958-59 Topps, Bobby Hull (RC), Ex, $750. &#9632;

f0028-01

HAPPY DAYS HERE AGAIN FOR GLORY YEAR CARDS

<div class="image-hero"><img title="f0029-01" src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0029-011361/10261149-1-eng-US/f0029-012.jpg"></div><div class="figure-block image-bleed"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0030-011569/10261142-1-eng-US/f0030-012.jpg" title="f0030-01" width="6910" height="3900"></div> &#9632;

f0029-01

<div class="byline">BY CW STAFF</div>Upper Deck has launched a lawsuit against Topps over the rights to five Russian hockey players in its 1991-92 Low Number hockey card series.Upper Deck filed the suit Dec. 17 in Superior Court of California asking for declaratory relief. In other words, Upper Deck is not asking for money, just legal confirmation that they had the right to make the cards of Vladimir Malakhov, Alexei Zhamnov, Dmitri Filimonov, Alexander Semak and Viacheslav Kozlov.&ldquo;Topps would like us to believe that the personally signed, individual agreements with these athletes, which we hold, are invalid,&rdquo; said Upper Deck president Richard Mc William. &ldquo;Prior to the court action, we were in discussions with Topps privately and requested that Topps prove to us that it indeed had these rights. As of today, Topps has not forwarded anything which confirms the company&rsquo;s assertions, therefore our only recourse is to take this action.&rdquo;Topps remains adamant they have an exclusive agreement with all Russian hockey players not in the NHL.<div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0034-011571/10261211-1-eng-US/f0034-012.jpg" title="f0034-01" width="615" height="859"><figcaption class="caption-body">The card rights of the Russians are the subject of a lawsuit.</figcaption></div>&ldquo;The Topps Company, Inc., has received a copy of the Upper Deck suit,&rdquo; said Topps in a prepared statement. &ldquo;We believe there is no merit to it. Topps received its exclusive rights from the Licensing Corporation of America, a division of Time Warner.which guaranteed us that the rights are good. We have no reason to believe otherwise.&rdquo;<h2>Ultimate encore</h2>Smokey&rsquo;s of Las Vegas has announced two new lines in its Ultimate card series.The first, called Original 6, honors retired NHL players in a 110-card set.The cards will feature a combination of current and past photos.Production will be limited to 20,000 foil cases of English and 2,500 foil cases of French. There will be no factory sets.Bobby Hull, who is acting as a spokesman for the card series, will sign 1,000 cards for random insertion.Two other randomly inserted cards will be of the two players Smokey&rsquo;s feels are the best European draft eligible players.Smokey&rsquo;s has done extensive photo shooting in Europe and will turn that into a 400-card set in August called the International set.Smokey&rsquo;s said it has licenses to make cards of players from the C.I.S., Czechoslovakia. Finland Switzerland and Germany and is wonting on securing licenses from other countries. The cards will feature the best teams from those European nations.<h2>No short-print</h2>Upper Deck has rejected rumors it either short printed or limited distribution of its Eric Lindros&rsquo; card in the 1991-92 Low Number Series.Lindros&rsquo; inclusion in the set was a surprise to collectors who believed his cards could only appear in the Score set because of his exclusive deal with that company.However, when Upper Deck bought the rights to produce cards of all Team Canada players from the Canada Cup, that included Lindros.Upon release of the card, rumors immediately started circulating that Upper Deck would be served with an injunction to stop production of the card. That never happened said McWilliam.&ldquo;There is some misbelief that the card production has stopped so it has become a hot collectible,&rdquo; McWilliam said. &ldquo;The fact that Lindros is a popular athlete and the rumor that the card is not widely available makes it even more desirable.&ldquo;We want to assure card collectors that we have not interrupted our shipping or changed the established production level of any card in our 1991-92 hockey series.&rdquo;<h2>SJHL cards</h2>The Saskatchewan Junior League has gotten into the hockey card craze.Either five or six series of 50 cards each will be produced by the SJHL this season. The league, which has produced players such as Philadelphia Flyers&rsquo; center Rod Brind&rsquo;Amour and Calgary Flames&rsquo; defenseman Al Maclnnis, recently released its first 50-card set and it sold out in eight days.Series A contains four players from each of the 12 SJHL teams plus cards of ex-SJHLer and current St. Louis Blues&rsquo; netminder Curtis Joseph and of possible future SJHLbr Orin Hergott of the Humboldt Senior Novice Broncos. Hergott, nine, had 47 goals and 45 assists in 36 games last season.Most of the cards, which are available both in packs and complete sets, will be sold in SJHL arenas. The total print run is extremely small, not exceeding more than 600,000 cards.<h2>Pro Set clinics</h2>NHL Pro Set youth hockey clinics continue in February in Montreal (Feb. 2), Chicago (Feb. 15), Los Angeles (Feb. 16), Edmonton (Feb. 22), New York (Feb. 29) and Quebec (Feb. 29). The clinics give young hockey players a chance to learn about the game from NHL players who also give talks on the virtue of staying in school and staying away from drugs and alcohol. &#9632;

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UPPER DECK LAUNCHES LAWSUIT AGAINST TOPPS

<div class="image-hero"><img title="f0035-01" src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0035-011437/10261347-1-eng-US/f0035-012.jpg"></div><div class="figure-block image-bleed"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0038-011428/10261340-1-eng-US/f0038-012.jpg" title="f0038-01" width="6940" height="4140"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0040-011026/10261333-1-eng-US/f0040-012.jpg" title="f0040-01" width="6950" height="3990"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0042-01954/10261326-1-eng-US/f0042-012.jpg" title="f0042-01" width="6850" height="3920"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0044-01836/10261319-1-eng-US/f0044-012.jpg" title="f0044-01" width="6930" height="4000"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0046-01748/10261312-1-eng-US/f0046-012.jpg" title="f0046-01" width="6941" height="4050"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0048-01534/10261305-1-eng-US/f0048-012.jpg" title="f0048-01" width="6940" height="3980"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0050-01523/10261298-1-eng-US/f0050-012.jpg" title="f0050-01" width="6950" height="3990"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0052-01404/10261291-1-eng-US/f0052-012.jpg" title="f0052-01" width="6920" height="3940"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0054-01391/10261284-1-eng-US/f0054-012.jpg" title="f0054-01" width="3306" height="3980"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0055-01342/10261277-1-eng-US/f0055-012.jpg" title="f0055-01" width="2100" height="3725"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0056-01320/10261270-1-eng-US/f0056-012.jpg" title="f0056-01" width="6920" height="3940"></div><div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0058-01323/10261263-1-eng-US/f0058-012.jpg" title="f0058-01" width="626" height="3847"></div><div class="figure-block image-bleed"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0059-01256/10261256-1-eng-US/f0059-012.jpg" title="f0059-01" width="3551" height="3980"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0060-01274/10261249-1-eng-US/f0060-012.jpg" title="f0060-01" width="3296" height="3940"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0062-01265/10261242-1-eng-US/f0062-012.jpg" title="f0062-01" width="3290" height="3850"></div> &#9632;

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Mike Rose believes in miracles. He&rsquo;s believed in them since he watched the United States capture the gold medal at the 1980 Winter Olympics in Lake Placid, N.Y.That&rsquo;s why he traveled 20,000 miles and spent $4,000 to help keep the Miracle on Ice alive. Because of his efforts, athletes past and present will be richer for the experience.Rose, the owner of a firewood supply business in Pittsford, N.Y., recently traveled across the United States and abroad gathering signatures on a lithograph he commissioned to commemorate the 10th anniversary of Team USA&rsquo;s gold-medal victory. The signatures of all 22 players and coaches from the team appear on the lithograph along with a collage of scenes from the event.Rose is selling the prints&mdash;there is a limited edition of 1.000&mdash;with the proceeds going to the Greater Rochester (N.Y.) Amateur Athletic Federation, the J992 U.S. Olympic hockey team and to the players on the 1980 squad.Rose was there for the stunning 4-3 victory over the Soviets. He was hooked.&ldquo;I did this mostly because I would like something like this and I think there are many others out there that would, too,&rdquo; says Rose, 38. &ldquo;I&rsquo;ve been a sports fan all my life and that was, without a doubt, the biggest thrill I will ever experience. Most of us were hoping that we could keep it close and lose respectably.&rdquo;Rose&rsquo;s idea was born six years ago, when he invited Phil Verchota, a U.S. Olympian in 1980 and 1984. to speak at a sports banquet. The two became friends and Rose mentioned the idea to Verchota last spring. It wasn&rsquo;t until October that the idea became reality.Getting most of the autographs was easy, but Rose had to travel far and wide for signatures of Mark Pavelich and Dave Silk.Rose finally tracked down Pavelich after placing several calls with his family in Minnesota. He found Pavelich in a backwoods area north of Duluth in a garage that had no electricity.&ldquo;We got there at 3 p.m. on a Sunday.&rdquo; says Rose. &ldquo;He started signing the prints by sunlight and finished signing them by candlelight.&rdquo;Silk proved even tougher to find. Rose had to travel to West Berlin. While there, he got a piece of the crumbled Berlin Wall.The prints went on sale ($200 U.S.) in early February and about 100 had been sold in the first six weeks. He expects a sell out. but regardless, it&rsquo;s been a labor of love. Since the 1980 Games, Rose has been to both the Summer and Winter Games in 1984 and 1988. He plans to take his family to the Summer Games in Barcelona, Spain, in 1992.&ldquo;I wouldn&rsquo;t trade one Olympics for 20 Super Bowls or World Series,&rdquo; says Rose.Especially not the Olympics of the 1980 Miracle on Ice. &#9632;

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