I love hockey. I love holograms. I love inserts. So... to sum it up. I love hockey hologram inserts and that's exactly what the 1996/97 SPx Holoview Heroes set is.
If you collected in the mid 90's than you probably already know about these... but just in case you forgot... here's your history lesson. This particular insert set (not to be confused with SP Holoview Collection) was produced in two different sports: hockey & basketball.
They were seeded into boxes at a rate of 1 per 24 packs. Since boxes of SPx had 36 packs, you were either going to get 1 or 2 of these per box. So if you were planning on building a set you'd have to bust at least 5 boxes and that's with perfect collation.
At the time, these inserts were hot. I remember trading on the AOL message boards and could move these easily. Well... 15 years later... I'm back into these. This time, I avoided box busting... and took the easy way out. I found one on Ebay and placed a bid and won it.
My final price for this sweet hockey insert set was $35.75 ($31 + $4.75 shipping). I was prepared to spend $40, so I'm pleased with this purchase. Here's the set breakdown:
Set: 10 cards
#HH1 Ray Bourque & #HH2 Patrick Roy
#HH3 Steve Yzerman & #HH4 Paul Coffey
#HH5 Mark Messier & #HH6 Mario Lemieux
#HH7 Wayne Gretzky & #HH8 Brett Hull
#HH9 Doug Gilmour & #HH10 Grant Fuhr
Hall of Famers: 90% (9 players)
The only player in this set who isn't in the Hockey Hall of Fame is Doug Gilmour. Gilmour was a 20 year veteran who played for 7 different teams. During his career he scored 450 goals and had 964 assists. His 1,414 career points ranks him 17th all-time. Hopefully one day he'll be recognized for his accomplishments and be entered in the HOF.
Beckett Value: $154.00
The Gretzky carries the highest book value in the set... skating in at $40. Patrick Roy, Steve Yzerman, and Mario Lemieux each list at $25 a piece. The rest book from $5 to $10. But... as my purchase shows... Beckett value is a little inflated.
Ebay Value: $35.75
I'm sure a lot of you probably feel that even this price is a little high, but seriously... I'm okay with it. It would have been a little cheaper to build the set myself, since the Gretzky recently sold for $3.80 (+ $4 shipping), while another one went for $6.51 (+ $3 shipping). However, shipping charges add up and I wanted to get it out of the way. So... no regrets here.
Today's question of the day is...
Do you prefer to build sets by busting boxes and purchasing/trading for singles? Or... Are you lazy like me and go out and buy complete sets?
Actually... I'm not completely lazy. There are a few sets that I'm currently trying to build. Please let me know if you have any singles from the following sets:
Damn... I actually have a lot more projects than I thought. Well... I hope everyone enjoys their weekend. Time to head back to the Ohio State/Kentucky game. I picked the Buckeyes to win it all... so I'm finished if they lose. What the heck... the Wildcats just took the lead. I've gotta go. Sayonara!
2 comments:
Coming from a team set builders perspective, when I have the money to do so, I love busting open a box and then piecing together what Mets I need from there. If I'm on the (usual) budget, I'll beef up on trades and then pick the last few off online.
I used to love putting sets together, but putting 50 or more short prints into a set have killed the joy for me. I stopped buying basketball boxes when they started short printing the rookies and shied away from baseball once they started following the trend. At least the baseball short prints tend to be a little more affordable since they aren't all rookies. Singles are a lot tougher to find these days as well.
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