The Ultimate Hockey Card Set - Card #231

One of the under-rated bonuses that comes along with writing a sports card blog is the reader comments. I read every single comment that gets posted here, and try to respond to them all as well (although I'm far from perfect at that). I figure that if you take the time to read what I've written, and to provide your own thoughts and feedback, the least I could do is pay attention to what you have to say. In doing so I've gotten to meet some great fellow collectors and have learned a ton about the hobby.

Today's induction into The Ultimate Hockey Card Set is in my collection as a direct result of one of these very comments. Over the summer I did a series of posts where I made my own "hobby box" using CheckOutMyCards.com. In the final post I featured this card of the Stanley Cup from the 1970-71 O-Pee-Chee hockey set:

A couple of days later a comment was posted by 1967ers, who is responsible for the great blog Diamond Cuts and Wax Stains, and is also a seemingly bottomless pool of great hockey knowledge. There were a couple of sentences at the end of his comment that caught my attention:

"I think you did pretty well on the '70-71 Stanley Cup card. It's not as tough as the '69-70, but often seems to pass $7 on the bay."

I found this interesting. My 60's hockey collection is still pretty sparse, and I wasn't aware of the trophy cards in the 1969-70 O-Pee-Chee set. I set up a saved eBay search and a few months later ended up winning one in a condition and at a price that I was satisfied with.

1969-70 O-Pee-Chee - #231 - The Stanley Cup

Nice looking card, huh? Not quite as colorful as the one from the '70-71 set, but I like the simplicity of the design and the way it looks as if the Cup is glowing. Here's a better look at it with the PSA slab cropped out:

As far as I know the main reason that this card is more desirable is the fact that it is the final card in the 1969-70 O-Pee-Chee set. As most collectors have experienced, the first and last cards tend to demand a premium when it comes to vintage, as they are the most likely to be damaged in storage.

I chose this for The Ultimate Hockey Card Set for a few reasons. First and foremost, hockey has the best trophies of any sport by far. Secondly, I couldn't find much competition for spot #231 in the set. The only other card I considered is the Terry Sawchuk tribute card from the '70-71 set, but I don't own it (been outbid on this one quite a few times actually). Finally, this is the first card I've chosen from the 1960s.

The back isn't too exciting, as the trophy cards in the set form a larger picture when placed together. This piece of the puzzle features the mid-section of possibly the best defenseman of all time, #4 Bobby Orr:

Thank you to everyone who takes time out of their day to read my ramblings, and thanks especially to 1967ers for bringing this fantastic card to my attention!

The Ultimate Hockey Card Set, which now stands at 13 cards and counting, can be viewed here.