An Amazing Package from Dave H

Recently I sent a holiday care package of sorts to my friend Dave H over at Wax Stain Rookie.  He really loved the package apparently, because the return bubble mailer he sent down here to the States absolutely blew me away!  I think Dave is one of my most loyal readers, at least based on the frequency of his comments, so he really has a good understanding of what I enjoy about the hobby.  Each and every card was thoughtful and hit on a collecting interest of mine.

For starters, inside my package was the entire 15-card Young Guns subset from 1996-97 Upper Deck Collector's Choice.  I didn't have any of them, in fact I'd never even seen these cards before (nor did I know that the Collector's Choice sets ever contained Young Guns cards).  The highlight of the set is clearly the RC of surefire future Hall-of-Famer and current Boston Bruin Jarome Iginla.

Here's a look at the back, you know you've got an older Iginla card when he's not sporting the captain's C.

Dave threw in some really great singles to accompany the Young Guns cards.  For starters, here's a '95-96 Collector's Choice Player's Club Platinum parallel of Jimmy Carson.  I have never owned one of these parallels, and this is a much appreciated contribution to my ever-growing Hartford Whalers collection.  I'm closing in on 1,200 unique Whalers cards, so to be able to send one that I don't have already is getting more and more difficult to pull off.  Dave nailed it with this one though!

Here's another new one for me, before this package I never owned a card from the 1991-92 Upper Deck Czech World Juniors set.  This Patrick Poulin was a thoughtful pick, as he kicked off his NHL career with the Whalers the same year that this set was released.  There are a few other cards I wouldn't mind picking up from this set in looking over the checklist, including Paul Kariya.

Dave knows I have a weakness for the colored parallels from the 2009-10 Champ's hockey set.  He sent me a couple of yellows previously, and this time it was an awesome Denis Savard  red parallel.  The red border really jives with the Blackhawks sweater to make a great looking card.

I wasn't collecting cards in 2006, so this '06-07 Be A Player Bergeron insert was definitely a card I did not have.  It's serial numbered to 499 copies on the back.  Patrice is one of the best two-way players in the game today, and is going to be with Boston for a long time thanks to a huge contract signed not too long ago.  He's one of those players that I will always gladly accept a new card of.

This card tripped me up a bit in the identification process, but I believe I've tracked it down to being a 2001-02 Parkhurst reprint of Milt Schmidt's '52-53 Parkhurst card.  This is a new Milt Schmidt for me, and represents the 18th unique Milt card in my modest collection!

Here's the back.  Thankfully Parkhurst inset the original back within a frame with a new card number, as the #117 was what allowed me to ultimately identify this one.  This reprint is especially awesome for me, because I picked up its original counterpart in what was one of my better hockey purchases of last year:

Here's another card that, while Dave couldn't have known it, I have coveted for quite some time!  Woody Dumart was one of Milt Schmidt's linemates on the famed "Kraut Line", and this cool little card comes from the 1994-95 Parkhurst Missing Link set.  These pop-up inserts, based loosely on the 1936-37 OPC design (sorry, I don't own an original to show you) are actually difficult to find and still demand decent change on the secondary market (try finding this card for under $5).

The parade of sweet Bruins cards continues with this Mirror Blue Materials Milan Lucic relic from 2011-12 Panini Certified.  This is just my second Lucic relic and as luck would have it both came my way via trade packages.

This one here is numbered to 99 copies...

As if all that weren't enough, Dave also threw in this sweet Dave Taylor autograph from 2006-07 Trilogy.  This card looks great paired with my other Taylor auto.  Just like with my first, Dave does not disappoint on the penmanship front.  Players of today, please take note that this is how you should sign an autograph (no, I'm not delusional enough to think that an NHL player will ever read this post, but I can rant, can't I?).

Now, if I stopped here this trade package would more than hold its own.  In fact I wasn't expecting anything in return, I was happy just to purge a few cards and I knew Dave would appreciate them and take good care of them.  Being the great guy that he is though, he included one more card in this package.  A card that really brought this bubble mailer to another level.  A card that made my jaw drop.  Check it out!

This well-loved beauty is my very first card from the inaugural 1951-52 Parkhurst set!  Pentti Lund here immediately becomes one of my oldest and most cherished hockey cards.  I've never held one of these Parkies in hand before, what a fantastic vintage card, and best of all it's a Bruins player.

Pentti is a very interesting guy, having moved to Canada from Finland at age 6.  He actually began his career with the Bruins, strangely appearing in just 3 total games (all in the playoffs) over his first two seasons before he was dealt to the Rangers.  In his first season in New York, he captured the Calder Memorial Trophy as Rookie of the Year in the NHL!  He was dealt back to the Bruins shortly thereafter, but unfortunately suffered a nasty eye injury in the '52-53 season which quite literally derailed and ended his NHL career.

Making this card even more special to me is the fact that Dave H was actually born in the same town that Pentti lived in.  In fact, Dave delivered papers for the Fort William Times-Journal while Lund was a sports reporter/photographer there!  Pentti even lived in the same building as Dave's grandmother during his retirement.  This added personal connection that Dave has with Pentti Lund is just the icing on the cake when it comes to this amazing card and this amazing trade package.

Dave...thank you, thank you, thank you!  I truly appreciate your generosity in sharing such a cool card with so much personal meaning, as well as the awesome trade package overall!  Just another example that our hobby is shared by some of the most generous people you'll ever meet...