Marc B's First PWE

After a somewhat depressing post last week on the occasional guilty feeling that this hobby gives me, I decided to take the weekend off from blogging and from cards in general.  I'm still mulling the topic over, and I'm certain there will be some changes this year to the way I collect, just not entirely sure what that will look like yet.  In the meantime, stepping away for a few days definitely helped, and I'm ready now to show off some of the cards that folks have sent me in recent weeks.

Leading things off we've got a great PWE that recently arrived from my friend Marc B, full of hockey goodness.  Though we've yet to meet in person (another thing I hope will change in 2016), Marc and I have developed quite a friendship over the years, and exchange a few emails each month.  We've got a lot in common, and thus plenty of common ground to talk about, like being fans of the Bruins and collecting hockey cards in general.  This is apparently the first PWE Marc has ever mailed out to anyone, I'm certainly honored to be its recipient!

Marc certainly has a solid grasp on what I enjoy, and it shows with this PWE, starting with the Cam Neely Award Winners insert above.  I've gone on record quite a few times regarding my love for the inserts in the first few Fleer Ultra sets.  There's no question that Upper Deck was king of the hockey landscape in the early to mid-'90s, but when it comes to inserts give me early Fleer Ultra any day!

I can't seem to help but to gravitate towards cards that are really shiny, and Marc delivered on that front as well starting with this Prism Jason Allison.  This one threw me for a bit of a loop when I was cataloging, because even though it clearly says Prism 2000 it turns out it's actually from the 1999-00 set.  On a side note, I do not miss these alternate sweaters for the Bruins.

Here's an interesting Joe Thornton from Upper Deck SPx.  Hard to believe this was printed up more than a decade ago now.  I'm definitely getting old...

Rounding out the trio of shiny Bruins is this Anson Carter from '98-99 Pacific Dynagon Ice.  Pacific really rose to prominence as a brand after I was done collecting cards the first time around, and was gone from the scene before I picked back up, so virtually all of their sets are strange to me.  Some of the designs have aged better than others, but they certainly seem to have been innovative to say the least.

Now here's a set I definitely do recognize, 1992-93 Bowman.  I'm not sure if Marc sent this one because he knows I enjoy getting new Joe Sakic cards, or because of the Jim McKenzie Whalers photobomb, but either way I like it!  A great card from what I think is a very under-rated set.  I bet a complete '92-93 Bowman set laid out in a binder would be pleasing to the eye.

While I've pretty much knocked out the 1994-95 Upper Deck SP base set, the Premier inserts are few and far between in my collection.  This Cam Neely is one I most definitely didn't have, and again we get some bonus Nordiques in the background.

Here's another one from a set I'd never encountered before, Pacific Revolution.  This is basically the definition of loud and over-the-top (and I mean that in a good way).  All kinds of shiny with a firework motif going on in the background.  Again, this one was a great fit on multiple fronts, as the 'Canes are the continuation of my beloved Hartford Whalers franchise.  Gary Roberts has actually carved out a successful post-NHL career for himself as a personal trainer, and was known for being obsessed with physical fitness during his career.  I guess you have to be in order to last 21 years in the NHL like he did!

How about one more new-to-me Pacific set?  This one has a bit more of a subtle design compared to some of the other Pacific sets of the era.  Hard to believe this is just my fourth Byron Dafoe card, period.

This particular PWE wasn't all about the Bruins.  In fact, Marc managed to send a quartet of new Whalers cards, which at this point is no easy feat!  This draft picks card from '93-94 Donruss is one I don't recall ever having seen before, which is somewhat amazing considering the sheer number of hockey cards that were coming into our household in the early '90s, between my brothers and myself.

Here's another mid-'90s insert, this time courtesy of Score.  For an insert with a theme of checking (Check-It), you'd think the folks selecting the photos could have found a more interesting or vicious check to show, but what do I know.  Either way, a new Whalers card is a new Whalers card.

This Glen Wesley is just my third Platinum Player's Club parallel, all of them Whalers.  If memory serves, at least one of the two that I had previously came from Marc as well!

And now, for my personal favorite card from this particular PWE...

I don't know how on Earth this happened, but somehow I've gone the 20+ years since this Ultra All-Rookie insert set was printed without having any clue that it even existed.  These are actually acetate material, everything but the blue background that Pronger's photo is super-imposed on is clear.  How did I not know that Fleer Ultra had an acetate insert set?!?!

I'm resisting the urge to immediately go find all the rest of these.  Shouldn't be too hard to resist because they're relatively expensive.  Of the seven that are listed on COMC right now, six of them are going for $9.99 or more!  I guess I'm not the only one who sees the beauty in these.

Marc, thank you for the fantastic PWE.  All of these were great, and the acetate Pronger alone is one of the best cards I can recall getting in a PWE in quite some time.  I'll do my best to return the favor soon!