What do others use?????

 Today's post is about what others use for the preservation of their cards, I currently house all of my cards in plastic sheets in the Ultra Pro Hockey albums. There are some cards that I keep close by and for those I use the Ultra Pro One Touch as I like the idea of the magnet holding the case tightly closed. Years ago, I used the ones that you had to use a screw, screw mounts I believe they were called but I hated them. My reason for hating them is because the screws would become stripped, and you had a hard time getting it back out or the screw head was so worn that the screwdriver would not turn the screw.

I am curious about what others use for the booklets as in protecting and displaying them. I have not seen any holder that was long enough to house the booklet cards and if they do make, I would hope they use the same magnetic one touch variety. Since my autograph collection is of many different sized cards I use the full sheet for my autographed beehive autographed cards, and I would like to find other sizes for the other different sized cards preferably post card size As I have lots of post card auto's and it would be nice to find a sheet that held them in more securely as now when I turn through the pages they almost fall out and move around.

Are there other companies besides Ultra Pro that make sheets and if so, what is the preferred choice? I did find a unique little item that is a mini two drawer organizer (See Photo) that measures 5" X 3.5" it holds the cards nicely and I keep all of my base cards that I will be sending out to get autographed. It keeps my desk a bit neater as before I had stacks of cards on my desk and as I moved my mouse, I would hit the cards. I picked it up at Wally World for like $1.98 so I figured that was a decent price and they are stackable but of course this was the last one and I found it with the back-to-school stationary area.

The one concern of mine is keeping all of my cards away from the sun or any bright lights as I have seen cards that were not moved in years and the cards fade and the pages turn yellow as do some of the cards. I do not send my cards in to be graded and when I purchase a card that is housed in a slab, I rescue the card and I was amazed at how quickly I was able to get one of those thick slabs done so quickly. It took me maybe 5 seconds. I use the needle nosed pliers and I put it on the corner, and it cuts the corner off cleanly, and you just push a bit to pry, and it pops right off. I am scared that I could damage the card but was shocked at how quick I got it opened.  I am hoping that tomorrow I can get my other two pages updated My Monthly autograph additions for the month of June & July and the page Will these cards ever get autographed. So, check it out as I will try and have those done by tomorrow afternoon. What takes the time is the scanning, cropping but adding them is easy. Happy Collecting and Stay Safe!!!

Enough with the TAPE!!!

 Are any of my readers/followers wondering what today's title corresponds to?? As an autograph collector I do a lot of through the mail auto requests and 96% of the time I buy these cards from Sport Lots. I pay about 18 cents a card which is not too bad because sending an auto request through the mail is a risk one takes because you may never see the cards again. I have had lots of late surprises and I am talking 3 years where the player finally signs the card and then drops it into the mail stream. I keep asking myself where these players keep 3 years of mail I can't imagine. I know of a few collectors that told me they have had a player take 15 years. Yes, I said 15 YEARS!!! That is a lot of mail and in 15 years one could have moved to a different home.

Ok so I strayed a bit from the title so let me get into that. When buying from sellers I hate getting cards that are taped to the piece of paper, the seller thinks it helps to protect the card by keeping it safe and it does not. It is more possible to do damage to the card trying to get it unstuck from the paper. Same thing with the top loaders they tape the top of it, and I have to take a knife and run it through the top of the top loader to cut the tape and again could damage the card which you can see in the photo. Has anyone else ever had this problem?? So, let's say STOP USING TAPE.

When I send a card to a collector via trade I will take and put the card in a top loader and take one sheet of paper and wrap the card in the paper by folding and this way there is no tape involved.

I am going to try and have a few good additions to my other pages on this blog, My Monthly autograph additions page and Will these cards ever get autographed page. So, either on Thursday or Friday I will have them done. As always thanks for checking out my blog. Happy Collecting and Stay Safe!!!

Some Cool and Hot Boston Bruins Autos

 So, today's post I decided to show some of my certified Boston Bruins autograph cards. I chose some based-on toughness and one in particular that is cool because of the team designation being different than the jersey he is wearing on the card. My Boston Bruins autograph collection is based on the players have to be wearing a Bruins jersey. There are a lot of players that never get a certified autograph card so those cards I send to the player through the mail for their autograph. Yes, there are a lot of players who are not very easy to get through the mail but if the autograph can't be obtained through the mail, you're not going to get it on a certified card. There are several players that get a rookie card certified with their autograph but years ago this was unheard of. So, let's dig in and look at these cards.

This first card is the 2004-05 In the Game NHL Franchise Series card of Bronco Horvath. This auto of Bronco Horvath is his only certified card, and his autograph was added because the set had unique players from the past and present. Also notice how nice the auto looks as it is not a scribble like today's players.

This card is the 2007 Upper Deck Priority Canadian Fall Hockey Expo card of Petteri Nokelainen and is serial numbered 42/75. This one was a bit tough to locate and I believe he has one other certified auto card, and the auto is not that bad.

This card is the 2005-06 Upper Deck Notable Numbers card of Michael Nylander and is serial numbered 29/92. The cards were numbered to the players jersey number, and this is the card I mentioned in the beginning of this post. Notice the card shows Michael wearing the Bruins Spoked "B" jersey but the team's name as Rangers. Nylander played 15 games for the Bruins in 2003-04 but was traded to the N.Y. Rangers hence the reason for the card stating Rangers as his team. This one was not an easy one to locate and I believe I saw one on ebay not too long ago. This one is not cheap but I believe I got mine in a trade, but I traded dearly to get it and very glad I did considering what this one sells for today.

This card is the 2002-03 Parkhurst Original six Boston Bruins card of Bernie Parent. This one was not as tough to acquire, and the design is one of my favorites plus being a Parkhurst card helps in calling this one a favorite of mine. They don't make them like this anymore as I really miss these cards from this era and the 90's cards as well as the designs from these sets were much better than todays. Bernie has a beautiful autograph and I have seen many of his auto's and if you look at the letter "P" in Parent it appears to fill itself in without finishing the loop.

This card is the 2011-12 Limited Private Signing card of Rich Peverley. This is one that was very easy to locate, and this set is very popular with autograph and set collectors. Not the nicest looking autograph but one other reason these cards are popular with collectors is they are hard signed and no Band-aids.

This card is the 2003-04 In the Game Used Signature series autograph card of Felix Potvin. This one was very easy to acquire, and it could have been because of his popularity with collectors and not a bad looking auto.

This card is the 2018-19 Chronology card of Rick Smith. When these first came out I was very excited as I saw the checklist and knew I had to get a certified auto of Rick Smith as I believe he has one other, but I love this design and the autograph is hard signed and this was very easy to locate.

This card is the 2009-10 Be a Player Signatures autograph card of Shawn Thornton. Another easy one to locate but I will add that his popularity could have made this one a bit tougher and as time rolls on I believe it will get tougher to locate.

I thought I would end today's post with this autograph of Hank Nowak. There are a lot of fans and collectors who are probably saying Hank Who?? Well Hank Nowak played three seasons for the Bruins a total of 111 games and if you can get his autograph through the mail I wish you all the luck because it is very, very difficult to acquire. I hope you enjoyed seeing more Bruins autograph cards as I will add more throughout the year as I try and mix up the card topics. Happy Collecting and Stay Safe!!!

Why do I collect?????

 As I sit each day thinking of what my next post will be about, it all comes down to just one simple question. Ok maybe more than one question. My question today involves getting some replies from my readers or 8 followers. The question of the day is: What do you collect and why?????

So, for myself as many of you know I collect mostly autograph cards and I am a Boston Bruins team collector as my goal is to own every Bruins player who played in one of more games while wearing the spoked "B". Before I start describing that let me say that myself and many other collectors were bitten by that collecting bug many years ago. There were times I stopped collecting but then I came back.

Collecting autographs is a way for myself to control the everyday stress of my job so if I can't collect and enjoy it why work?? That is a strange way of looking at it, but it is how I feel. As a collector of Bruins autographs on cards and cuts I find it relaxing. When I put together my want list I stressed because I saw many names like Shore, Clapper, Bauer and others that I never would own. I was wrong as I now own all of those hall of fame players. When you see an autograph you need on ebay it excites you to hopefully buy and own and this is what I call repetitive collecting. Repetitive collecting is simply picking up cards/autos you need and continuing the same way until completion. This for some cause collectors to sell off their collection because they have accomplished the feat of their goals.

When I was collecting certain players, I was buying all of that players cards base, jersey cards auto's one of one's etc. you get the idea and once I got tired of that I sold the collection. There are many collectors who have done the same thing and there are some who never sell but who enjoys the hobby more?? That one I can't answer because I have sold more than I kept. It may be difficult for me someday to sell all of my Bruins auto's but as I close in on retirement and sit back and enjoy life it will hopefully become as an easier decision to sell than continue spending $$ and struggle with retirement life. It will be great to stay home but the struggles can be from needing more $$ to survive which includes staying warm having plenty of eats.

The moral of today's post is collect what you can afford and don't go overboard. As a autograph collector the cheapest way to collect is through the mail auto's as it currently cost $1.20 per auto request and it is taking a chance you may not get the cards back but as with collecting it is all a risk, enjoy it for the fun of it.

Look forward to reading your comments and tell your friends about my blog and if you like please follow. Happy collecting and stay safe!!!

Reeling in those White Whales.

 So today my post is about those pesky White Whales. What are white whales you ask?? They are cards that are quite difficult to acquire because of several reasons. One being there are a lot of collectors buying them up but mostly because a lot of the cards are not opened meaning they are still in cases. 

My White whales are a bit different as I collect autograph cards so those become white whales because of the players ability to want to sign or not. There are a lot of players who will not sign and today I will show some of those players auto's that I was finally able to reel in. A majority of my autograph collection are the Boston Bruins autographs as I have 800 different player autographs not counting all of the duplicates that I use for trading. I also collect Hockey Hall of Famers and some of those halls of famers are tough to get.

Ok so this autograph is of Sergei Zinovjev and it took me a long time to get this one autographed. I have noticed that if you sent a autograph request to a player new to the team they usually will sign the card but not this one.

This is Matt Glennon and I tried at least 4 different auto requests before finally getting the card signed. Matt has a unique looking autograph, but I was so glad I could cross this one off of my want list.

This is Peter Sturgeon, and he was very difficult to acquire. It took me over six different requests, I even tried sending a birthday card and adding the cards I wanted autographed, but it came back as a RTS (return to sender). Finally, I got him as I was informed by another collector telling me what he tried, and it worked I got not just this one but two others as well so three autos of one tough auto and they will be used for trading players I need. So these players are from sending through the mail and what makes them white whales is the difficulty of the player wanting to sign them.

These next cards are of cards that are certified autographs, and these cards were at one time my white whales that I was finally able to reel in.

This card of Manny Fernandez took me over 5 years to finally locate and I asked other collectors why this one was tough, and they told me that some cards were short printed, but I believe it was because there are a lot of collectors who collect just goalie cards and they hoard these cards to use as trading. Whatever the reason this is a very tough one to locate as I have only seen five total.

This card is the 2011-12 Panini Private Signings and what makes this one so tough is because of these cards popularity as there are so many collectors building the set. Simmer's card eluded me for over 5 years, and I was finally able to reel this one in. Some cards were short printed, but I do not believe Simmers was. I just posted this same card in a post not long ago, but I had to add it to today's post as it is a very tough card to acquire. Has anyone else been searching for this card??

This card of Normand Leveille is the Panini Limited Select Signatures card, and it is another really tough find. I was so glad to finally grab this card as it eluded me for many years. I know of some collectors who had multiples of Leveille autographed cards. 

And today's final certified autograph card is of Mark Recchi and what makes this one tough is because Mark is a tough one to get and this card is quite popular with many collectors as Mark played for several teams and there are team player collectors that try and get all of a player's cards. 

So that is some of my thoughts and opinions and I welcome hearing your comments as to who your white whales are and the ones you have reeled in. Are any of your white whales any of the cards I have shown today?? Happy Collecting and Stay Safe!!!

As a card collector what upcoming releases do you look forward to???

 Today's post I thought I would try discussing the upcoming card releases and the subsets that excite you as a collector. As a hockey card collector, I look forward to seeing the new subsets and since Upper Deck does hockey the big draw with the Upper Deck Series is the Young Guns. These Young Guns are the rookie cards and there are two series. Series one has 49 rookies plus a checklist card which is the same for the second series. For a collector who just collects his favorite team players you hope that your team has some of their rookies represented in the set, but you don't know which series until the checklists becomes available making the wait of a certain player even longer which is frustrating. What I do as an autograph collector majority just the Boston Bruins is if the player does not get a certified autographed card, I will buy the players base or rookie card and send the card to the player as an autograph request, known as through the mail (TTM). Today's players are not that great at signing but as for the older players they are great, and you can read the autograph quite easily versus today's player scribbles.

In the upcoming 2022-23 Upper Deck Series One I look forward to the Young Guns. I am looking forward to seeing and hoping there are some Boston Bruin players in that set. I like seeing the upcoming release info that shows the cards from each subset I just wish they would provide the checklist for these subsets. Maybe it is done that way to keep us collectors interested in the cards but it sure is a letdown when none of your players you collect are part of that set.

As an autograph collector I do not break any boxes as I would rather put that money buying the cards I need because I buy the cards, I need not buy a box and take a chance on getting nothing. The cost a box to myself is crazy and yes, I know it is taking a chance but that is too risky for myself, and I just buy cards that I collect.

As for other sports like Baseball I at one time used to buy wax but back in the 80's and 90's I could buy a box rather cheap maybe $30-$50 a box. I remember buying several boxes of the 1992-93 Topps hockey trying to complete the gold card set, I believe it was 529 cards and that was way more fun because it was affordable, and you could put the whole set together and not spend as much as you would today. I built that set the 1993-94 Bowman hockey gold and I did all of the 1993-94 Parkhurst emerald cards. Today when collectors open the boxes up, they don't care much for the base cards and to me collecting the base and parallel cards were more fun than pulling a jersey or autograph card but to each their own. Does Topps Baseball have any of the gold cards or other chase parallel cards?? 

How many of you actually remember collecting the gold cards and the fun it was and the 1992-93 Topps Baseball like the 92-93 Topps Hockey had the gold cards and if I remember correctly the designs were the same.

I added some scans, and the top photo shows the first two cards on the left side are the 1994-95 Topps Premier and if you look closely the first one is the special effects cards as you can see it looks like cracked ice and I added the bottom card a bit larger so you can see this effect. The other two cards on the right are from the 1993-94 Parkhurst the first one is the emerald version as it is emerald green on the Parkhurst name and the right-hand side along the player's name

I look forward to hearing what you look forward to in upcoming releases and what you collected years ago. Hope you enjoyed today's post. Happy Collecting and Stay Safe!!!!!

What I Collect and Why I Collect

 You know as a collector I thought today I would change it up by discussing what I collect and why. When I was younger, I started collecting Baseball cards and I remember that I had my favorite players. My team was the Boston Red Sox and the players I idolized were Carl Yastrzemski, Fred Lynn and Jim Rice. In those days when you purchased cards you either bought a box of Topps cards which had 36 packs and the price per pack was a dime. Imagine spending just $3.60 for a box of Topps Cards and each pack had 15 to 17 cards a pack and the complete sets usually had around 660 cards. Then I remember the 1975 Topps the price per pack jumped to 15 cents or $5.40 for the box of 36 packs. 

Today the price per box is based on the memorabilia cards in the boxes and my interest years ago was the jersey cards, the colorful patches were nice but as time passed, I lost interest and was only interested in the autographs and that is how I got started on collecting autos.

So, I thought I would show some of my favorite cards by my favorite card best/worst design, my favorite autographs and favorite players. Let's go!!!

This card is the 2011-12 Panini Private Signings card of Charlie Simmer. Why I chose this card design as one of my favorites is because of the photo in the background as it looks like a lithograph type of photo as it has the faded look and the auto's are hard signed. I know there are a lot of hockey card collectors that also love these cards.

The next of my favorite card design is the Panini Play-Off contenders Leather Larceny autograph card of Tim Thomas. The first time I saw these cards I said to myself that I had to acquire the Thomas as I needed his autograph for my Bruins autograph collection. What I like about this design is you can see the grain of leather as it looks like small cracks on the cards surface.

This next card favorite is the 2011-12 Panini Crown Royale Scratching the Surface card of Brad Marchand. Just the rinks appearance and layout along with the name showing the autograph or Scratching's indicating the auto. Of all of the Marchand autographs that I have seen in person and online this is one of the best looking as he added more to it than others that I have seen.

 This is the last one of my favorite card designs. This card is the 2005-06 Fleer Ultra Fresh Ink card of Kevin Dallman. The thing about this card that caught my eye is the ink spots as it is another indicator of an autograph type of subset.

This card is the 1994-95 Donruss card of John Gruden and my worst card design and the reason being is you can't see the players name easily. This card being autographed is near the players name but with the auto not being there you have to turn the card in the light to see the name and the overall design is very plain.

This card is the 1981-82 O-Pee-Chee card of Mike Gillis and this is the worst looking autograph in my Bruins autograph collection. To me it looks like the number 8, but I think it may be just the letter "G".

This cut autograph is of Bobby Bauer and is not only one of my favorite autographs but probably one of the toughest to find. Bobby Bauer passed away in 1964 at the age of 49. Since that was 58 years ago, it makes his autograph very difficult to acquire. I have seen only three to date these one and two others and others are in private collections. The autograph was signed in fountain pen and is a very beautiful autograph and I am very proud to own this autograph.

This autograph is one of my favorite autographs because of the inscription. When I sent the auto request to Shane, I asked him if he would add the Sheriff and boy was I ever happy when I opened the envelope up and saw that he added it.

The final card in today's post is the autograph of Bob Probert. This is my favorite autograph of tough guys as Bobby Probert was not only a great fighter but a very good player. Bobby passed away July 5, 2010. 

So that is just a small sampling of my favorite cards and autographs and some designs that I did not care for. Overall, I love collecting autographs and it sure is nice getting the autographs through the mail and I plan on sending out a lot more this week in hopes of acquiring the ones I still need. I hope you enjoyed today's post and if so please follow and comment as I like hearing what others have to say.

Happy Collecting and be safe!!!

Zippity Doo Dah

 Well, I am back with today's post, and I thought I would add some mixed bag post. While I was sifting through the thousands of cards, I came across these wrappers. Does anyone remember any of these??? These do go back a while, but I found them interesting to see and discuss.

This first wrapper from Parkhurst is from the 1953-54 wrapper and the cost per pack was 5 cents. Why the word giant is used I really have no idea but if I was to guess I would say because the cards show full colored photos that give the look of being big and the cards have a facsimile autograph or maybe they are indicating the size of the gum.

 This one is from the next season 1954-55 Parkhurst but in comparing it to the first wrapper this wrapper has added the 4 Autographed Cards and 5 cents. So, again the autographed cards are again facsimile autos. These facsimile autographs as many of us have seen done by other card manufacturers are interesting by autograph collectors. They are interesting to compare the actual real autograph to the facsimile autograph, but I will add that I as an autograph collector do not like sending to a player for an autograph. The reason being that if the player signs the card it intertwines with the facsimile auto and looks like a pile of scribbles. As most of us know that when we sent to the players from hockey's beginning the autographs were beautiful and this applies to the other sports as well. Today's players just quickly scribble their name and 90% of these autos are not legible so I guess they do not take pride in signing their name and there are some that still do. I also have better luck with an auto request from one of the older players versus today's players. 

This last wrapper from the 1958-59 Parkhurst is Zip gum card and it is interesting to note that the front indicates the Maple Leafs and Canadiens and I believe it is because that season only had players from those two teams with a total of 50 cards. What is also interesting is there was action photos and the backs of the action photos had records by the team of that player. I have heard of Zip gum, and they had these contests where you had to answer I believe it was 20 questions. Parkhurst Zip gum also did some non-sport issues. 

This card is the 1999-00 Topps Premier Plus of Joe Thornton and when you have these cards in hand you can see and feel the fronts are a canvas look and feel while the back of the card is smooth. We do see canvas cards today but the front and back of those cards are canvas on both sides. Notice this card has a nice border and I myself prefer a border on a card not just because it looks great but because it is a way to get a better grade by the border have equal borders that look identical on each side. This card is a beauty because the borders look to be the same on the left and right top to bottom.

The final card for today's post I found the autograph to be unique. The card is the 1992 Topps card of Steve Lyons. I still remember when I opened the envelope it took me a few minutes to see the inscription he wrote "Psycho" and then it hit me as he was called that. That is a bonus when a player adds an inscription you did not ask for.

If you enjoy my blog, please click the Follow icon and follow and if you would please leave a comment about today's topic please do or tell me about some other cards you would like to see. I think it is nice to hear from the ones who follow and read. It is nice seeing the new followers too. Thanks for the visit, happy collecting and stay safe!!!

Put on a Happy Mask.

 I found these two large paperback books. The first one is called Major League Baseball All-Star Masks Power Pitchers. It has four players and as you flip through the pages the first mask cut out is of Roger Clemens of the Boston Red Sox. Second one is Doc Gooden; third one is Orel Hershhiser and the last one is Nolan Ryan. The masks are clear colored photos of the players face and it has the cut out for the ear that loop around one's ear to hold the mask in place while wearing. It even has cut out areas for the eyes, nose but not the mouth. If the cut outs were punched out it would show the eyes and nose of the person wearing the mask. I wonder how many collectors actually tried wearing one of these masks?? Of course, removing the mask from the book would decrease the value. There are 4 different books and I have two of the four books. The two I have are Power Pitchers and Big Hitters, the other two I don't have are Gold Glovers and Hot Rookies.

The other players in the second book Big Hitters are of Darryl Strawberry, Jose Canseco, Will Clark and Don Mattingly. These books were published in 1990.

As you can see in the scans it was difficult to get a scan of the Clemens cut out because it is so much bigger than my scanners scanning bed, but it lets you see how these photo's look so close up of the players face. I never have seen these before and I will say to myself that these are what I would call an odd ball item but still interesting. Has anyone ever seen these before and if so, could you tell us more about them.

So that is Thursday's post, hope you all enjoyed it and have some info on these masks. If you enjoy my Blog, please become a follower by clicking the follow icon. Happy collecting and Stay Safe!!!

Back in the Day when cards had Borders.

 Collecting cards is what I have done a majority of my life. Many of us have collected the usual Topps or Bowman gum cards heck I can still remember the Fleer baseball cards of the 60's. I got serious at collecting Baseball cards as I would purchase the Topps complete sets. I can still remember the ads in the publications and how cheap these sets cost. I got some for $7.00 and as time went on, they increased but nothing like today's prices. I can still remember going to the local five and dime store and getting Topps baseball packs for 10 cents, yes 10 cents and I would buy the box of 36 packs for $3.60 and in opening these packs you got lots of the stars of the game. Nothing like today with getting less cards a pack or getting cards that are damaged. Today's cards when left in a box complete, they tend to stick together because of the gloss used on the paperboard and the cards today have one thing missing: BORDERS!! The Topps cards back in the day all had beautiful designs and a border which is very important. As you can see cards with borders help with finding a nicely centered card and it improves the overall condition of the card.

If you look closely at the example, you can see the Chelios card has a very small border on the left side, yet the Hull card has four borders that are 60/40 left to right and 70 /30 top to bottom. If we compare cards with no borders the difference is there are cards that have more of the photo in some cards and less in others which is caused by the way the cards are cut. Personally, I hate borderless cards. 

This card of Craig Smith shows less of the photo as you can see but in looking through 12 of these cards, I did find one card that shows more of the cards photo. Compare this card to the bottom card as it has less photo. If you look closely, you can see the difference as the letter "P" is missing some and the stripes on his jersey show less and the same with the skate. Now a lot of collectors don't see these differences mostly because the base cards are not as collectible as they were in the days of long past. 

When I was collecting back in the 1970's and 80's when you purchased cards the seller would just lick a stamp and that was the postage paid. It was so much more enjoyable to win cards through mail auctions as you had to place a bid and mail your bid along with the lot number and description of the card. You would be informed by mail and then you would send payment either by using a personal check or money order. I always used money orders because you would not have to wait while the check cleared. Back in the day if you were collecting older cards like I was collecting the tobacco cards, T-206, T-205 and even some nineteenth century cards but what was fun was the ads we would get never show what the cards looked like for the player you were buying it was a surprise when we would rip open the package to see the cards for the first time. I have lots of great memories from my early days of collecting. I hope everyone enjoyed this post as I am trying to change things up with different content. If you like what you see or read, then please post a comment and click the follow icon if you enjoy my blog. Happy collecting and Stay Safe!!! 

What to do.

 Ok so I am happy to say that I have finally started to get some comments about my posts, but I am curious as to how other bloggers get more followers and more comments to their posts. When I first started this blog, I went quite a while without getting a single comment and it makes one say, why bother?? But I stuck it out and I am hoping I get more followers and comments.

So, what is the secret for getting more attention?? Is it the posts mostly about Baseball versus other sports?? My Blog is basically about my Hockey autograph collection, but I have tried changing it up by showing some baseball. I have even asked others what they would like to see.

So, for all of you that are following my blog I say thank-you and I hope to get more followers and I hope I get some comments here with ideas.

Happy Collecting and be safe!!!

My Top Ten Bruins Autographs

 Today's post is being done a bit later than usual as it is our last day of vacation before we go back to work tomorrow so I figured I would post this one now and try and do one every other day while I am working and each day on my two days off Thursday & Friday. I will show my favorite Bruins autographs starting with number 10 and working down to number one. Let's Go!!!!!!!!

                                 Number 10

This autograph I chose based on the scarcity of the autograph, Barry Ashbee is a tougher autograph as he passed away at a very young age of 37, he passed away May 12, 1977. As a serious autograph collector, I know that a majority of autographs that appear on collectors want list are of players who have passed away many years ago. The reason is because the autographs back in those days were through the mail or at the game as the packs of cards did not contain an autograph card. These kinds of autographs usually end up in the private hands of collectors, Barry's autograph I have only seen 4 different ones including mine.

                                  NUMBER 9

I chose this autograph as number 9 as I have always liked how Phil Esposito signs his name as it is pretty much identical every time. the crossing of the letter "T" in his last name and how he makes the letter "E" in his last name.

                            NUMBER 8

Coming in at number 8 is the Brian Leetch autograph and he is another that signs identical each time. Brian has always been good to me when I send through the mail as he has signed every card I have sent. Maybe I am partial to players autographs that are legible but no I think it is based on a bit of that, but I mostly look for players that sign for their fans scarce and rare autos too.

                                    NUMBER 7

I chose David Pastrnak as number 7 because of how his auto looks a bit like the word pasta as he adds his jersey number 88 to his auto. I have never had any luck getting his auto through the mail.

                                    NUMBER 6

This autograph of Cam Stewart comes in at number 6. What I like about this auto is look at how he just go's wild, but it is still legible. He is almost impossible to get through the mail as I do not believe he has a certified auto so that means that his auto is tough and if he does not sign much more his auto will be a tough sought after auto for autograph team collectors.

                                     NUMBER 5 

Well, I bet a lot of readers will say why would he choose Byron Bitz and who is he. I chose Byron Bitz because I like his auto and another one who signs very easily but mostly because of his autograph.

                                    NUMBER 4

I chose Clayton Beddoes autograph because of appearance and the card is the 1996-97 Bowman Hockey card and I like the blue border and maybe I was partial because of the Jersey number as there have not been many to wear that number since Patrice Bergeron has worn it for 18 seasons.

                             NUMBER 3

I could not forget about Derek Sanderson as I have always loved seeing his auto. I would talk with other Bruins autograph collectors and we all agreed that his autograph looks like a pile signer. A pile signer is an autograph that is continuous flow of first and last name and you don't see a break between the names. His autograph is another that is identical every time.

                                    NUMBER 2

Coming in at number 2 is Murray Olivers auto as it is another beautiful looking autograph. Every letter is visible, and it is a nice dark and clear auto. So who did I choose as my Number 1 autograph, if you have read all to this point you will soon see who came in at number 1.

                            NUMBER 1

If you thought it was Bobby Orr, Sorry as I chose Brandon Smith, why you may ask?? I love the autograph and the card's photo and design but mostly the auto is very nice, dark and legible. Brandon is an extremely difficult autograph and there are reasons for this. He is difficult through the mail mostly because of not knowing where to mail to the auto request. These autographs were through the mail but sent to the Bruins address in which the player signs and sends back. So, this autograph was signed in the year 2000 and I was lucky to have got two different ones on this 2000-01 MVP Prospects card.

                                    HONORABLE MENTIONS

This is a very nice autograph and what makes it even nicer is that I sent it to Shane through the mail and I asked him if he would add the inscription "The Sheriff" and he obliged by adding that.

Well, I could not leave Bobby Orr from the list and some collectors may not know this but Orr signs two different ways. His last name he can either sign it with the loop in the letter "Y" in Bobby or just a straight line down, I prefer the loop myself and this one I have I liked the best from the selection of Certified Orr auto's that I had to pick from.

SOMEDAY I HOPE TO OWN.........

I hope that someday I can locate a Billy Coutu autograph as it is very, very difficult but they do pop up every once in a while. Coutu was one of the toughest players and received a lifetime ban for tackling a NHL referee but years later he was reinstated. There are lots of others I can dream of owning but maybe that will be a subject for another post. Thanks for visiting and as always before you leave, please leave a comment. Happy collecting and stay safe!!!