Like them or not, Printing Plates are considered cards. They are randomly inserted into packs. Sports Card Forum acknowledges them in their inventory. Beckett does the same.
I’m not sure where, when or why the disdain for the plates started. When they first arrived on the scene, people loved them. I admit, that was a different time. Jersey cards were actually tough pulls. Cards serial numbered out of 1999 had some serious value. Yes, we’ve come a long way in the last 15-20 years.
If you are, or aspire to be, a super collector, you still need to have some of these. A great PC is open to interpretation. Some collectors only want certain cards like rookies, autographed and/or memorabilia. To be among the best of the best, in my opinion, you have to have most everything.
Yesterday, I received the beauty below in the mail.
That is my second of the four printing plates from the 2014-15 Upper Deck Hockey Set. I will write in a future piece about this, but apparently a third one was on ebay.ca (not ebay.com) last week, so I missed it. I just never saw it.
In additions to the two from 14-15 Upper Deck, I have acquired one of the plates from 14-15 Upper Deck MVP and two more from his rookie year. There have been others on eBay, but they aren’t worth $200+ to me. Sorry not sorry.
ALBUM: The Andrew Shaw Project
I saw ahead of time that this was in a four screw screwdown. I thought it was odd, as I can’t recall the last time I saw a recent card in one. Usually when you see them now, it’s someone’s 1988 Donruss Gregg Jeffries rookie. As you can see, that is how it arrived. It had an interesting border, so I elected not to take it out. I asked about it and was told that he had a friend that handmade them. It certainly adds a little variety to the collection, which is getting tougher and tougher to do as I narrow down the needs.
Thanks for taking a look. If you like what we’re doing, please follow us on Facebook and Twitter and also look through some other pieces on the site. I’m always looking for more folks that would like to contribute, so let me know if you are!