Imperfect Greatness

The recent hot streak with hockey cards did come with one slight hiccup.
What exactly do you do with a not-so-great autograph from a great player? The issue came up after an amazing Wayne Gretzy autograph pull from a box of 2010-11 Black Diamond Hockey, which was detailed here.
As you can see from the picture, Gretzky's legendary name runs out of the confines of Upper Deck's sticker box. This is certainly another indictment of using stickers for any autographs, especially when its a player as hard-to-pull and important to the hobby as Gretzky.
The card isn't going anywhere - not for trade or for sale. It's the equivalent of finding a Michael Jordan signature in a random box, although Jordan has more personal meaning for me as a Chicago-area guy who watched MJ bring six titles home to a city then-famous for its championship droughts.
Knowing this is a private collection keeper, the thought did cross my mind about possibly seeking out a replacement with a cleaner, fully captured signature. But, is this even a damaged card?
Chris Carlin, of Upper Deck, offered a quick response to my email posing the situation. Carlin also suggested this isn't damage in the usual sense. He also said any potential replacements are typically available for eight months after release - Black Diamond came out mid-November, so were about six months out - or until the stock is depleted.
As tough as the odds were to pull The Great One to begin with, would it be worth it to roll the dice on sending it in for a better version?
I'm not convinced that scenario ends happily.
Damaged product, and its handling by manufacturers, is a top-shelf complaint among collectors. Casting off Wayne into what some consider Upper Deck's customer service abyss might sound like an extremely bad idea to many, but for me it's more about risk versus reward.
If they have a replacement, great. If they don't, would I ever see this version again or would Upper Deck upgrade me to a different Gretzky auto?
Too many questions.
As The Wife would say about me, I guess I'll live with imperfection.

Campana's Corner is written by Dan Campana, a media consultant, former newspaper reporter and longtime collector living in the Chicago suburbs with a sports-minded 6-year-old and an understanding wife.

Great One keeps streak alive

Hot hockey teams going into the playoffs usually make a deep run.
The Blackhawks couldn't recreate last year's playoff magic, but the mojo kept going in our most recent hockey break.
In the past month, we've hit two pretty sweet cards out 2010-11 Upper Deck hockey: A #'d to 10 Marcus Johansson Young Guns Spectrum and a 1-of-1 Tyler Seguin Young Guns printing plate. Johansson sold for close to $96, while Seguin nearly hit $160 after coming out of a loose pack.
The Son and I headed to Charlestowne Mall in St. Charles on Friday to check out a show that wasn't a part of the usual routine around the the northwest suburbs. The same guys are always there, which are the same guys at Fox Valley Mall and Golf Mill, but it was something to take a chance on.
As usual, only one dealer with packs/boxes. The Son wanted Topps Series 1 because he likes the Diamond Giveaway, so got him six packs. I grabbed six packs of Topps Heritage and two packs of Gypsy Queen.
We had to get hockey because, frankly, no one ever has much hockey even at the bigger shows. Deciding between an Upper Deck Series 2 box and a Black Diamond box came down to a couple of bucks, but opted for the Black Diamond because of the Ice box topper pack.
I've always thought Black Diamond to be somewhat underrated, even if the "diamond" gimmick to distinguish quality of player is silly. The hits are usually decent, as we got the expected pair of Quad jerseys - Tim Thomas and Ryan Miller. One ruby quad rookie card of Zac Dalpe and a ruby Gordie Howe were both #'d to 100.
In the middle of all the about-average ripping, the hot streak went to another level.

An amazing - and tough - pull to say the least. The only downside is that The Great One ran slightly off the sticker's right edge with his signature. We briefly thought about what this could get us at auction or in a trade, especially with a few Jonathan Toews and Patrick Kane rookies on our want list.
Despite the potential, not to mention all the bad things Gretzy and his Oilers did to the Hawks in the 1980s, The Great One will stay in the collection with the Mario rookie and Kaner's The Cup rookie.
It might be time to stop buying hockey. How much hotter could the streak really get?

Campana's Corner is written by Dan Campana, a media consultant, former newspaper reporter and longtime collector living in the Chicago suburbs with a sports-minded 6-year-old and an understanding wife.