Coined In The Hobby

Since the late 90's I have been waiting for the word coin to find it's way back into the sport card hobby. I think the two hobby's coincide nicely for any of us who busted Pinnacle Mint back in the day. One of my favorite products back then.

I can't say I am a die-hard coin collector or have extensive knowledge there, but I have saved onto a few coins over the years from family members who have handed them over. Nothing valuable, but cool looking ones.

But, Upper Deck's recent news on their Grandeur Hockey Coin Collection got me a bit excited that maybe coins and cards will be back together at some point. For now, they are two seperate things but I like the way Upper Deck is releasing these coins. More on why soon.

First here is some background info on them. The first series of the coins are minted in one of four finishes of precious metals and feature 20 hockey players. The collection includes 1 oz. 99.99% pure silver coins available in three finishes and rarities.

• Colored that are numbered to 5,000 per player
• High-Relief Silver that are numbered to 1,000 per player
• Silver Frosted that are numbered to 500 per player.
• Rare ¼ oz. 99.99% 24-Karat Gold Minted Coin that are just numbered to 100 per player. 

You can purchase these coins through Upper Deck e-Pack®,Canadian Imperial Bank of Commerce (CIBC) banking centers in Canada and on CIBC.com/UpperDeck. The coins may be purchased individually in a sealed blind pack for $100 each or as a collector box with four randomly inserted coins for $499. The collector box promises one of three rarer coin.

Here are the list of players you can find:

1. Patrice Bergeron of  Boston
2. Dustin Byfuglien of Winnipeg
3. Sidney Crosby of Pittsburgh
4. Jack Eichel of Buffalo
5. Wayne Gretzky of Edmonton
6. Jaromir Jagr of Florida
7. Patrick Kane of Chicago
8. Dylan Larkin of Detroit
9. Henrik Lundqvist of New York
10. Erik Karlsson of Ottawa
11. Connor McDavid of Edmonton
12. Sean Monahan of Calgary
13. William Nylander of Toronto
14. Alex Ovechkin of Washington
15. Carey Price of Montreal
16. Patrick Roy of Montreal
17. Daniel Sedin of Vancouver
18. Vladimir Tarasenko of St. Louis
19. John Tavares of Brooklyn
20. Jonathan Toews of Chicago

I think the one thing about these coins that jumps out to collectors first as I have seen across Twitter, Facebook and forums is the cost and the "blind packaging" aspect and the cost. This is not something that coin collectors normally deal with, but it's something all of us card collectors do.

Here is why I find the "blind packaging" aspect a good thing.

1. You never know who you are going to get. Simply. The excitement after your purchase will build as to who you get along with what rarity you get
2. I know many may not be happy paying $100 and getting a base silver coin of John Tavares, but you could get a Gretzky. If these were priced like coins and you had to purchase the ones you want, you may pay only like $50 for a Tavares, but a Gretzky individually even for a base could cost you over $200. The "blind packaging" aspect provides you with that chance of pulling him for the $100 and not having to overpay to do so.
3. The "blind packaging" may help bondage in this new hobby. Lets say there is one player or team you are chasing and you never pull the right one, well, this is where trading comes into effect and you can get to know other collectors and bond over the new hobby together while helping each other out to get what you want.

I think this newfound adventure for Upper Deck may start a little slow as everyone will be hesitant to give this a try, but I think they will do okay with it. I would like to see some actual coin collectors give this a go and maybe they would like to give cards a try while they are at it. I know they are usually ones who buy exactly what they want and not take a risk with the "blind packaging", but the risk may pay off with a nice rare coin.

Also, who knows, maybe some card collectors crossing over to collect coins. Sometimes one thing leads to another.

What I am really hoping for out of this is a repeat of the late 90's when coins and cards were together in sweet harmony. Whether Upper Deck pursues that adventure, time will tell. Hopefully they will see this post and will get my many dropped hints on this.

Here is a full blown gallery of the 20-players to collect:

 

So what are your guys thoughts on this? Good idea? Bad idea? Pros? Cons? Comment below!