1997-98 Upper Deck Collector's Choice Box Breaks

Over the last two or three weeks I've randomly picked up a hobby box of 1997-98 Upper Deck Collector's Choice here and there - a combined total of maybe three.

As you would expect from three boxes I pulled a ton of cardboard; the majority were common doubles, several expired 'You Crash The Game' redemption cards and a few Stick'Ums.

At the risk of boring your pants off with every card that I added to my collection - I decided to just share my favorite cards from the breaks.

Pierre Turgeon / StarQuest Double Star #SQ56 - Two star tier cards come randomly inserted at approximately 1:58 packs.  I pulled this Turgeon inside the same pack as a quadruple star tier card, which you'll find out if you decide to keep reading.  I know, a two star tier card isn't much but after endlessly breaking one star cards anything above feels like a breath of fresh air.

Owen Nolan / StarQuest Triple Star #SQ78 -  1997 was the year when Nolan would dazzle the crowd in his own barn at the NHL All-Star Game by capping off a hat-trick with a 'called shot' on Dominik Hasek.  I remember watching it live on television, I was 13.

Brendan Shanahan / StarQuest Triple Star #SQ74 - I love these StarQuest cards, so much nostalgic value - I have never seen most of these before until I actually pull them so after more than 12 years there's still an "aww" factor when I so happen to find one.  Anyway Shanahan here is a triple star tier card, inserted 1:198 packs.

Keith Tkachuk / StarQuest Quadruple Star #SQ87 - The quad star tier cards are randomly inserted at a rate of 1:406 packs.  They have a special effect to them, as the backgrounds are darker and as well as the bottom borders.  The players seem to have a dark glow surrounding them as well, making them standout against the card.  Love these expansion era Coyotes jerseys; as a kid though I never knew what the logo actually was.  Pulled this Tkachuk card along with the Turgeon in the same pack.

Eric Lindros / StarQuest Quadruple Star #SQ88 - My favorite card from the box breaks was this Lindros quad star card.  Like the Tkachuk card, the effects and simple design make these cards eye candy worthy in my opinion.  Sadly during a quick visit to Indigo, I couldn't find Lindros worthy enough to be listed under this subset in the latest issue of Beckett.   Not just that card, but in general a lot of Lindros cards were missing their value.  Which got me thinking about the whole Lindros Hockey Hall of Fame debate.  One of the most dominating players of the 1990s will probably never gain the respect of the Hall due to his kicking and screaming entry into the league, his dramatic departure from Philadelphia and a career shortened by injuries.   Lindros was one of the most marketable players in hockey at one time and sometimes we forget just how good a player he was before he was robbed of his career by concussions.

1997-98 Upper Deck Collector's Choice Box Break

I recently broke another box of this 1997-98 Upper Deck Collector's Choice; found it in the aisles of Wal-Mart marked with a discounted price tag.   It's always fun opening these boxes - even if it is considered pure wax-junk, the nostalgic value is worth the pocket change that I shelled out for it.

Besides I'm pretty close to finishing off the set and it's always a joy/bonus when you pull something other than a StarQuest single star card.  I wish I could find more of these boxes around town.

I decided to only post the base cards from the break that I needed for my set, along with the inserts that I pulled.  Check out some cards under the jump.

1997-98 Upper Deck Choice Hobby Box Break

I recorded this break yesterday as you can probably tell from the same clothes that I'm wearing and my battle cats in the background.

Picked up another box of 1997-98 Upper Deck Choice on the cheap ($8) that was floating around Wal-Mart ... I'm pretty close to filling out the set now so when I see a box of this wax junk around I'm pretty interested in the contents.

Anyway check out the break videos.

1997-98 Upper Deck Choice Hobby Box Break

I've decided to record videos of my breaks and additions to my collection instead of posting about them in blog form - scanning and uploading a  box of cards can be very time consuming.  I hope you all continue to follow and subscribe to the Youtube account.

Favorite Cards: 1997-98 Upper Deck Collector's Choice StarQuest

As I was flipping through my binders recently I came across my collection of 1997-98 Upper Deck Collector's Choice StarQuest sheets that I saved.  This 90-card, four-tier insert set features color photos of some of the top NHL Superstars printed using the hobby's top technology at the time.  The 45 cards in Tier One were randomly inserted one in every pack; the 20 cards in Tier Two were randomly inserted one in every 21 packs;  the 15 cards of Tier Three were randomly inserted one in every 71 packs; the 10 cards of Tier Four were randomly inserted one in every 145 packs.

I collected 35/45 Tier One cards, 2/20 cards from Tier Two and just 1/15 of the cards from Tier Three.  I never did pull a card from Tier Four.  I still enjoy these cards and like them much more than the StarQuest cards released in the 1998-99 Collector's Choice set and the parallel system used.

After I complete my 96-97 Score Sudden Death Project I think I'll start attempting to put this StarQuest set together.  If any of you guys have any of these for trade that aren't included in the scans, let me know!  I've included scans of all the cards I have in my collection under the cut.

1998-99 Upper Deck Choice Double Box Break Part 2

Here's the second box of 98-99 Upper Deck Choice that I opened a couple weeks ago, still holding hope for a StarQuest gold parallel.  I've omitted scans of cards that I've already pulled from the last box break.

Box break results under the cut.

1996-97 Upper Deck Collector's Choice 3 Star Selections

Inspired by a previous post over at Card Boarded and again as I was organizing my box of cards just earlier today, I wanted to post a feature on a favorite sub-set of mine from the 1996-97 Upper Deck Collector's Choice set that has been carried on over in the series through the years.

The '3 Star Selection' sub-set included 28 cards that featured 3 of the top players from each (26) team in the leauge; additionally 2 of the cards from the sub-set featured the top 3 players from the Eastern and Western Conference All-Star teams.

These were my favorite cards to pull from the Collector's Choice packs as a young collector.  After all my cards have been through, I feel lucky to sill have them in my collection.

St. Louis Blues - Brett Hull / Wayne Gretzky / Al Macinnis.  Pretty solid lineup here!  Gretzky would play briefly with St Louis, 31 games to be exact.  I don't have many cards with Gretzky in a Blues uniform.

New York Islanders - Eric Fichaud / Zigmund Palffy / Todd Bertuzzi.  I liked Fichaud as an Islander but he never lived up to the expectations his fantastic junior career had led to.  Palffy was another personal favorite of mine during these years, I was excited to see him represent Slovakia again during the 2010 Olympics.

1998-99 Upper Deck Choice Double Box Break Part 1

Wal-Mart was practically giving away these boxes of 1998-99 Upper Deck Choice at $8 a piece.  So I grabbed two of them with hopes of possibly completing the set and  maybe even the insert sets such as the Mini-Bobble Heads cards that I anticipated pulling from singles when I was about twelve.

36 packs per box, 6 cards per pack.  StarQuest Blue are inserted 2:1, Green 1:7, Red 1:23 and Gold are numbered to 100.  I have yet to see a Gold StarQuest in my life.  Mini Bobbing Heads are 1:4.  Key rookies from the set are Martin St. Louis, Milan Hejduk, Sergey Gusev, Mark Parrish, Oleg Kvasha, Michal Handzus, Tomas Kaberle, and Matt Cooke.

Every pack break from the first box is scanned and listed below.