In 1991 I set out to collect all major releases of every player on the 1976-77 Montreal Canadiens team in nm-mt. For example, I wanted to collect every card of Guy Lafleur from his 71-72 opc rookie all the way through to his 1991-92 upper deck.



Has anyone else attempted this sort of project with another team or specific year?

Over the last 17 years I've tackled my Canadiens project sporadically, and the project was only in jeporady once in 2002 when I was cash strapped and listed it on eBay for a ridiculously low price of $650. Luckily nobody bid, and over the past year I've finally had the funds and the time to upgrade every last card to my standards. There are about 700 different cards in all.



This project has taught me so much about vintage opc and topps I would have never known otherwise, like just how difficult it is to find a reasonably priced 1969-70 OPC Jacques Lemaire, or how easy it is to find a 1972-73 OPC Ken Dryden.

I hope you like the scans of some of the key cards in my collection. If you'd like to see a particular card, just let me know and I'll scan it.

Here's my top five favorite cards:
1) 1971-72 OPC Ken Dryden #45
2) 1976-77 OPC Ken Dryden #200
3) 1974-75 OPC Guy Lafleur
4) 1965-66 Topps Yvan Cournoyer
5) 1974-75 OPC Scotty Bowman

Beautiful cards!! Did Guy sign that for you or did you buy it already signed? That Dryden looks sharp as well. Congrats on the Montreal "set" and luckily noone bid on the card when you listed it.

Andrew

Andrew,

I met Guy Lafleur when I was a young. I think it was 1986, and he was touring with Steve Shutt and a bunch of guys who'd had a cup of coffee in the NHL. I think he had six goals that night, and after the game I got his autograph while they were still out on the ice, so its a special card for me.

Here's some more of my personal favorites.

WOW ....very nice cards / the Lafleur RC could be a PSA 8+++ ......

I remember when the Dryden came out in 71 .... it was the first card to show a goalie with his mask and in classic goalie pose. As an 11 year old i was in total awe .... especially considering the typical crappy goalie head shots up to that point!! AWESOME CARD


I've always got a kick from this one .......




JOHN,PAUL,GEORGE,RINGO & GUY (the 5th Beatle)

Despite the fact that these are all Habs, yeccch, I have to say they are beautfiful cards Nathanael. Am I the only one who thinks that ungraded cards in this kind of superlative condition beat high-grade PSA any day ? I know it's tough to not think about what they could be worth with a # stamped on the front so I commend you on keeping them all in their natural, wonderful state.

Nice thread! I'm guessing you read and enjoyed Dryden's book 'The Game.'

Thanks for the nice comments, guys! When I'm shopping online for a high priced card I'll buy graded stuff, but I prefer ungraded for my private collection. I try to keep a hobby mentality about cards instead of an investment mentality, and keeping my stuff ungraded helps me focus on the cards instead of the monetary value of them. This is becoming harder and harder to do as I search for ways to justify buying older Parkhurst and Topps cards.



Ken Dryden's "The Game" and "Home Game" are two of the best hockey books I've ever read. I'm glad to have his perspective on one of the greatest teams in NHL history and on Canadian hockey in the 80's. Peter Gzowski's "The Game of Our Lives" and Beliveau's "Strength Down Centre" are also great books.

I've enjoyed this site for its information and for its heated debates about ethics in buying/selling/trading, but I'd love to see even more posts about the weird but interesting fixations that we all have that shape the content of our collections.



PS- I think Guy Lapointe was trying to elicit the most sought after copy by the OPC card back writers- "Guy is known as a mod dresser." Sadly I think Derek Sanderson had secured a deal with OPC for exclusive rights for the term until his retirement.