Maple Leafs

Top Shelf Cards #1: Auston Matthews UD Premier Mega Patch

Sep 7, 2017 • 12:18 pm

I have a raging love-hate relationship with collecting, especially as it relates to cards. On the one hand, there’s that kid inside of me who is stuck in the ‘80’s, trading in pop bottles at the corner store for the .15 to .25 cents I needed for a pack of horrifically cut cardboard cards, and what I’m sure will one day be determined to be sheets of discarded, carcinogenic, industrial-use adhesive strips recycled into, and masquerading as, chewing gum. Chasing your idols, trading with friends, marking up checklists, and storing your collection loosely bouncing around in a shoe box, or being held excessively tight together with rubber bands. It was fun, innocent, and more to do with the thrill of the chase and the social aspects of it all than ever thinking about making money.

Fast forward to present day where a single pack of UD’s flagship product is going to run you anywhere from $5 to $10 due to the Matthews/Marner/Laine rookie card possibilities and you can see that the landscape has changed. And this is just the general ground floor folks! Sure, you can grab a pack of MVP, Parkhurst or OPC in the $3 to $5 range, but these are the exceptions, not the rule.

Packs in the $10 to $20 range are normal, while pushing towards $100 isn’t unheard of either. Got $250 to $500 a pack to blow? You can be hooked up my friends! You want to be active in the fancy schmantzy product, you better be a well off family man/woman, or a single guy/gal who has chosen this as your disposable income target! This is the part that I hate. I’d like to believe it’s because it takes a big steaming dump on my nicely protected innocent memories of something I loved as a kid. Others might argue that I’m just resentful that I’ve been priced out, and that if I had the cash I’d be right in there. For all I know they could be speaking some level of truth (but knowing my financials I’m pretty damn sure I won’t be testing that angle anytime soon)! At the end of the day folks there’s only one thing I’m sure of; for the time being, I’m on the sidelines once double digits come into play!

That midlife rant having been ranted, however, being on the sidelines doesn’t mean I’m cut out of the game. Maybe I’m unable to play it, but can a guy be blamed for being intrigued enough to sit back and watch it? I think not. Who among us can afford a Lambo or McLaren? But you’re still going to stop and check it out, amongst a million other cars you can’t afford, when you go to a car show, right? You may never find yourself ever owning or driving one, but it’s fun to check them out!

It’s with this in mind that I will be featuring some of these higher end cards as they pop up on the interweb for the benefit of us commoners who will never be in the market for them. What better way to jump into this than hitting on the main man of the bumper crop of rookies from last season, Auston Matthews:

Picture courtesy of MojoBreak.com

Can you believe this beauty? Coming from 2016-17 Upper Deck Premier, this card throws many premium features into one. As it should, one supposes, given the $200-$300 price tag PER PACK. This comes from the Mega Patch Jumbo Logo subset, which contains a variety of differing patches. This Matthews card is one of the Chest Logo patches, while Commemorative Logos, Shoulder Logos, and Sleeve Numbers are also possible hits.

As for this Matthews card, the hit is everything that a patch card should be; an essential part of the team logo or containing identifying features of the team uniform as opposed to a solid slab of a single colour. You can’t get anymore central to the essence of a Leafs jersey than the big ‘ole Leaf on the front, and this patch serves that up big time. This is no small patch either, coming in at 1.75 x 2.75 inches of patch in a 2.5 x 3.5 inch card, taking up over half the surface. Mucho swatch is mucho goodness…

Anything of this nature will obviously be short-printed, with this particular sample numbered to 25. For whoever managed to pull this one, they get the benefit of four letters off the logo which is a sweet hit considering how much of that Leaf logo UD will try to spread across as many of these cards as possible! Four of the 10 letters is significant, albeit without the patch featuring any of the angles of the crest. Can’t cash on every feature I reckon!

What may be an unpopular opinion on this piece: I like the hand numbering of the card as opposed to a stamping. The latter has become very formulaic, something you realize quite readily when you are presented with the hand numbering in contrast. There’s almost a personality to it, nevermind the sense that something about the card has been handcrafted rather than being the product of an automated mass production. Seems bizarre, but there’s something about the fact that someone had to get right in there and handle the item that makes me appreciate the finished product a bit more.

The nameplate and small, off to the side, player photo are nicely laid out, giving you the necessary info, but not distracting from the obvious centerpiece. The foil bordering and stamping wasn’t overdone, and frames the patch well, while not distracting you, again, from the obvious focal point of the card. My only beef? The “Authentic… and “Game-used… placed in the bottom and upper left corners of the front are a slight annoyance, in the sense that they really aren’t necessary. These descriptors will be outlined in the authenticity statement that is on the back of most UD memorabilia cards, so why busy up the nice, clear face of the card with extraneous info? Minor stuff to be sure, but I could have done without it.

Overall, just a classy looking card! Won’t catch me dropping the coin to crack a pack chasing it, but I’ll be damned if I won’t spend some time sitting back and admiring it! Congrats to whoever added this beauty to their collection!

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Do you have a piece of treasured memorabilia that has a great story behind it? Let me know and you can be featured in an article. Doesn't matter how big or small the piece is, how valuable it may be, or whether it's a common item or more oddball. If you think it has a story, contact me via the information below and we'll chat. In the meantime, check out some previous "Display Case" articles via the links below to see what others have submitted in the past... ______________________________________________________________________

Shawn Gates

shawn.gates@hockeybuzz.com

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