1910-11 C56 Imperial Tobacco Set of 36-ish

What's there to say about this 100+ year old set that hasn't already been said? My set isn't in particularly great shape; probably Fair to Good at best. But it sure is beautiful.

There is, however, an incredibly rare #37 Newsy Lalonde card from this set (one is currently up on eBay for the asking price of $180,000):

From the seller (BMW Sportscards): "For over 90 years, the 1910-11 C56 Imperial Tobacco Series of Hockey—the first known hockey set—was thought to be complete at 36 cards. However, after the recent discovery of another, previously unknown card (a second Newsy Lalonde), it is now known to comprise 37 different specimens. This discovery has been discussed on numerous websites and forums and various theories have been given for its existence. The 2007 unearthing of the original lithographic stone used to print the C56 series has provided additional confirmation that 37 cards were originally produced by Imperial Tobacco. This final card is numbered with '37' in the top left corner instead of '36,' but has the same pose of Édouard 'Newsy' Lalonde. The mystery surrounding card #37 remains, however, since speculation is that the card is similar to the T206 Honus Wagner in that it may have been pulled from production early with very few examples ever making it into cigarette packs."

There are only three #37s known to exist. To cloud the picture further, there are two variations of the card. Two cards, including the one pictured above, have commas after the team names on back, while the other does not. For more information about the 1910-11 C56 #37 Newsy Lalonde visit www.c55proofs.com.

1972-73 OPC Logo SPs: Atlanta Flames & NY Islanders

I have been eyeing these final two short-printed cards to complete my 1972-72 OPC Team Logo Set. They were expensive for what they are at $200 apiece. But since they are short-printed inserts from the third OPC series, I just haven't seen them come up too often on eBay or other vintage card sites.

Below is an uncut sheet of 1972-73 logos that has been on eBay for some time now (might be the asking price). These images illustrate why and which cards were SPs:

This sheets contains 6 rows of 11 cards for a total of 66 cards per sheet. Per the seller, this is the way these insert logo sheets were printed for this year. So this is not just half of a whole sheet.

Hypothesis: The sheets were half sheets because of die-cutting sensitivity.

1970-71 Topps/OPC Sticker Stamp Ron Ellis

There are 33 unnumbered and blank-back sticker stamps in the 1970-71 Topps/OPC Sticker Stamp insert set. I still need Gordie Howe to complete the set, but I have my eye on three different eBay auctions, so it shouldn't be too long.

These sticker cards were issued as an insert in the regular issue wax packs of the 1970-71 Topps hockey release, as well as in first series wax packs of 1970-71 OPC. There is no discernible difference between the Topps and OPC stickers.

Ron Ellis played 16 seasons in the NHL with the Toronto Maple Leafs and won the Stanley Cup in 1966-67. He played in 4 All-Star Games and all 8 games of the 1972 Summit Series. Ellis scored a career-high 35 goals in 1969-70, and was eventually the last player remaining from the 1967 team to play with the Leafs.

Like many Leafs of old, he was treated horribly by Harold Ballard and Punch Imlach during "the mismanagement years" of the era. Ellis was unceremoniously cut from the team by Imlach partway through the 1980-81 season, and he retired at age 35.

1973-74 Quaker Oats WHA

The sole WHA set for 1973-74 was a food issue distributed in Quaker Oats products. Oddly, they were produced with no branding for Quaker on either the fronts or backs of the cards.

The complete set of 50 cards consists of 10 panels of 5 cards each, with each strip sealed in cellophane.

I picked up this complete set with the strips still intact for $99...a great deal in my mind at less than $2 a card.

1960-61 Topps #56 Bob Armstrong

I purchased a near-set of 1960-61 Topps that still needs a few cards, plus a handful of replacements for some filler cards that suffer from doodling. Do you think Topps/OPC got the idea to add "Traded to XXX" and "Now with XXX" after seeing all the cards from the 1950s and 1960s that people felt compelled to write updates upon?

Nicknamed "Satch," Bob Armstrong was a hard-hitting defenseman who amassed 99 points in 542 games for the Boston Bruins. He lost in the Stanley Cup finals three times to the Montreal Canadiens (1953, 1957 and 1958). He also played in the 1960 All-Star Game.

At the tail-end of his career, Armstrong played some time in the minors. He had a run-in with Don Cherry that ended with Grapes breaking his stick over Armstrong's head.

Bob began his second career after pro hockey at Lakefield College School in Peterborough, Ontario. He taught history and economics, and, naturally, coached the hockey team.

Bob Armstrong died in November 1990. The Bob Armstrong Rink at the Lakefield College School was dedicated in February 2006.