Some Additions From The Great War

One of my non-sports PC collections is World War I and my cards have made many appearances on my blog, mainly my Manfred von Richthofen vintage collection. Over the years I have added some very cool cards to my collection like an engineer’s uniform relic, a machine gun unit’s blanket relic, two different signal flag relics, sketch cards and a Ghosts of WWI 3D card by Upper Deck.

My latest two pickups are welcome additions to my collection and are both from 2014 releases. The first is the 2014 Upper Deck Goodwin Champions Museum Collection German field uniform relic. These cards are amazing, they are thick and very heavy duty and the relic is quite large in comparison to regular relic hits.

I got this card at a discount because the edges on both the front and back are chipped badly but I don’t care, I don’t buy cards to be graded. 

The second card is from Cult Stuff, a British card company, and is from the Cult Stuff 1914 release. The set was released in 2014 as part of a respectful celebration of the centennial of the beginning of the Great War. The set was made up of a base set, some inserts, relic cards and sketch cards. This is a clipping relic card from The War Illustrated magazine, which was printed between 1914 and 1919, to keep people in England up to date on what was happening on the battlefields in Europe. This clipping is a picture of German soldiers setting up telegraph lines and it is damaged along the bottom left corner but when you consider this clipping is close to 100 years old I will let it slide.

The clipping is not inside the card or attached to the card, it is being held in place using postage stamp mounts on the four corners. I would have preferred a die-cut window placed in the card and the clipping beneath the window or at least some sort of acetate or plastic over it. I have the card in a penny sleeve in a binder so I feel it is safe where it is for now.

A Look At The 2013 Goodwin Champions Museum Collection

With the release of Upper Deck’s 2013 Goodwin Champions many people turn their attention to the cool inserts that UD includes in the Museum Collection relics insert. Last year the Museum Collection theme was the Civil War, this year it is the Wild West and next year the theme is World War I (UD already has my attention).

 

Some of the Museum Collection relics have been inserted in to packs including a piece of a Money Bag, a Gambler’s Vest and Chuck-A-Luck Layout (a dice game). Currently there are roughly 20 auctions for these packed out relics and reasonable prices seem to be ranging around $30-40 each.

 

The larger relic cards are through redemption and according to Upper Deck’s blog these oversized cards are nearing completion and should be ready to ship soon. Many of the relics focus on the gambling aspect that was common in the towns of the old west but there are other relics like an arrowhead, pay dirt gold, wood from a stagecoach and a railcar, a rail spike, a calendar and a piece from Buffalo Bill’s chair.

 

 

Goodwin Champions Museum Collection Flag Relics Hit The Bay!

There has been some buzz about Upper Deck’s decision to include a Union flag as relics in the Museum Collection insert in the recently released 2012 Goodwin Champions set. The flag that is being included was a Union Flag that had actually been carried in to battle, though I have not found any information verifying which battle or even which unit carried the flag.

 

The problem with the inclusion of the flag has bothered some collectors, they feel that cutting up a flag and inserting the pieces in to a card is straight unpatriotic, sacrilegious and in poor taste. Many of the collectors who have made these statements are supporting it with the legal description on how to properly retire an American Flag. They point out that our flag should never be used in such a manner and that Upper Deck will receive bad press and negative reactions if they followed through with the decision to include the relics in the set.

 

Some of the responses in defense are just as spirited and seem to be more detailed as to the technical definition of American Flag. One point that seems to be pretty prevalent is that the flag is being described only as a “Union Flag” which could be a national flag or in many cases States and even individual units created their own version of the Stars & Stripes to be carried in to battle as their identifying marker. Others point out that even if this was the flag of the Union Government, it was not the same country, and it was a country divided and therefore is not the same as the United States of America as we know it now.

Upper Deck has stood by their decision to include the relics, they want to introduce American history to a generation of collectors and that from the beginning the inclusion of the flag was with respect and this was there way of giving the flag a second life. Rob Ford, UD Sports Coordinator, pointed out that the vendor they bought the flag from was actually cutting pieces from the flag and selling them to his customers so the flag was quite fragile and shredded by the time they purchased it. When you see how it was received you can see that it is not a museum quality piece and it would not be ideal to give it complete to one lucky collector.


A portion of the flag as received by Upper Deck

 

This is a tough ethical question and while the subject is very different, this is still a similar debate to the arguments we hear when a company cuts up a Babe Ruth bat to insert the chips in to cards. There will always be some for it and some against it. In the end, it is your collection and if you want it (and can afford it) why not own it?

 

With 2012 Goodwin Champions being out for almost two weeks now the big hits are starting to show up for auction. The Union Flag relics are inserted in to standard relic cards so they were inserted in to the packs. I have come across four auctions so far, two are currently active and two have ended. This includes the three-colored flag relic card that Upper Deck has been using on their website/blog and in advertising materials for the Museum Collection.

 

In all honesty I believe that most collectors would be excited to pull one of the flag relic cards. I think Upper Deck took a chance and it may work out well.

 

I rarely talk about my personal beliefs on the blog but to give a little insight in to the man known as "Corky", I believe in ghosts/paranormal activity and I feel that personal items like uniform buttons and insignias carry over energy if the person died while wearing them and I want nothing to do with those button and insignia Museum Collection relics unless I knew for a fact (which is almost impossible to prove in this case) they came from a soldier who did not die on the battlefield. Not that I expect to pull any of these, I am more interested in the It Came From Outer Space Meteorite cards anyway.

 

Current Auction: $449- Auction Link



Current Auction: $305- Auction Link

Auction Ended: Card Sold $465- Auction Link

Auction Ended Early, Not Re-listed Yet: Card Did Not Sell $999- Auction Link