Collectors like a challenge, but some are really going to a whole new level with their collecting and it’s amazing to see when they succeed. For premium products like SP Game-Used or Premier Collection, Upper Deck procures NHL® game-used jerseys or jerseys from NHL® events like the All-Star Game, Winter Classic, Stadium Series, etc. On some of these jerseys are unique patches for the event or commemorating something else like the NHL’s 100-year anniversary. These patches are cut and embedded into trading cards for the Upper Deck sets. They are mixed with the other cards, randomly inserted into packs and sent all over the world. It’s highly unlikely these patches will ever be assembled again.
There are some intrepid collectors however who are up to the challenge of finding all the components and reassembling them together. This is a VERY difficult task however and the odds of success are really far out there as the collector needs to constantly be scanning online auction sites, on hobby message board, going to shows and being very dialed in to all the cards hitting the market.
Recently on Twitter a customer shared an incredible success story with an incredible Noah Hanifin patch where he was able to have success with this process:
Shortly thereafter another collector shared his success with a Ryan Kessler patch:
Kudos to these two collectors on their successes. Recently we profiled another collector named Jay Jokisch who has done something similar with Mega Patch cards in Premier Collection. His collection is simply spectacular. We love seeing these success stories so make sure to share them with UD on social media.
There are some serious perils for collectors taking on this challenge that gets them stuck on occasion. Here’s a small snapshot at what could derail their quest for these cards.
Product Needs to be Widely Broken: What we mean here basically is in order to succeed, the product needs to be successful and popular. People have to open it. Breaking cases and sharing your finds is something many collectors do online in particular, but in order to find all the pieces of this puzzle, enough product needs to be opened for you to find all the components needed. Otherwise, the patches you need could just be sitting buried in cases that may never be opened. Luckily products like SP Game-Used and Premier Collection are very popular with an estimated 75% of the product opened within the first three months of release.
This collector is SO CLOSE to completing a patch puzzle for Boone Jenner. Can any fans help him out?
Private Collections: Some collectors are very private and they don’t talk about what they pull or they don’t trade with other collectors. If one of these patches ends up in a private collection, a fan trying to complete one of these patch puzzles may never see the needed card or at least not see it for years.
Competing Collectors: Often there are other collectors who love a particular player and may want to hang on to cards needed to complete a patch puzzle because they love a player. To complete patch puzzles for extremely popular players like Connor McDavid, Sidney Crosby, Auston Matthews, etc. can be a real challenge because of that.
This collector has his work cut out for him, but he is making progress on reassembling these Predators patches. Really incredible!
There is no better feeling though than overcoming the odds and compiling the cards needed to complete that patch puzzle. Congratulations to those bold collectors up to that challenge!
