IrbeFan4Life
Verified Trader,
For anyone who has known me for a long-time, especially from my Arturs Irbe collecting days, they will know that I also collect cards and memorabilia of Levente Szuper, the first and thus far only Hungarian born and raised player to ever be on an NHL active roster (2002-03, Calgary Flames).
To put it simply, it has been nearly 3 years since I managed to add anything new to my Levente Szuper collection. Why? The answer is simple: there are only two NHL cards that I still need of his which are both pack-inserted 1/1s (and one of the two is in another collector's hands and the other has never popped up yet). There are also some pack-inserted German DEL 1/1 printing plates I need as well, and there are those pesky expo cards, but they don't quite excite me to add them and I rarely hunt for those.
Anyways, one day I was browsing for Szuper cards on eBay when I came across a listing for two extremely rare Hungarian-release only cards put out by M-Sport in 2004-05. Hungarian issued cards of any sort are incredibly rare, not the least of which being that hockey was not yet as popular over there in 2004-05 as it is now. I have never even had these cards checklisted, or even knew of their existence until I saw the listing. The price was high, like extortion high for both the Szuper and the team card which featured Szuper front and center. I hummed and hawed for a few days and eventually pulled the trigger on them because if it took me twenty years to see my first copy of it in real life, I don't wanna wait another twenty more if I hesitate.
So here they are in all their glory, the beyond rare items right from Hungary:
1) 2004-05 M Sport Team Hungary Base #1 - Team Hungary Checklist card
2) 2004-05 M Sport Team Hungary Base #37 - Levente Szuper
A neat thing about this set was that clearly the base cards were intended to be handed by fans to the athletes to have them autograph them at some tournament/event, which just adds something neat to it all.
To put it simply, it has been nearly 3 years since I managed to add anything new to my Levente Szuper collection. Why? The answer is simple: there are only two NHL cards that I still need of his which are both pack-inserted 1/1s (and one of the two is in another collector's hands and the other has never popped up yet). There are also some pack-inserted German DEL 1/1 printing plates I need as well, and there are those pesky expo cards, but they don't quite excite me to add them and I rarely hunt for those.
Anyways, one day I was browsing for Szuper cards on eBay when I came across a listing for two extremely rare Hungarian-release only cards put out by M-Sport in 2004-05. Hungarian issued cards of any sort are incredibly rare, not the least of which being that hockey was not yet as popular over there in 2004-05 as it is now. I have never even had these cards checklisted, or even knew of their existence until I saw the listing. The price was high, like extortion high for both the Szuper and the team card which featured Szuper front and center. I hummed and hawed for a few days and eventually pulled the trigger on them because if it took me twenty years to see my first copy of it in real life, I don't wanna wait another twenty more if I hesitate.
So here they are in all their glory, the beyond rare items right from Hungary:
1) 2004-05 M Sport Team Hungary Base #1 - Team Hungary Checklist card
2) 2004-05 M Sport Team Hungary Base #37 - Levente Szuper
A neat thing about this set was that clearly the base cards were intended to be handed by fans to the athletes to have them autograph them at some tournament/event, which just adds something neat to it all.
