Peter Lougheed has been collecting hockey cards for more than 30 years, but a card his 10-year-old daughter Bea recently pulled is the new centrepiece of his collection.
The Fredericton resident has been working on Upper Deck’s BAP Portraits set since it was released in February 2007. He has all the regular base, jersey and rookie cards, but he likes the look of the glossy 8×10 autographed cards the best.
He has 65 of the 94 single autographed cards and 18 of the 24 duals. There are also three-time, six-time and 10-time signed cards - each more difficult to pull - and those are on Lougheed’s wish list, too.
Lougheed - who says he’s “been collecting since I was born, really-” bought individual packs and boxes off the online auction house eBay and at local hobby shop The Card Rack, but he reached a point where he was getting more doubles than cards he needed.
He was planning to switch to buying singles to finish his set, but decided to buy three more boxes on eBay.
Bea loves helping her dad open the boxes, so on the day the package arrived he told her to go ahead and open the first box while he got the protective plastic sleeves and top loaders ready.
When Bea opened the first box in the other room, she yelled, “I’ve pulled a ‘Sensational Six’ card with three autographs on it.”
“I yelled back to her to check the other side,” he said. “Of course, she freaked realizing that the card actually had six signatures on it.”
The 8×10, which is serial numbered 5/5, features six former first-round NHL draft picks: Joe Thornton, Alexander Ovechkin and Marc-Andre Fleury on one side; Mats Sundin, Rick Nash and Mike Modano on the other.
Lougheed, 37, has more than 4,800 autographs, including 3,000-plus on cards - his vast collection is insured for $150,000, in fact - but this is one card the self-proclaimed pack rat has no plans to part with.
“This is one of those things, no matter how big your collection is, it’s still pretty special,” he said. “What was neat about it was that it was Bea who opened it and not me. That’s what made it so special.”
After checking the list of multiple-signed cards in this product, Lougheed says, based on player selection, this is possibly the best card you can get from one of these packs.
Lougheed’s story is featured in the latest Beckett Hockey magazine. The teaser on the cover is “She Freaked! Father-daughter collecting team makes sensational discovery.”
The page five ‘Cool Pulls’ article, headlined “The ‘Bea’ All, End All”, shows both sides of the card and a beaming Bea holding the prized possession.
“Anybody who sees it on the Beckett message boards assumes I’m going to sell it,” Lougheed said. “That’s what most people do when they get something big, but we don’t sell stuff. We have a collection that we’re building.”
And building and building…
Lougheed has a room on the lower level of his home filled with items he’s acquired since he was a kid.
His wife Leyla not only tolerates his hobby, she actually helps it grow.
“I think she likes it,” he said. “She almost never questions anything that I’m buying. It helps to have the room to display it.”
The ‘Collection Room’ has four closets. Lougheed uses those for storage space. The rest he proudly displays.
“That’s kind of my bat cave,” he said.
Leyla knows it’s something he enjoys and something he can share with Bea and their son Jamie, who’s almost four.
“Jamie is starting to show more interest in the cards than Bea,” Lougheed said, “but this was a neat thing to happen, at that age, for her. She’ll feel connected with that, even though Jamie will probably be the one who ends up getting into the hobby more.”
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