Fave Five -- 1/1 cards

One of the aspects of the modern hobby that did not exist when I was a kid is the advent of the 1/1 parallel. 

Here are my Fave Five.

FIVE -- Blank Back Cards

I bought these two blank back cards from the Topps Vault eBay store last year.  They are fairly gimmicky, but I'm a sucker for any card variation for my player collections.

The backs of the cards are blank, save for a Topps hologram sticker and a hand written 1/1, hence the "blank back card" moniker.

FOUR -- Printing Plates

Some people dispute the 1/1-ness of printing plates.  The dispute comes from the fact that there are usually four different colors of ink used in the printing process, therefore there are four colors of printing plates.  Some people use this fact to say that a printing plate is actually a 1/4 parallel.  Either way, I like them.  Here are a handful of the printing plates I own.  I only included the cards that say "One-of-one" or "1/1", rather than the "one of a kind collectable" that adorns the backs of recent Topps printing plates.  I did this because it seems to me to be a cop-out on Topps' part.  They are playing to the printing-plates-aren't-1/1-cards crowd.   
Just the same, here are some of my printing plates.

Ryan G of This Card is Cool pointed out today that the non-negative images on printing plates is probably due to the offset printing method of card printing.  I always assumed that the printing plates should be a mirror image to the card they printed, similar to a rubber stamp or the bottom two printing plates.  It would seem that the bottom two plates were not from an offset printing shop.  Consider me baffled.

THREE -- Topps Umbrella

The lone non-Hochevar 1/1 card in my collection is this Dexter Fowler 2010 National Chicle Umbrella logo parallel.  I love the simplicity of the card.

TWO -- White Whale

When I began my Hochevar collection last year, this card was one of the first card I bought.  It was my first 1/1, my first autograph card, and my first jersey card.  I'm actually very happy I stumbled into it when I did because it definitely fueled my hunger to track down every Hochevar card produced.  It's kind of crazy that one of the first casts of my card-fishing lines hooked the proverbial white whale.

This card is technically a printing plate, so I still need the other three colors to complete the set.  But I don't see that happening anytime soon.

This card is one of those weird cases where the first card of this series that I owned was the 1/1.  I've been slowly working my way up the 2009 Triple Threads parallel ladder, adding the /10, /50, and /75 variations to my collection.  I still need a /99 card, as well as two other parallels, the numbers of which I can't find online at the moment.

ONE -- Platinum

Putting this card in the number one spot was a no brainer for me.  It is easily the crown jewel of my Hochevar collection.  The story of how I came to own this card can be found HERE.

This card is a beauty and it will take a very special card to knock it off the top spot in my Fave Five 1/1 Card list.