REAL 97/98 Upper Deck Game Dated Parallels

Left is the gemon, Right is the parallel.
The okay guide doesnt really give enough room for larger pictures. So to seeother scans just use okays internal email to contact me.
1997 / 1998 Upper Deck Hockey
Game Dated Parallels
For over9 years now. I have been authenticating what is, or is not a REAL Game Dated Parallel. On average I contact about 100 people a year. Of those about90 - 95 have gemmons, and not the parallel. So hopefully this guide will help save the rest of you from the listing fees. Or at least from negative feedback when it turns out you dont have what you think you have?
I myself am a collector, I dont have a store, though I do sell on okay. I own 12 of the actual parallels. And what I am stating here are the facts not opinions about this series.
First understand almost everyone in the collecting world knows nothing about these. Becketts and Upper Deck just didnt explain this series very well. I have even seen dealers say things that werent true at all. Because they didnt check things out. But also because they never opened the product. So all they see now, is one card that looks different from the others. (So that must be it) Is what I hear from most out there.
Becketts calls it a skip numbered set. Well it is and it isnt. When I first heard that I thought ok, all odds or evens? No, that means some are Game Dated some arent. So both odd and evens are represented. Basically they only had Moments for some of the players, and not for the rest. Here is the biggest thing. Just having the Game Dated moment stamp on the front of the card, doesnt make it the parallel! That seems to be the greatest cause of confusion. And only cards from the series with a Game Dated Moment on them have a Parallel version. So there arent parallels for the other cards from 97/98 Upper Deck. Now in a few cases, error cards are around of the Game Dated stamp being left off, or something. But those are just your typical error cards. And shouldnt be confused with the Game Dated Moment Parallel card.
So to summarize, this series has cards marked Game Dated. But they are also the gemons. Its just that Upper Deck didnt select a Moment for every card. Only those players who have A Game Dated Moment also have a Parallel card issued.
Here are what make up the actual parallel:
- Parallel Card stock is 3x thicker than the regular cards
- Both Card backs are identical, (no difference between gemon