2023/24 Upper Deck Artifacts Hobby Box

2023-24 Upper Deck Artifacts Hockey brings back one of the sport’s longest running brands with a checklist that’s both expansive and filled with memorabilia. Rookie redemptions are back as well with several levels to chase along with autographs and another Upper Deck Bounty program.

2023-24 Upper Deck Artifacts Hockey Checklist Overview

The full 2023-24 Artifacts Hockey base set has 250 cards. That said, it’s broken down into four distinctly themed sections. The first half makes up the basic shell set. The next 70 cards are a mix of stars, goalies and legends, each numbered to 599. Thirty rookies (/999) take things up to 200 cards.

The balance of the base set is made up of 50 different Rookie Redemptions that won’t take on their final form until later in the season. These allow Upper Deck to work some of the top debuts of the 2023-24 season into the final checklist. Redemptions land 1:18 hobby packs.

The first 200 cards have a fairly large assortment of standard parallels:

• Wood – 1:32 hobby packs
• Leather – 1:53 hobby packs
• Plexi – 1:80 hobby packs
• Ruby – /499
• Copper – /299
• Royal Blue – /199
• Emerald – /99
• Light Blue Steel – /85
• Autumn – /75
• Polychrome – /65
• Yellow – /50
• Pink – /35
• Purple – /25
• Party Time – /10
• Black – /5

Turquoise and Spectrum Jungle (/15) parallels are only in blasters.

Beyond these are several levels of numbered versions infused with two memorabilia pieces. The more scarce the version, the more premium the pieces. Some also include signatures.

More Rookie Redemptions

Besides the basic planned redemptions, there are a few others to look for.

All 50 cards have Emerald parallels. Exclusive to hobby, these are 1:130 packs.

Five key players get Horizontal SP Photo Variants (1:265 packs), which have their own Emerald versions (1:5,200 packs).

Retro Rookie Redemptions (15 cards, 1:45 packs) take on a previous Artifacts design.

Six players have a mix of memorabilia and autographed memorabilia versions while 18 first-year players have Autograph Variations.

Additional Autographs and Memorabilia Cards

Not all of the hits in 2023-24 Upper Deck Artifacts Hockey are offshoots of the base set. There are a handful of other places with autographs and relics.

Arena Artifacts (/65) have pieces taken from Pittsburgh’s Civic Arena, which is where the Penguins played from 1967 through 2010.

Signature Apparel and Admirable Impressions are among the auto memorabilia rarities that carry on from past installments.

Although focused primarily on the inserts used for the product’s Bounty program, Aurum Signatures add an autograph layer. Besides single-signed versions from past, present and future stars that have 25 copies each, there are scarce Duals (/5).

More ink in 2013-14 Upper Deck Artifacts Hockey is available in AutoFacts, 2005-06 Retro AutoFacts, Award Winners Autographs, Signs of Success, Storied Scripts, Top 12 Rookie Signatures 2022-23 Update, and Top Tier Rookie Signatures.

Among the memorabilia highlights are All-Star Artifacts, NHL Remnants, Selection Souvenirs, Silky Mitts, Treasured Swatches, and Threads of Time. There’s also the return of multi-piece Tundra Tandems, Tundra Teammates Duos, and Tundra Teammates Quads.

Inserts and Bounty

Hobby packs are the only place to find 2022-23 Clear Cut Artifacts Rookies. Following a similar theme but with a past design are 2005-06 Clear Cut Retro Artifacts Rookies.

Aurum is a large 48-card insert set done with Gold Light FX technology. On the back is a Bounty code. Encouraging collectors to go after the set, those that enter codes for every card get a pair of Aurum achievement cards that bring the checklist up to 50 total cards.

There’s also a race element for more exclusives that aren’t in packs. The first 25 to finish get a special 12-card Aurum set. The first 10 also get an autograph. The three fastest collectors receive an additional dual autograph as well.

2023-24 Upper Deck Artifacts Hockey at a glance:

Cards per pack: Hobby – 4, Blaster – 5
Packs per box: Hobby – 8, Blaster – 7
Boxes per case: Hobby – 20 (two 10-box inner cases), Blaster – 20
Set size: 250 cards
Release date: December 15, 2023