Tag Archives: memorabilia

Review: 2012 Panini Prime Hockey

  By Sports Card Blog | December 7, 2012 - 11:20 am | ,
1 Comment

Now this isn’t your typical break for the site. Usually Panini provides us with awesome product to review, but this time, I decided to buy a product in which I didn’t get a chance to review this year. I went online to my preferred card shop, DA Card World, on Black Friday and got a sweet deal on 2012 Panini Prime hockey. I’ve wanted to try the product for awhile and thought it would be the perfect chance after seeing some fantastic breaks. One pack per box, 4 autograph/memorabilia cards per pack. It is loaded with both the unique and “mojo” goodness you could ask for. Let’s see our box:

Design:

The design is that of a very premium product. A thick card stock, a clean design, and some unique ways to showcase the memorabilia within the cards. The quad design on the rookie autographs is extremely nice, especially with the on-card signatures. It’s one of the ever improving Panini designs that looks good and feels good. Definitely one of the best designs of the year in a new product that I hope to see again in the future. The only real issue I see with the product is one that has been brought up before, and that is the non-athlete picture on the super large memorabilia cards. Yes, that sucks. A great remedy would be to make those cards vertical book cards or have almost a full front picture on the back of the card. Just a couple of ideas for the unique product.

Checklist:

The checklist of Panini Prime is fantastic. You have all of your top rookies with their rookie autographs and other types of memorabilia cards, but also all of the top stars in the game featured in every way imaginable in the product. The product impresses with the large number of superstars and veterans of the game. Though you may hit a rookie autograph, in a not very strong rookie class, you can easily make up for it with some great veteran content thanks to the checklist put together. So with a great checklist, you also will find great…

Value:

Yeah, weird isn’t it? Products like this are usually extremely hit or miss. The product originally launched at $200, but now sits at around $170 at DA Card World. I did receive it on Black Friday for $150. This product seems to have found the perfect balance between quality of hits and price. I hit two rookie autographed memorabilia cards, one other first year autograph, but the regular memorabilia card made up for it in several ways. The memorabilia loaded into this product really adds a great bit of value with the huge swatches, multi-color patches, letter marks, all of that premium stuff. It was a great product put together that I even wrote raving about before I had a chance to open it myself. This box proved my point.

Overall:

Overall, Panini Prime is one fine product from the hockey folks at Panini. I was all geared up for the product, saw the hot breaks, wrote about how great it was, and the box proved me right. Don’t you love when that happens? The design is beautiful in mostly all phases of production, but there are a couple tweaks that I would add to make it that much better. The checklist is loaded with all the talent Panini could muster and the value is through the roof with some of the amazing pulls you can find in the product. Job well done.

You can check out the full checklist and other info over on Cardboard Connection.

Check out the video as I pull some sweet cards you won’t want to miss. (Jumbo patch of a superstar anyone?)

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Group Break: 2007 Upper Deck Ultimate Collection Baseball Case Break

  By Sports Card Blog | December 6, 2012 - 2:10 pm |
19 Comments

Group Break as Low as $5!

I have received a case of 2007 Upper Deck Ultimate Collection baseball. I would LOVE to do a group break with my readers and the product. This product is loaded with hits from just about every team out there. At 3 hits per pack and 1 base, 4 packs per box, and 4 boxes per case, that equates to 48 total hits.

You can find some sweet rookies autographs like Tim Lincecum, Daisuke Matsuzaka, Ryan Braun, Josh Hamilton, Adam Lind, Michael Bourn, Delmon Young, Hunter Pence, Troy Tulowitzki, Billy Butler, and more. Just check out this full checklist. There are a couple redemptions in the product, I apologize if one is pulled for you as they are expired. I will send something to replace the expired redemption or you can have the expired redemption yourself, your choice.

Read all the product details here at Cardboard Connection on all the types of cards you can hit. Tons of sweet autographs, patch cards, etc.

So what I’ve done here is painstakingly counted all of the cards in the set and found out the percentage you pull a card based on the team. That is then correlated into a price for each team. Price includes PayPal fees, shipping, and cards you pull. If you get 0 cards (including base), I’ll send you something for joining, probably some packs of cards or something. You are welcome to buy as many teams as you wish. Break will be done simultaneously live on YouTube and BlogTV at a date to be determined (depending on when it fills).

Cards with multiple teams will be randomized unless someone owns the majority of the teams on the card.

Angels – $22
Athletics – $33
Mariners – $22
Rangers – $34
Indians – $22
Tigers – $22 – Gladdy (Confirmed)
Twins – $54
Royals – $5 – Michael Poullas (Confirmed)
White Sox – $22
Blue Jays – $10 – Community Gum (Confirmed)
Orioles – $34 – Waxtopia (Confirmed)
Rays – $22
Red Sox – $64 – Kevin (Confirmed)
Yankees – $59
Braves – $22 -
Marlins – $33
Nationals – $10
Mets – $34
Phillies – $22
Astros – $34 – FieldLevelView (Confirmed)
Brewers – $34 – Michael Decker (Confirmed)
Cardinals – $49
Cubs – $34
Pirates – $5
Reds – $22 -
Diamondbacks – $10
Dodgers – $10 -
Giants – $15 – Adam (Confirmed)
Padres – $34
Rockies – $22

Please respond here if you are interested in purchasing a spot in this group break. First come, first serve on payment. As soon as payment is made, that team will be crossed out.

Break will be December 19th, whether filled or not! Payment is due by that date.

UPDATE: If the break is filled, $100 will be donated to Sandy Hook victims.

Break has been completed. Visit http://www.blogtv.com/users/sportscardblog for the videos!

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Review: 2012 Panini Prime Signatures Football

  By Sports Card Blog | December 1, 2012 - 7:23 am | ,
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Panini Prime Signatures football is back for another season in the football realm, with noticeable improvements over last year’s installation. With the addition of patch autographs and what looks like an increase in veteran content, the product becomes much less of a gamble than it may have been last season. With only three cards per box, it is going to be a gamble no matter what, but at least this year the odds are slightly more in your favor. And we as collectors always appreciate that when purchasing products. Let’s see what we pulled…

Design:

The design more or less hasn’t changed since last season. This is both good and bad, but I am going to err towards the good this time around. It’s a clean and solid design with the white background with the accents behind the players. The thick card stock adds a premium feel to the product. The different color foil returns to differentiate the paralleled cards in the product and the addition of rookie memorabilia cards looks fantastic as well. Only issue is that the changes are so insignificant, it doesn’t have a differential factor. I can say that it does look more pleasing to the eye though this year.

Checklist:

The checklist this year is slightly improved with both veteran content, the strong rookie class, and the addition of different types of hit cards that you can pull. There seems to be a stronger amount of veteran content this year, which definitely improves the checklist. The strong rookie class will always help as well, but even a decent class last year made this product a difficult choice on whether to buy or not. Finally, the additional types of hit cards really adds another dimension to the product. You know you’re going to get an autograph…will it be veteran, rookie, rookie memorabilia? What type of memorabilia? More options will equal a better checklist and a better…

Value:

…value in a product like this. Value in a product with these standards is always a correlation between checklist and hits compared to selling price. The selling price of the product hasn’t really changed, $60 a box over at DA Card World, so it really depends on what you find inside. Again, it’s back to those additional styles of hits that really make this product more valuable. Collectors love the autographed memorabilia and patch cards, and this product finally provides them after a kind of boring product last season. As you can see, we pulled one of those cards which is a great example to the great additions made by the Panini football team.

Overall:

Overall, this product has a great improvement over last year’s version. While the design hasn’t changed much, it has kept the core components that made it a great looking card to the eyes. A type of card that you would consider building a set of if it wasn’t for the price and difficulty. The checklist is a little improved as well with some of the veteran content as well as the stronger rookie class. And finally, the price of the product hasn’t changed, but the hits have changed for the better with different style autographs from the regular, to patch autograph hits. Good work with the improvements this year Panini.

As always, thanks to Panini for providing this product for review. You can find them online at their official site, blog, Twitter, and Facebook.

You can find the full checklist over at the Cardboard Connection.

I’ve almost resolved the picture issue, so this might be the last one where I am practically forcing you to see my face. Sorry.

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Review: 2012-13 Panini Threads Basketball

  By Sports Card Blog | November 27, 2012 - 5:58 pm | ,
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2012-13 Panini Threads basketball is back after a year off and it looks like that year has paid off with a solid product all around this year. This year features the double rookie class with a ton of rookies autographs, as well a nice selection of inserts and game used cards. You should get about 3 autographs and 1 memorabilia card per box, let’s see what we pulled.

Design:

The design for threads this year is pretty solid. It actually has kind of a SP Authentic feel to them, with a Panini twist with the foil letters. Personally, the one thing I don’t like about the design is the foil lettering. I think it takes away from the rest of the card. Maybe it’s the color chosen? I don’t think it works with the rest of the card. As far as the inserts go, the Photoshop work on the photos and the design on the inserts are great. It adds a nice feel to the imagery, something you don’t see a lot of in cards. It’s not new, just under utilized. The die-cut jersey cards are cool, and I know there are autographed parallels of those, but I would just stick with the plain jersey style cards. The hit or miss addition is the wood stock autographed cards. Signed on card, they look and feel pretty cool. The only issue with some of them is the cut on the card, see what I mean below.

Checklist:

This whole season is going to be a rookie laden checklist in all the products due to the double rookie season. This is both good and bad. Kyrie Irving and some of the standouts from last season get their due, this strong new class has some great additions, but you’re probably going to find more filler this year as well. Threads does just that. But as Panini always does, there is a great group of retired and legends in the product as well with the inserts and some of the autographs. That’s something you can’t really complain about.

Value:

You’ll be able to find this product for about $100 at DA Card World. With the rookie heavy autograph checklist and not much else in terms of value, it’s still a tough sell even with three autographs. It’s not a bad correlation from hits/price, but I still think it’s a bit high. $80-$90 feels better to me if I were to buy this product. I still feel like if you want to price a box that high, more veteran autograph content should be inside. 2 rookies and 1 veteran auto? $100 sounds better. Maybe it’s just me…what do you think about guaranteeing veteran autographs?

Overall:

Overall, Threads is a solid product from Panini. The design and checklist are definitely a lot better than they have been in the past. The double rookie checklist means there are more autographs, but it could also cause an issue with the value of the cards. Should guaranteeing at least 1 veteran autograph in a product help you pay an extra $10-$20 for a box? That’s something I’d like to think about, it will probably end up in a post eventually.

Thanks to Panini for providing this box for review. You can find them online at their website, blog, Twitter, and Facebook.

You can see the full checklist of this product over at the Cardboard Connection.

Still having trouble uploading photos, so check out the video in the mean time…

 

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Review: 2012 Panini Gridiron Football

  By Sports Card Blog | November 24, 2012 - 2:21 pm | ,
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It’s no longer the “Gear” it is just “Gridiron”. 2012 Gridiron football made its…sorta debut with the same things you loved about Gridiron Gear but just under a different moniker. Don’t get confused, your favorite cards are still there with some added new surprises from the people at Panini. With 2/3 autographs per box and some memorabilia action too, it’s a fun break. Add in the dynamic photography and inserts and you will see what you can get below in the review…check it out:

Design:

There is a lot to like about 2012 Gridiron from Panini in terms of design. The first is obviously the beautiful photography that you can find in the product. With action shots from just about every possible angle and full bleed photos, the NFL action is really the first thing you notice about the product. The second is I really like the insert designs this year, I’m not digging the foil so much, but the concepts behind them are solid. The only issues I seem to have are the X’s and O’s designs. They make the autographs look a little better, but I just feel like it’s missing something to complete it. Maybe it would have looked better die-cut, but the background is kinda bland to me. But as always, design is always according to the eyes of the beholder.

Checklist:

Of my three autographs, all three of them were rookies. Two of them I had never heard from. We understand that not every player can be a first rounder but when you are pulling defensive ends and safeties you’ve never heard of, it’s probably gonna be a bad day. At least I heard of Alshon Jeffrey. I understand the price of getting these rookie autographs and getting them into sets, but there has got to be some veterans out there that you’ve heard of that play those positions that would make better replacements. Is Logan Mankins cheap? Probably. Do more than Patriots fans know who he is? Probably. Wilfork? Of course. Better names, cheaper veterans, better options.

Value:

At $100 bucks a pop, again my ongoing issue with Panini is their starting price for everything. I still feel like everything they put out is overpriced during their MAPP program. People still buy it, but it never feels like the value is equal to where it should be. When your hits consist of those types of rookies I described above, as stated, it’s not a good time. Although I do have to admit, there are some amazing patches on that Nick Toon patch card, it still doesn’t equate to what I would find to be a box worth the $100. How about a product where you are guaranteed one/two rookie autos, one veteran auto, and a mem card?

Overall:

Overall, Panini Gridiron looks good on the eyes, but the product itself may be a bit deceiving. The product is a little weak when it comes to the autograph checklist and when you are getting 2/3 of those in a box, you want to at least hope you know of one or two of them. I knew Alshon Jeffrey but the others are just your typical later round defensive players that half of the collectors don’t know anything about. They make great filler, but it shouldn’t be 50% of your total hits. Just your typical 3+ rounder defensive players. That really takes away some of the value when you’re paying $100 a box, a price that I feel is a bit too much for the product. I know it’s weird to say this, but I find the base and inserts more appealing than the hits…and you don’t spend $100 a box on just base cards.

Thanks to Panini America for supplying this box for review. You can find them online on their official site, Twitter, Facebook, and blog.

Check out the full checklist of the product over at Cardboard Connection.

Now here are photos of some of the beauties and the beasts…after Photobucket starts working. Working on the image issue. Until then, check out the video!

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