Panini has renewed a product that collectors liked so much last year in 2012-13 Panini Past & Present Basketball.
One set that collectors should look for is the Elusive Ink set. This set will feature some of the toughest Autographs to find in the sport.
Another interesting autograph set will be the Modern Marks autographs. It’s a very clean design and Panini says it’s improved the design even more and the autograph list will be expanded and better for this years product! Also look for the Gamers patch cards. As you can see a little further down the page, these cards have a sharp design and could feature some sick patches of player such as Kobe Bryant.
And of course, collectors should be looking for the rookie cards. Make sure you look for top rookies like Kyrie Irving, Damian Lillard, Anthony Davis and others.
Each box contains 20 packs with 6 cards per pack. In each box, it will contain 3 autograph cards per box.
Topps introduces a new product to their Football brand, and it’s a high-end product in 2012 Topps Valor Football.
The first thing collectors should look out for are the Legionary Autographs. There will be up to 40 rookies featured and each card will be numbered to 70 or less. They will also be signed on-card. There are also Valor Autographs to be pulled, and like the Legionary Autographs, they will be numbered to 70 or less.
Also look out for Centurion Autographs. These cards will feature 40 of the top veteran and retired players in the game and will be numbered to 70 or less.
There will also be a chance to pull Field Armor Patch cards. There will be up to 40 players highlighted in this set and I can just imagine the nasty patches waiting to be pulled. Maybe you will be lucky enough to pull a Shield of Honor Autograph Patch card, though. Up to 40 players that can be pulled and they will be numbered to 10 or less.
Each box contains 1 pack with 6 cards. In each box, it will contain 3 autographs and 1 rookie patch card.
2012 Panini Signature Series baseball is out as one of Panini’s premier products that produces penmanship from prospects and pros. All alliteration aside, it’s a product with a three autographs per pack/box along with three parallels. Without the use of the MLB logos, this product is still a great looking set with an old-school Donruss Studio look to it. Let’s see what you can find in a product like this…
Design:
As stated in the introduction, the design is sort of a license-less homage to the former Donruss Studio products. A studio setting face shot, dark background, with a slight appearance of the hat that is cropped out just enough so you know it’s a baseball player. Great use of cropping in the product to give it a great feel. Now most know about my feeling toward manufactured patch autographs, and this product is full of them. If they came up with a different design for that portion of the product, I easily would have given this at least another half star. But we also have the inclusion of faux baseball leather autographs on the Sweet Spot, which I have always loved. I’m glad to see those brought back again in baseball products.
Checklist:
The checklist is heavy on the rookies and short on the veterans. There really isn’t much else to say about that. If you pull one of the stars or legends of the game you’ve got some luck on your side. While the selection of rookies is large, it is still larger than the selection of veterans/legends in terms of variety and numbering. For instance, most of all rookies are numbered to 299…veterans and legends? 25 or less.
Value:
I was actually shocked when while doing my research I saw the original and current price for this product. Right now you can find the product for $97 at DA Card World. I thought that was still too high, but it originally came out at $120. For a product that leans heavy on the rookies, despite the three autographs per box, it feels very overpriced. Even at $97 it feels overpriced. I’ve seen this and other breaks of the product and I can’t justify $120, let alone $100 for this product. I’m not sure why it was priced so highly, but it could definitely use a price drop if Panini wanted to sell more product earlier in the cycle. My one issue with the MAPP is that I shouldn’t have to wait until after it expires to get a price that is accurate.
Overall:
It’s weird going from a huge success in Panini Cooperstown to a semi-fail in this product. The product design is nice, despite not being a huge fan of manufactured patch autographs. The Sweet Spot autographs was a nice addition to the product as it has always had a solid backing in a lot of previous sports card products. The checklist is sort of disappointing, but there are still some really nice autographs to be found in the product. At the price of $120, it’s definitely a no-go. Even at the newly lowered price, it is still a tough break.
