Upcoming Cardsmith Breaks!!

Here are some upcoming Cardsmith breaks! All of the information in this post is directly from Cardsmith Breaks. If you haven't joined in on one of their breaks yet..you are missing out!

2012-13 Panini Elite Basketball Random Case Break
I posted a full case of 2012-13 Panini Elite basketball as a random team break for Wednesday.  I thought we had some basketball people, let's fill it up!  Slots are $49 each.

Here's panini's QA blog post on it:  http://paniniamerica.wordpress.com/2013/02/11/the-panini-america-quality-control-gallery-2012-13-elite-basketball-new-images/

Click below for slots:

2012 Topps Supreme Football 16 Box Case Break by Team

On Friday, we will do a full 16-Box Case of 2012 Topps Supreme football.  Teams are starting to go now, click below for slots:



And finally I'm trying to post a baseball mixer for Thursday, but I haven't had the chance. It will be 5 different boxes.  Including 2012 Triple Threads, Bowman Draft Jumbo, Series 1 Jumbo, Bowman Platinum and Elite Extra Edition.  Look for that soon.

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Review: Panini Contenders Football 2012-WITH LUCK :)

One of my favorite rookie laden products year in and year out Contenders is celebrating their 20th anniversary this year. And Panini did a great job in celebrating it with the product adding a base card flashback mocking the originals design from 98. Now onto the review and my thoughts on the 2012 edition:

First off, I would like to say thanks to the WONDERFUL people at Panini America for providing us with this box to review. Here are many places you can find Panini America: official site, blog, Twitter, and Facebook. If you don't follow them at all..you should! They talk to you on Twitter, have contests on their blog and Facebook and the site is also fun to visit!

Box Break Down:

• 24 Packs Per Box, 5 Cards Per Pack
• Five Autographs Per Box!
• Three Rookie Stallions Per Box!
• $140 a Box

BASE CARDS: I liked the original design which means I am going to like this one as well. There is just something about the Season Ticket design that is catchy. Is it because its supposed to resemble a NFL ticket? Is it the team color scheme on one side the white on the other? Hard to tell. But this is one of my favorite base card designs.

INSERTS: Die cuts make a great addition to this product which my favorite of the two is by far the Rookie Of The Year Contenders. Really like what Panini did there in terms of turning the die cut into a shape of a trophy. The Playoff Tickets are a parallel to the base cards and are numbered just like the original product. Another insert that is very catchy is the Super Bowl one. The design is spectacular and elegant and improved over years past designs. You get about almost 13 inserts in a box. Or thats what ours had.

And BAM!!! ON CARD ANDREW LUCK!!!!!

AUTOGRAPHS: The product says 5 autos per box but most of the time boxes will hand you 6 which I really like and for the price you pay you somewhat hope to land that many.  This product has always been about its autographs, especially its rookie ones. You get one on card per box, which we LUCKED out with ours. Still shaking from seeing this incredible card. The fun thing about this product is chasing the Sp rookie auto tickets, the variations of them (missing some data on the back check the link below to see how you can tell) and seeing rookie autos and rookie cards of players you don't find in every product. Some of whom turn out to be stars in the future.

A list of those Sp's can be found here which also brings you to the Knights Lance: http://sportcardcollectors.blogspot.com/2013/02/panini-contenders-football-2012-sps.html

JERSEY/PATCH CARDS:N/A

OVERALL THOUGHTS: Once again, if you are a fan of rookie autographs, this is the product for you. This product is not for everyone though. You can have those great boxes with some top rookie autos or you could have those ones that you never heard of with a few sprinkled in names. I have seen both. As was the case in this box. The first 5 autos were mostly nobodies than BAM came the big hit of Andrew Luck. It may not happen every time but there is plenty to find in this product with the rookie autos and all variations. And the occasional Emeril in you with the BAM in a box. With 6 autos and tons to chase, this product is well worth a try.

RATINGS:  Bloggers Note: Our ratings are based specifically on the blaster, box or packs we opened and do not express what the overall product could bring. Ratings based on a 1-5. 1 Being the lowest and 5 being the highest.
                Packaging: 5
                Base Design: 5
                Insert Design: 4
                Memorablila/Autographs: 4
                Blaster, Hobby Box, or Pack Value: 4

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Review: Panini Prizm Football 2012

The hottest product of the year finally makes its appearance here on Sport Card Collectors. Did it disappoint...you will have to read on to find out!

First off, I would like to say thanks to the WONDERFUL people at Panini America for providing us with this box to review. Here are many places you can find Panini America: official site, blog, Twitter, and Facebook. If you don't follow them at all..you should! They talk to you on Twitter, have contests on their blog and Facebook and the site is also fun to visit!

Box Break Down:

• 20 Packs Per Box, 6 Cards Per Pack
• (2) Autographs and (3) Prizms Per Box!
• Look for Finite Prizm 1 of 1's!
• Find (1) Red Prizm Die-Cut Parallel Per Box!
• $130 Per Box

BASE CARDS:  I quite enjoy anything that has the "chrome" technology so the base cards did not disappoint. I have got to say though I wished the border on these were a bit thinner as it takes up a lot of the card..but with this technology it doesn't kill it too much. Though a little less would be better.

The rookie cards in this product do have parallels which the Mark Barron is an SP version of his rookie card. I like that addition to the football product. I must also say I really like the RC logo Panini created.

Also, the base cards DO NOT BEND!

INSERTS: You gotta love the "Prizms" in the product. You get three per box on average along with one red die cut. The red die cut one is sweet in terms of color and its a die cut. Who doesn't love those? This was something that they needed in the basketball product. The other inserts in the product, thought they have Prizm parallels, I don't really care much for. They needed some more pizazz. They feel like they are lacking and all look the same. Other than that, the Prizm parallels look great. And the Prizms may be what this product is about.

AUTOGRAPHS: Two autographs per box. Thats one more than its rival counterpart. But with such a huge rookie checklist you just never know who you will end up with. It could be anyone. We landed I would call a lucky box hitting Kellen Moore which who knows whats in his future and a "Prizm" # to 99 of Trent Richardson. Thats a pretty looking card. I like the auto box they are in and once again sticker autos do not bother me but some would complain. On this technology the white box gives the autos more appeal. I know people will cover their eyes when reading this, but I think with Panini's version of this technology the cards would be lacking without the white box.

 

JERSEY/PATCH CARDS: N/A Thought I think this would be great to see in this product.

OVERALL THOUGHTS: Did this product disappoint? Well...in some ways.When I bust into a product like this, for me its all about the parallels. And only getting 4 in a box just gives you a lot of base cards. Which don't get me wrong, those don't look bad but I would love at least a couple more parallels. The good thing is with the parallels being limited like this it drives up their value which makes collecting inserts worthwhile again. Kinda reminds me of the 90's inserts. Hard to find, but worth the time when you do. You actually find yourself hoping for a good player of one. And instead of it being worth $5 they run up to $30 for some of the good ones.

I do like finding two autographs in the product but with 2 autographs and 4 parallels I am not quite sure what you pay for it might equal out to its value every time. It just depends who you hit in your box and which parallels you land. However, for a rookie run at this product I would say Panini did a good job overall and this one is much improved and has much more in it than the basketball one did. I think a sophomore version of this next year will be very impressive. I just hope they stick with the basics they have and add to it

RATINGS:  Bloggers Note: Our ratings are based specifically on the blaster, box or packs we opened and do not express what the overall product could bring. Ratings based on a 1-5. 1 Being the lowest and 5 being the highest.
                Packaging: 5
                Base Design: 4
                Insert Design: 3
                Memorablila/Autographs: 4
                Blaster, Hobby Box, or Pack Value: 3.5

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Panini Contenders Football 2012 Sp's

We all need them...so here they are. The Knights Lance posted some of them and if there are more we will try to update this. The best way for updates is to subscribe to Panini's Blog The Knights Lance!

Looking at the back, one surefire way to tell the difference between an Sp and non Sp is the stats around the team logo such as weight, college, etc are missing on the Sp version.

 

ROOKIE TICKET SPs
Card #	Player	Team	Pos.	Qty.
137	Fletcher Cox	Philadelphia Eagles	DT	112
132	Dontari Poe	Kansas City Chiefs	DT	134
196	Whitney Mercilus	Houston Texans	LB	150
151	Kellen Moore	Detroit Lions	QB	198
200	Brandon Bolden	New England Patriots	RB	202
111	Bryce Brown	Philadelphia Eagles	RB	205
138	George Iloka	Cincinnati Bengals	S	206
143	James Hanna	Dallas Cowboys	TE	227
179	Riley Reiff	Detroit Lions	OT	231
159	Luke Kuechly	Carolina Panthers	LB	235
191	Tommy Streeter	Baltimore Ravens	WR	238
202	Robert Griffin III	Washington Redskins	QB	238
104	B.J. Coleman	Green Bay Packers	QB	242
124	David DeCastro	Pittsburgh Steelers	G	259
133	Dre Kirkpatrick	Cincinnati Bengals	CB	259
186	T.Y. Hilton	Indianapolis Colts	WR	260
157	LaVon Brazill	Indianapolis Colts	WR	262
181	Ronnell Lewis	Detroit Lions	DE	266
147	Jerel Worthy	Green Bay Packers	DE	269
237	Justin Tucker	Baltimore Ravens	K	275
239	Evan Rodriguez	Chicago Bears	TE	275
240	Kris Adams	Indianapolis Colts	WR	275
241	Daryl Richardson	St. Louis Rams	RB	275
242	Lance Dunbar	Dallas Cowboys	RB	275
243	Blair Walsh	Minnesota Vikings	K	275
162	Jorvorskie Lane	Miami Dolphins	FB	276
117	Chris Rainey	Pittsburgh Steelers	RB	288
107	Bobby Wagner	Seattle Seahawks	LB	290
141	Harrison Smith	Minnesota Vikings	S	290
144	Janoris Jenkins	St. Louis Rams	CB	292
128	Derek Wolfe	Denver Broncos	DT	294
161	Mark Barron	Tampa Bay Buccaneers	S	295
ROOKIE TICKET VARIATIONS
Card #	Player	Team	Pos.	Qty.
107	Bobby Wagner	Seattle Seahawks	LB	49
101	Alfred Morris	Washington Redskins	RB	50
104	B.J. Coleman	Green Bay Packers	QB	50
117	Chris Rainey	Pittsburgh Steelers	RB	50
128	Derek Wolfe	Denver Broncos	DT	50
133	Dre Kirkpatrick	Cincinnati Bengals	CB	50
143	James Hanna	Dallas Cowboys	TE	50
144	Janoris Jenkins	St. Louis Rams	CB	50
147	Jerel Worthy	Green Bay Packers	DE	50
151	Kellen Moore	Detroit Lions	QB	50
161	Mark Barron	Tampa Bay Buccaneers	S	50
162	Jorvorskie Lane	Miami Dolphins	FB	50
181	Ronnell Lewis	Detroit Lions	DE	50
185	Stephon Gilmore	Buffalo Bills	CB	50
186	T.Y. Hilton	Indianapolis Colts	WR	50
191	Tommy Streeter	Baltimore Ravens	WR	50
200	Brandon Bolden	New England Patriots	RB	50
202	Robert Griffin III	Washington Redskins	QB	50
103	Andre Branch	Jacksonville Jaguars	DE	75
111	Bryce Brown	Philadelphia Eagles	RB	75
129	Devon Still	Cincinnati Bengals	DT	75
145	Jared Crick	Houston Texans	DT	75
170	Morris Claiborne	Dallas Cowboys	CB	75
201	Andrew Luck	Indianapolis Colts	QB	75
171	Mychal Kendricks	Philadelphia Eagles	LB	99
118	Josh Gordon	Cleveland Browns	WR	100
165	Matt Kalil	Minnesota Vikings	OT	100
184	Shea McClellin	Chicago Bears	DE	100
219	LaMichael James	San Francisco 49ers	RB	100

Here are more:

ROOKIE TICKET SPs
Card #	Player	Team	Pos.	Qty.
167	Michael Brockers	St. Louis Rams	DT	38
131	Dont’a Hightower	New England Patriots	LB	47
120	Courtney Upshaw	Baltimore Ravens	LB	57
135	Jeff Demps	New England Patriots	RB	99
168	Michael Smith	Tampa Bay Buccaneers	RB	99
ROOKIE TICKET VARIATION SPs
Card #	Player	Team	Pos.	Qty.
124	David DeCastro	Pittsburgh Steelers	G	10
131	Dont’a Hightower	New England Patriots	LB	10
132	Dontari Poe	Kansas City Chiefs	DT	25
135	Jeff Demps	New England Patriots	RB	25
137	Fletcher Cox	Philadelphia Eagles	DT	25
138	George Iloka	Cincinnati Bengals	S	25
141	Harrison Smith	Minnesota Vikings	S	25
157	LaVon Brazill	Indianapolis Colts	WR	25
159	Luke Kuechly	Carolina Panthers	LB	25
163	Marvin Jones	Cincinnati Bengals	WR	25
167	Michael Brockers	St. Louis Rams	DT	25
168	Michael Smith	Tampa Bay Buccaneers	RB	25
179	Riley Reiff	Detroit Lions	OT	25
196	Whitney Mercilus	Houston Texans	LB	25
225	Russell Wilson	Seattle Seahawks	QB	25

For even more info on these visit Panini's Blog, The Knights Lance below for more info!
http://paniniamerica.wordpress.com/2013/02/12/panini-america-releases-more-sp-variation-quantities-for-2012-contenders-football/

http://paniniamerica.wordpress.com/2013/02/09/short-story-panini-america-begins-leaking-2012-contenders-football-sp-quantities/

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Review: Panini Golden Age Baseball 2012

If I was a movie reviewer and this was a movie I would give this product two thumbs waaaaaayy up!! From the outside in this product was a ton of fun to open. Just check out this review and you will see why.

Box Break Down:

• 24 Packs Per Box, 6 Cards Per Pack
• (1) Autograph and (1) Memorabilia Card Per Box!
• Box Toppers!
• (24) Mini Parallels Per Box!
• Boxes will run between $60-$70

BASE CARDS: Classic appeal. They are not very glossed and brings you back in time to way cards used to feel. The base set consists of pretty much everything. From baseball to football to jockeys to movie stars and even the Three Stooges. This would be one fun set to put together. And this blogger rather enjoyed looking at each base card front and back.

INSERTS: As with rest of the set, the inserts have classic touch to them and also range from different sports and movies and more. Each base card has a mini parallel. And even the minis have back parallels with what appears the blue ones is the hardest to pull only getting one in our box. We were also lucky enough to pull a black parallel of the base cards which are tough finds at 1/1 each made. This product also includes pop up cards..whens the last time we had one of those in a pack? You can find two of these per box. Overall, fun.

AUTOGRAPHS: One autograph and one memorabilia are per box. Our autograph is on card, but not someone we personally know but we Googled who he is and he had an impressive career with 455 stolen bases. But this product as a ton of big names to find. The signatures can be of personalities covering all fields of the Golden Age of America, including baseball and other sports, entertainment and the political arena.

JERSEY/PATCH CARDS: Really digging the design and the mix of celebrities and sports. As the card is called, Museum Age, it feels like something you would discover in a history museum hanging on a wall or other display. There is supposed to be one of these per box but we lucked out with two hits! One of the more unique pieces that could be pulled are pieces of pine wreckwood believed to be from the deck of the Titanic.

OVERALL THOUGHTS: Buy it!! You won't regret it. For under $70, you get nice looking base cards, 24 minis, 1 auto, 1 memorabilia and a shot at a ton of stuff. This was probably the most fun I had with a bust in 2012. Panini did a great job with this product and hopefully they bring it back in 2013. If you are fans of Ginter or Goodwin Champions, this is Panini's version and a product for you.

RATINGS:  Bloggers Note: Our ratings are based specifically on the blaster, box or packs we opened and do not express what the overall product could bring. Ratings based on a 1-5. 1 Being the lowest and 5 being the highest.
                Packaging: 3
                Base Design: 4
                Insert Design: 4
                Memorablila/Autographs: 5
                Blaster, Hobby Box, or Pack Value: 5

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Review: Donruss Elite Extra Edition Baseball 2012

This is a product I have always wanted to try. I am an Elite fan, I like baseball cards and I like rookies and autographs. So it seems this is the product for me. So gave it a run and we were lucky and got a hot box.

• 20 Packs Per Box, 5 Cards Per Pack
• Look for (6) Autographs Per Box!
• Find HOT BOXES containing (10) Autos!!
• Find short-printed Green and Red Ink Autos!
• $100 per box

BASE CARDS: Just look below (we forgot to take a picture of base card) at the autographs and picture them without the auto to see what the base cards look like. Not a bad design as it sticks the the Elite theme of silver cardboard. But since this is a rookie laden product adding the red to the base cards make the silver cardboard a thing of the past.

INSERTS: The inserts look good but not as eye catchy as the Aspirations die cuts. Each one is numbered and depending on the color to a different number. Pictures sometimes cannot do these justice but I tried my best to capture the shine. My other favorite insert in the product is the Diamond Kings. I like the combo of baseball future star and a King from a deck of playing cards.

# to 25

AUTOGRAPHS:We would say this is what you would call a "Hot Box" from the product. Overall you are supposed to get 6 autos per box. We got 8 and technically 9 if you consider the dual autographs separate autos.The Building Blocks combines the autographs of two players linked by school, team, position or some other common denominator. We were lucky to hit one of these numbered to 25. There are also ink variations as well to the base autos. The autos also look great because of all the glimmer and shine.

JERSEY/PATCH CARDS: N/A

OVERALL THOUGHTS: If you are looking to get the baseball rookies autographs before they hit the playing field this is the product for you. What other product offers this type of rookie loaded, 6+ autos per box all for under $100. Bet you can't find one. There is plenty to take a chance on in this product as the future of MLB and the next big stars auto could be hidden within a box of this.

RATINGS:  Bloggers Note: Our ratings are based specifically on the blaster, box or packs we opened and do not express what the overall product could bring. Ratings based on a 1-5. 1 Being the lowest and 5 being the highest.
                Packaging: 5
                Base Design: 4
                Insert Design: 3
                Memorablila/Autographs: 5
                Blaster, Hobby Box, or Pack Value: 4

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Panini NFL Sticker Backs

The fun challenge the last couple of years for me was chasing down the letters on the back of Panini NFL Stickers that spell out a word and once thats complete you send it in to Panini in exchange for a prize. Last year, I fell more than 4 letters short. You would have to assume some of them are much harder to get than others as my doubles started to stack up.

So in 2012 when Panini released NFL Stickers I once again was on the chase. Not only for filling up the sticker book. But to find all of the letters. This years letters needed to spell the word F-O-O-T-B-A-L-L.

For months it was stuck at the word  F-O-O-T-B-L-L. I assumed no matter how many sticker packets I pick up, 27 more to be exact after finding those letters, I would never get it and didn't from those 27 packs. So I searched eBay. They had all the letters but. Once again I thought disappointment was upon me. As you remember a few weeks back I had a post about a prize lot I had won from a Beckett forum member:

http://sportcardcollectors.blogspot.com/2013/02/prize-lot-i-won.html

There were some sweet cards and then in the middle of the prize pack were some NY Giants NFL stickers. I didn't think much about them and left them out of the last post cause I figured they were nothing of interest to you guys. But when sorting those card and getting ready to put the stickers away,  there it was staring at me the letter A. My first reaction was...is this the right year? I couldn't believe it! Months and months of searching. At least 50+ sticker packets. And here it was staring at me from a prize lot unexpectedly.

So here are the final results. I went back onto Beckett Forum thanking that member profusely. Never thought it would happen but I did complete it. Now to wait for the prize that could range from shirts, tote bags, cards, stickers and more.

Have you ever tried searching down these letters and have you ever completed a word? Or have you even heard of this before? Let us know in comments!

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Fan Box Breaks: Panini Prizm Football 2012 4 Boxes

Our Twitter friend Shane Salmsonson shared his 4 box break of Prizm Football with us. We have been waiting to see how this product looks and hope to try some for ourselves. But for now we could only salivate and watch someone else do the break. Here are his results. Let us know your thoughts as well!

Box  1 Hits

Box 2 Hits

Box 3 Hits

Box 4 Hits

 

Here is what Shane said about his break:
"After seeing how hot Prizm Basketball was, I had to grab at least a few boxes when Football was released.

 

Box 1 was probably my best box overall. Zach Miller was my red die cut. Nothing special, although certainly a sharp looking card. The two autos were the best pair out of my 4 boxes though. Bruce Irvin was the first, with a David Wilson refractor looking to be the best pull of the lot.

 

Box 2 featured a Matt Schaub red die cut. The two rookie autos were Nick Perry and a Robert Turbin redemption. I am excited to see what Turbin turns into over the next few years, as I have pulled quite a bit of him this year. Also, it turns out that the redemption was for a Rookie Prizm Autograph, which will be numbered to 99, instead of the base Rookie Autograph, with a print run of 250. The Turbin could turn into my best hit of the 4 box lot.

 

Box 3 delivered a Tony Gonzalez red die cut and also a Doug Martin refractor "Impact" insert. The best of the two autos was my 2nd Kirk Cousins of the day.

 

Box 4 held my only rookie red die cut, that of A.J. Jenkins. The two autos were Josh Robinson and a Bernard Pierce redemption. Pierce is another running back I have hit quite a bit, and he seems to have quite a bit of promise as well.

 

Overall, Prizm delivered the quality product that it had debuted with basketball this year. Very sharp design. Would have been nice to see the red die cuts serial numbered. Unfortunately I didn't hit a gold prizm, as those have been going absolutely wild on the internet. Was certainly a fun break though. Sharp cards, something to look forward to for years to come."

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