Before I start my review, 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 interact with you on Twitter, have contests on their blog and Facebook and the site is also fun to visit!
Now onto the review:
BOX BREAK DOWN:
- 1 Pack Per Box, 10 Cards Per Pack
- Each Box contains Four Autographs and One Memorabilia Card
- One Metal Card Per Box
WITHIN THE BOX:
Base Cards:
Chris Paul #d 198/199
Andre Miller #d 196/199
Tyler Hansbrough #d 34/199
Inserts:
Dwayne Wade Metal Card
Memorabilia (non-autographed):
Kemba Walker Black Gold #d 5/25
Blake Griffin Gold Records (14k Gold) #d 15/20
Autographs/Autograph Memorabilia
Ryan Kelly Memorabilia Auto Rookie Card
Quincy Acy Gold Strike Autograph #d 242/299
Phil Pressey Gold Strike Autograph #d 177/299
Isiah Thomas Gold Strike Autograph Redemption #d /299
DESIGN:
If you are looking for an overall product with eye appeal, well you found one right here. From the base cards to the autographs, everything is gold and has a shine to it.
The Black Gold jersey cards look outstanding. A nice size swatch and a decent shot of a player has this card well balanced in design. Not too much of one thing or another.
And the Gold Record design paying tribute to Rock And Rollers looks great as well printed in black and gold with the gold record being an actual piece of 14K gold.
And all autographs are ON CARD! That also helps with design in the product as its much more elegant without stickers.
The metal cards, my first one, are very heavy and a very unique collectible to be had.
COOL NOTES: Look for Solid Gold Cards with photos on real 14 Karat Gold. This is very cool!
Also you can find 25 short-printed variations cards featuring players wearing the jerseys of every team they've played for. Makes for quite the chase! Also in this years product is four brand-new autograph inserts all numbered to 299 or less!
THOUGHTS:
Well, this was my first time ever opening this product because it is expensive but I must say I am overly impressed. The appeal from the outside of the box, a gold brick, the value (at least in this box) and the overall design of this product makes me wonder why I hadn't tried it earlier. I guess the fear of not pulling back my money's worth was part of the problem. With a great break of the product like this one, hitting the Griffin as my top card in the pack may help tempt me to come back again. I must state again, with every product, there is some risk involved but if I am going to take such a risk, I would take it with a product like this one that has so much to offer.
You ask what does it have to offer, I say on-card autographs, glimmer and shine, chances at a card completely made of gold and cards with gold pieces in them. Almost every card being numbered helping values. Not to mention and I will say it again, a really nice design.
One of the weird and only disappointing thing I found with the product was that every card is numbered EXCEPT the autographed/memorabilia rookie cards. Those are supposed to be one of the premier hits in a box break and not to find it numbered was a bit odd.
However, overall, I like Gold Standard and wished Panini would extend this brand back out to the NFL. Design and on-card autos alone would help sell it.
Completely agree with you on the numbered Rookie autos/relics. Never understood why you would not number those, but number the base cards.
ReplyDeleteBut a terrific product and looks like you got a great box. Congrats!