Returning to the hard court in 2018, is the return of Crown Royale basketball as a standalone product.
It's the first of this product since the 2009-2010 release. Rest of the time it has been hidden in the Preferred product.
Being a 90's fan like I am, I am happy to see the product lines return and hoping it will meet it's return in football as well.
Let's take a gander at what the return looks like.
In every box of 2017-2018 Panini Crown Royale basketball is one pack. That one pack has twelve cards and each box comes with one autograph and one relic per. Boxes run roughly $110. So an expensive return of the product.
The base card design for Crown Royale takes a dip in time. The iconic die cut layout is back and is very reminiscent of the late 90's designs.
There are 200 cards in the base set with veterans, legends and rookies included. To be honest, I would have loved to seen more of the rookie cards look like this as well.
But, I am also old fashioned in my collecting ways. Most collectors will like the layout as the autograph silhouette rookies make up rest of the base set and card numbers 201-240. Most of those include the top guys.
Parallels make a mark in Crown Royale as well. We didn't have the cracked iced looking ones as most of the parallels in the 90's were based on foil color, but they look impressive in this product. Of course they are called Crystal Parallels in here. This is a base one,
Other parallels include,
- Purple /25
- Gold /10
- Black 1/1
Inserts are only one-per-box finds with only twelve cards in each box. But, I will say I have seen some impressive ones including the cool die cut one I got of Paul Pierce.
Some inserts are numbered, while others have parallels to of, Red /75, Blue /25, Green /5, and Black 1/1.
Roundball Royalty. This is a great looking card and something I could have seen pulling from the original product.
There are other inserts to chase as well including the iconic Cramers Choice awards which is now Panini Choice. But, those won't be anything like the ones in the 90's where they are extremely rare finds.
Other inserts to find are,
- Mamba's Choice Die-Cut
- Pacific Marquee (interesting....)
- Panini's Choice Die-Cut
- Power In the Paint
- Regents of Roundball
Now onto the hits!
Back in the 90's, we didn't worry about needing hits in the product to make it exciting. We all spent time chasing the inserts.
My first hit was this Rookie Jerseys of well, if I can't say it, I won't spell it.
My second hit was this /199 autograph of DeAaron Fox. Not a bad pull.
Other big time hits to find not in my box include,
- Silhouettes Rookies Autograph Relics
- Silhouettes Autograph Relics
- Rookie Jersey Auto
- Crown Autographs
- Jerseys
OVERALL, Love the design of the product. However, 12 cards for what over $100 is a big risk and looking at my break today I wouldn't have been left feeling that great. I feel like a lot of companies are doing the less cards and higher price thing recently. It worries me some. I prefer to get as many cards as I can per box to insure a possible feel-good return.
There are lots of fun finds in this product especially headlined by the autograph silhouettes and some decent signers on the autograph checklist if you are fortunate enough to land one.
There are lots of fun finds in this product especially headlined by the autograph silhouettes and some decent signers on the autograph checklist if you are fortunate enough to land one.
The biggest thing for me about Crown Royale is the nostalgia. That sometimes alone is a big seller for me.
Please thank Tracy Hackler and Panini America for this box to review. Some of the cards today will be used in an upcoming NFL Promo that I will be running. Check out Panini America and follow them on all social media sites and check out their website, HERE. Oh, and don't forget to follow the man, the legend Tracy Hackler on Twitter too.
