Ramming My Mail Box

I was recently in a very affordable random team mixed box break from my friends over at Midwest Box Breaks. I was hoping to hit it big and land a top notch autograph hit hopefully from a legend I need. Well, luck wasn't fully my way as usual when I am in a break. I landed the Rams, which is the second time I have done so in four breaks, and missed out on a few great hits from other teams in the break.

But, at least I didn't go home with just base like last time.

2019 Elite. My first look at the product. Doesn't look to shabby as Panini stuck to the basics here with the base card design.

Todd Gurley who I hope is healthy and will continue his dominant career. I think he may have made a difference in last years Super Bowl and the Rams wouldn't have had to throw so much which is the real reason they lost that game.

Speaking of Gurley, nice three color patch I landed from 2016 Black Gold. That product looks superb!

Big thanks goes out to Ben over at Midwest Box Breaks for the spot.

If you haven't checked them out yet, please do. Very trusted and cares about the customer. See what they have available for breaks, HERE.

The Blind Trade

@batcavelv on Twitter and I have been doing blind trades for a few years now. Blind trades are a lot of fun in my opinion. It's not all about money value and so on. It's about the surprises and fun and how often do we get surprises in life anymore???

I sent his surprise to him first and thought I sent a pretty solid group of goodies, he returned the favor without looking at his first and sent me a whopper as well.

Let's take a look.

Luis Servino Draft Picks rookie for my Yanks PC.

Really sweet L.T. /49 parallel from Elite Draft Picks. Dig it!

Some more newbies for the Giants PC and a Yankees card that I haven't seen before. I believe it's from 1968 Fleer. I don't have much vintage so adding any I can is a good add.

Shiny G-Men! Prizm looks great.

A new Griffey for the PC. This one is oversized. Never seen anything like it. Came with a certificate as well.

Pinnacle Inside can...unopened! I don't plan on opening it either (even though the temptation is there to do so)

Now time to roll out the hits!

New add for my Williams PC and a new Nassib too.

One person who signs well with Greg Jones, who never panned out, and Stevie Brown who could have used help signing who was a one year wonder. Both are new additions. Really dig the Brown card.

Shockey was probably one of my favorite Giants TE's up to date. That may change once Evan Engram hits the field. This is a Turkey Red relic numbered to 250. The design is nice in my opinion.

Godzilla! This is only one of two Hideki relics I have. The other is pants. I have never figured out if I liked Upper Deck branding the game used bats or not. It does make it look nice however but does it take away from it being game used....

Panini promo cards. My first towel card and I really dig it.

 

And to finish up the mail day, totally cool camo hat card of Todd Gurley. Another favorite of mine.

 

Big thanks to @batcavelv for the awesome mail day. I loved all of it and can't wait til our next trade. 

You Can Never Have Enough Rookies

Last week, I had entered an RT contest from @Sportsnerdz on Twitter for a lot of rookie cards. When I see rookie cards and a contest, I can never turn it down. I feel a lot of this hobby is based on rookie cards if you look at what's popular so I try to always make sure I have at least one rookie of every player on hand. Most are base card ones but that works for me.

The lot consisted of some stars and upcoming stars and was mostly football which I dig the most. So when I had found out I won, I was pretty stoked. They also mailed it out pretty fast and in two days it arrived which was also impressive.

The first group here has Jaleen Strong, Devante Parker, Dante Fowler and Bud Dupree to name a few.

 

The next group has the great Todd Gurley who I hope can turn things around this year. It also has Jay Ajayi who was a beast last year in Miami.

 

Three rookie inserts including two stars in Foreman and Lockett. Love the look of them.

 

And to finish up the mail day, a Crusades card among a few other insrts. I always get excited to add those to the PC.

 

 

A big thanks goes out to @Sportsnerdz for the mail day and you should go give them a follow yourself. They do giveaways and are a fun follow for a variety of reasons including talking sports.

Mail Day Saturday:Reader Mail Day Part VIIII

Part VIIII is absolutely loaded with football Prizm awesomeness. Some from 2016 and some from 2015. Either way, it's a winner.

Up first, lots of rookie Prizms including DROY Joey Bosa. Oh yes, Kevin White is in there to but I guess with his playtime in 2015 this could be a rookie of him haha.

These will bring a sparkle to your eye. It's not just the border, it's the bubbly pop in the background. Just incredible.

Lot's of color in this group with Carson Palmer. The bottom make me think I need to jump into the card and I will be transported to that game.

Some shining stars that are actually shining! I sure hope Todd Gurley can shine again.

A Dazzling Fitz!

Some cool older parallels including Dickerson.

And speaking of Dickerson, he finishes up this part of the mail day.

 

Only two-parts remain in this mail day. One is a bit chromey, the other, hits loaded. I will take a break from those parts next week and showcase another recent mail day that was a big help and cheap acquisition towards my Psych autograph set chase. Stay tuned and leave your thoughts on today's mail day part below and your thoughts on Prizm football.

REVIEW:2016 Panini Black Gold Football

Black Gold makes another stunning return for the 2016 season. It's a product that looks beautiful from the outside of the box to within. However, it's a high-end one that not everyone can afford.

I have been lucky enough to been able to review a box every year since it's kickoff, like what I did there, and this year is no different. So let's see what the 2016 version is like, shall we?

In every box of 2016 Panini Black Gold football, you will find 10 cards in a two pack setup. Each Box contains Four Autographs or Memorabilia Cards, Two Shadowbox Base Cards, Two Shadowbox Inserts, and Two additional Autographs, Memorabilia, or Metal Cards! Boxes as you would expect run just under $240 per. So you are hoping that every card in this box is valued at least $24 per.

The base card set sticks to it's winning design with all acetate heavy shadowboxes. The base set is has 48 veterans and 33 legends making it 81 cards deep. With only one-per-box and them being limited to 225, it would be a fun challenging set to build.

 

The base set also has parallels. The bronze border color changes to the parallel color which other than the numbering seperates it from the regular issue. This is a Brock Osweiler White Gold /100. There is also Holo White Gold /50, Holo Gold /25, Reverse Black Gold /10, and Printing Plates 1/1.

 

Insert time!

 

Every box is supposed to have two shadowbox inserts. They look as sharp, if not sharper than the base. This is a Franchise Gold which contains three of the best players on the featured Franchise with a mix of current, future and legendary stars. I got a decent one of Mariota and friends. However, I was a bit surprised and disappointed the Giants don't have one.

These also have parallels of White Gold #100, Holo White Gold /50, Holo Gold /25, and Reverse Black Gold #/15.

 

Gold Rush is a beautiful work of art. The mustard uni's are featured on this card of Rams runner Gurley. This is also a Holo White Gold /50 parallel so the holofoil brings out the card even more. Normally these are numbered to 225 with other parallels of White Gold /100, Holo Gold /25, and Reverse Black Gold /15.

Other insert finds are,

Golden Arms Set Checklist and VS Versus Set Checklist with the same parallels of White Gold #100, Holo White Gold /50, Holo Gold /25, and Reverse Black Gold #/15.

 

Now time to roll out the hits. The things you are banking on in the product.

Massive Materials is closely designed to a Silhouette but with a Black Gold touch. Looks really nice especially when you pull the top rookie in Elliot. There are 15 cards to collect with parallels and prime pieces of White Gold /99 or less, Prime /25 or less, White Gold Prime /5, and Super Prime 1/1

 

My next pull is Golden Hands of Colts legend, Marvin Harrison that is a parallel /25. There are 15 cards in this set featuring players of today, tomorrow and yesterday. I really want the Shepard and Beckham! There are parallels of White Gold /99 or less, Prime /49 or less, White Gold Prime /5, and Super Prime 1/1.

 

Up next, I was a little surprised to find a Barnidge autograph in a $200+ product but it seems like most of the names on the Gilded Signatures checklist are a little under the medium name players. A lot don't have a ton of signatures. These have parallels of White Gold /99 or less, and Black Gold 1/1.

 

Up next, a beautiful Rookie Autograph of Raiders future star Jalen Richard who could take over at starter next year. I love the gold signature on the black card. This particular set appears to have on-card autos.

 

Metal cards make a return to the product as well. I got lucky and pulled the Super Bowl runners up Black Gold parallel /6. There is also White Gold /25 and Holo Gold 1/1. This is one of many different metal cards featured in the product. There is also Hall of Fame Symbols this year too.

 

And finally with a rookie signature checklist with all of the stars like Ezekiel Elliott, Dak Prescott, Carson Wentz, Jared Goff, Derrick Henry, Paxton Lynch, has a few different memorabilia autograph options. This one is Sizeable Signatures which features a nice size swatch along with a gold on card auto in a silhouette layout. I really want the Perkins and Shepard versions!!!

Other hits not found in my box are, Gold Records Autographs, Hall of Fame Symbols, Gold Nuggets, Metallic Marks signature cards feature autographs on both black and gold metal pieces. Grand Debut Autograph jersey sets, Autograph jersey auto, Metallic Marks, Gold Strike auto, and a few others. Plenty of rookie, veteran and legend content.

Overall, top notch looking product with plenty of surprises. This years rookie class is a seller alone and with more added legendary content, this may be the best Black Gold yet. 

 

My pulls weren't the best, but also not the worst. This is the type of product I recommend for the high-end gamblers but also suggest to those who can't afford it to buy into breaks of it or wait til prices drop on the boxes. I personally can't afford a box so I usually pick up many singles. This year I haven't gotten any yet so if you come across any and are feeling generous....lol.

 

Thoughts on Black Gold are welcomed in comments!

By the way, make sure you thank Panini America for this review box and check out their site for products like this one and others. Also thank Tracy Hackler and give him a Twitter follow too!Stay tuned for some of these cards in an upcoming Panini America giveaway to celebrate #SCC5year!

Redeeming Gurley:A Quick Redemption Story

The title of this post is very creative I must say.

One, I pulled this SICK 2015 Contenders Todd Gurley Rookie Ticket Auto variation redemption card a few months ago.

 

Two, I redeemed it.

Three, I am way behind on posting it due to some changes I made on the blog . So this is the little story you

Four, when it comes to redemptions, I will say this card arrived very quickly to me as it was within three weeks after redeeming.

 

By far my nicest card from Contenders after 18 years of buying it. I wished Todd would work on his signature a bit more but overall I am not complaining.

Speaking of complaining, I know a lot of that is usually about redemptions, so I gotta ask, what was your fastest redemption turnaround?

REVIEW:2015 Panini Black Gold Football

The product that I personally called Product Of The Year in 2014, makes its return in 2015! This time the power combo of Panini Black and Panini Gold Standard brought back some of the things I called it a winner for along with adding some newbies.

To find out if I was as high on this edition as the last, let's check it out!

  

In every box of 2015 Panini Black Gold you will find 2 Packs Per Box with 5 Cards Per Pack. You will also find 4 autos, auto relics or gold disc cards per box for a estimated price of $225. This product is definitely high end.

Let's take a look first at the base cards. All are done shadowbox style and look great. As the product states it's Black Gold and the base cards have a black border done with a gold trim. You can find 50 veterans, 35 rookies and 15 retirees in the base set.

50 veterans, 35 rookies and 15 retired greats

50 veterans, 35 rookies and 15 retired greats

Up next is a Gold parallel of Russell Wilson with the gold in the shadowbox behind the player. These are numbered to 49. There is also a holofoil numbered to 1.

Up next, Panini introduced some spectacular looking shadowbox inserts. 

This Golden Days insert card of Tom Brady looks awesome. I am a big fan of the layout and theme and am very tempted to collect the set. This is the type of college cards I would be all over.

Franchise Gold takes greats from yesterday and today and combines them on a card. I think I pulled the best one :D

There seems to be parallels to the inserts as well to make the chase even more fun.

Now onto the hits from this box. 

The Shadowbox theme throughout the product makes plain memorabilia and autograph cards be taken to another level. They are well designed, have a nice layout and fit the theme found throughout.

This Coleman has some nice swatches on it including two patches on bottom.

Up next, probably the pull of the box, a VS memorabilia card that's a parallel numbered 2/10 with nice patches especially the Perriman that has multiple colors.

These metallic logo cards are probably some of the thickest cards on the market. I am not quite sure how to store mine yet. Pulled this Alfred Morris Team Symbols that's numbered to 149 and

Offensive Rookie Of The Year Todd Gurley Seal Of Approval also numbered to 149. Despite not being real memorabilia, I still dig these.

My first autograph was of Jets WR Titus Davis. He was a free agent draftee that signed with the Chargers who cut him before the season started and then signed with the Jets who cut him, signed with the Bills who cut him then found his way back to the Jets before being cut again then made it back to the practice squad of the Jets back in January. Despite being a really nice looking card, I am not sure if having him in this product was appropriate. Contenders maybe as that's a product to include the lesser known rookies but not a high end product. The card is numbered to 149.

And my last pull was of Saints third string QB Garrett Grayson. It's a really sharp looking card signed in Gold Ink. I am not sure what kind of piece it's signed on as it's smooth surface like a helmet. This card is numbered to 25.

 

Overall, a really nice looking product with all numbered cards throughout. But, unlike last year, I kinda feel like I hit a dud box for as much money as these cost. Once again, high end is risky and if you are a gambler, this is the first product on the top of my list I would gamble on. Just because my box was lacking some, that doesn't mean I don't recommend it. You should see some of the pulls you could get!

For more gallery and info on the product and those hits I think you need to see, visit Panini's Knights Lance blog you can find HERE. You can also see a few surprises Panini added to the product, HERE.