Thursday, November 7, 2013

2013 14 Panini NBA Hoops Basketball Box Break Recap And Review


Three years ago Panini went old school, bringing back NBA Hoops with a fresh take on the classic inaugural 1989-90 set.  The most current release, 2013-14 Panini NBA Hoops Basketball, is a great set for a wide range of collectors, from entry point to serious set builders.  For the first time Panini is offering hobby card collectors a jumbo box with behemoth 50 card packs and exclusive 1 of 1 artist proof parallels.

We classify 2013-14 Panini NBA Hoops Basketball as trading cards.  Each jumbo hobby box contains 10 – 50 card packs for a whopping 500 cards with the promise of 2 autographs and 1 Memorabilia card per box.

Here are some of the cards we pulled.

Tuesday, November 5, 2013

2013 Topps Triple Threads Baseball Box Break Recap and Review


Right away you can see a design change for 2013 Topps Triple Threads Baseball but the contents have remained relatively unchanged.  Most collectors will appreciate that, as Triple Thread has become the goto Premium Baseball card offering with the widest range of appeal.

Topps Triple Threads Baseball falls under our premium cards category.  Each master display box contains two mini boxes with 7 cards per mini. Every mini-box contains an autographed relic and relic card, one of which is a triple relic.

Here are all of the cards we pulled from our box.

Monday, November 4, 2013

2013 Panini Prizm Football Box Break Recap And Review


As Football Card collectors, we have been spoiled.  We have been feasting on a banquet of outstanding rookie classes in 2011 and 2012.  Rookies that went straight into starting rolls and became instant superstars.  So it would reasonable to expect a bit of a let down in 2013 with a rookie class that is talented but not quite as explosive as the Cam Newtons of the world.  But there is no let down with 2013 Panini Prizm Football.

If you follow our reviews you are aware that while past releases have benefited from these tremendous rookie classes, it is just a small part of what we use to judge sets that fit into our trading card category.  The overall look, likeability of inserts, completeness of checklists and urge to set build play a much bigger role.  In the long run, we find that serves the purposes of reviewing releases better as secondary market values fluctuate over time.  We can not forget about years like 2000, a year when collectors might have been hot to score a Chad Pennington rookie card, while most ignored the guy drafted in the sixth round, 199th over all, Tom Brady, who was a fourth string quarterback and only threw for six yards in his rookie season. While this may not be the year to “rip and flip” we are already starting to see some break out talent.

So 2013 becomes the year to revisit the true meaning of collecting, concentrating on building sets and gathering cards for your PC. 2013 Panini Prizm Football is a great set for that as this year’s edition still retains its simple configuration with a great looking set of base cards, some low numbered parallels in addition to solid inserts and hits.

As an added value, Panini brings their HRX format to the release with a new twist, escaping the limited number of video cards that can be distributed by enabling all collectors to turn their smart phones into instant video cards thanks to QRL Code technology, the use of Platinum League’s phone app and a rather animated Tracy Hackler to guide your way.

Though on the high end of the category from a cost standpoint, we classify Panini Prizm as trading cards.  Each box contains 20 - 6 card packs with a promise of 2 autographs in every box.

Here are some of the cards we pulled.