Saturday, August 6, 2011

2010-11 Panini Gold Standard Basketball NBA Trading Cards Box Break Recap and Review


You know it when you see this box, even before you open it, that 2010-11 Panini Gold Standard is going to be a thrill ride.  Panini has paid attention to the details here, investing heavily in getting this release right.  This time and effort has produced dividends that pay off.  We, as collectors, are the beneficiaries of those dividends.

Gold Standard is a perfect candidate for our premium cards category.  Each golden bar box contains 12 cards, which breaks down to 3 Autographs, 2 Memorabilia Cards, 3 Insert cards and 4 Gold Commons, all of which are numbered to 299 or less

Here are the cards we pulled from the box.

 Gold Base of Joe Johnson #/299, Front and Back

 Our other Gold base #/299, Aaron Brooks and Glen Rice

Dan Majerle Platinum Gold Base #/25

Eric Gordon Gold Nuggets Insert #/299

 Derrick Rose Gold Bars Insert and Andrei Kirilenko Gold Stars Insert both #/299

 Tim Duncan Gold Rings Swatch #/299 and Dwight Howard Gold Medalists Prime Swatch #/25

Eric Gordon Gold Base Auto #/299

And we pulled two redemption cards, but they were huge hits.


We've done Photoshop Mock-Ups, envisioning what we think these cards will look like based on similar cards we've seen.   We will update this when the actual cards arrive.

Amar'e Stoudemire Gold Team Logos Auto card #/10

Kobe Bryant Twenty Four Karat Kobe Signatures Auto card #/49

Overall Look
These cards look great, top-notch design.  Every card, base and inserts alike, is tied into a golden theme.  The photography is excellent, a task that is particularly difficult when you are taking the background away from players and just isolating them.

Quality and Variety of Players
This is amazing collection of players.  It is overflowing with legends of the game, the stars of today and tomorrow.

Do the Hits satisfy?  Are the cards too base heavy?
Because insert auto and memorabilia cards are so desirable, a small percentage of the base auto cards feel  a bit overshadowed.  Mind you, this is an embarrassment of riches, because in any other product, these autos would be highly valued.  It is a minor knock to an otherwise stellar collection of hits. As it stands now, Gold Standard is an amazing product. Legends autos, single and dual, a huge pool of Kobe Bryant autos, Gold Rush cards with actual 14K gold inserts and Solid Gold cards made entirely of 14K gold combine for must have hits.  Add to that Golden Tickets for your chance at 1 of 5 amazing prize packages (see a description of the prizes with this link) and it is clear this is an awesome collection of hits.

Will you keep coming back for more?
100% yes.  It is a special product that is a thrill to open.   An amazing job for a first time product.   If you can get your hands on a box, do it.   For those with deeper pockets, buying Gold Standard by the case is an easy purchase. Each 10 box case contains one Gold Rush insert, two Auto Gold Logoman Patches, two Auto Gold NBA Team Logo Patches, one Dual-Signed Autograph card and at least one auto of either Larry Bird, Magic Johnson, Kobe Bryant, Kevin Durant or Bill Russell.  No doubt someone with excessively deep pockets will pull a Veruca Salt, busting cases of Gold Standard to find a Golden Ticket, but as the story goes, even those of us that are Charlie Bucket can catch a break.

Rating
5 out of 5

2010-11 Panini Gold Standard Basketball has raised the bar, providing an exciting box break for premium collectors.



Review box provided by Panini

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