When is a sparkle not a sparkle? The Curious Case of Domonic Brown and his 2011 Topps Baseball Series 2 Card.

This is a card that is causing some confusion.

It is card number 271 from 2011 Topps Baseball Series 2, Domonic Brown.  Look for this card on eBay and in most cases the listing will be for Brown’s sparkle card.  But is it actually sparkle card? 

As you know, cards on eBay are often incorrectly listed as SPs even when they are just regular base cards.  We covered all of the listing mistakes on eBay for 2011 Topps Heritage Baseball cards.  With the aftermarket demand and premium being paid for these sparkle cards, its important to know how to spot these cards.  So let’s take a close up look at the “sparkle” on Domonic Brown’s helmet.

At first glance that does look like a sparkle, but then again so do all of these.

 I haven’t just repeated the same photo three times over.  All three of those cards are in my possession.  But that doesn’t prove anything.  There is a very small chance I just got extremely lucky and pulled three sparkle cards.  But let me show you one card I have that I know for sure is a sparkle.

The top Mark Reynolds card is the regular base card and the bottom one is the short print sparkle variation.  Here is the sparkle up close.

This sparkle is very sharp, almost unnatural, as if someone placed it there, which is the point.  It is very different from the Domonic Brown sparkle. 

Both Mark Reynolds cards are numbered 378 and nearly identical on the back.   There is one tiny but crucial difference. Once again the base card is on top and the sparkle card is on the bottom.

The difference is located on the lower right of the cards.  Notice there is a code number.  Here they are up close.

Base

Sparkle

The last two digits of the base card code are 01 and 29 for the sparkle card.   You’ll find these codes on every card in the series.  Every base card will end in 01, 02 or 03 and every sparkle card will end in 29.

Here is the back of the Domonic Brown card.

Here is a close up of the code.

So this card is a base card.   But in the future, what happens if there is no picture of the back of the card and the seller won’t tell you what the code is on the back of the card?   The simple answer is look at the other parallels of the card.   Here are some for Domonic Brown.

Gold

Diamond Anniversary

The "sparkle" is on both of them.  As of right now, sparkle cards do not exist in parallel form.  So it’s safe to say that a sparkle parallel of card number 271, Domonic Brown, in 2011 Topps Baseball Series 2 does not exist.

Keep checking here for a complete list of 2011 Topps Baseball Series 2 Sparkle cards.   We hope to have it up soon.

2010 - 11 Panini Totally Certified Basketball NBA Trading Cards Box Break Recap and Review

There has been a lot of buzz around 2010-11 Panini Totally Certified Basketball.  Most of the buzz is coming from the new HRX video trading cards.  Kobe Bryant, Blake Griffin, Kevin Durant and John Wall, or as we are dubbing them, "The Panini 4" are featured on cards with video highlights, and for those cards that are autographed, footage of the actual signing of the card.  But what happens once you look past the HRX cards?  Does this set stand on its own as something worth owning?  In short, totally.

Totally Certified Basketball belongs in our premium cards category, HRX video card or not.  Each hobby box contains 6 packs with 5 cards per pack. Each box contains 6 autograph or memorabilia cards with at least 2 autographs #/599 or less. Case hits include an autograph from one of the Panini 4, Kobe Bryant, Blake Griffin, Kevin Durant or John Wall, a 1/1 card or an autographed card #/5 or less.  Here are the cards we pulled from the box.

The base cards are #/1849.  

Tim Duncan, front and back

Here are the rest of the base cards we pulled.  These appear silver in person like the Tim Duncan card above, but come off as somewhat blue in the scan.

These include Carmelo Anthony and Pau Gasol.  All are #/1849.

Red parallels of Rajon Rondo, Stephen Jackson, Tyson Chandler and LeMarcus Aldridge #/499

Blue parallels of Chase Budinger, Baron Davis and Chauncey Billups #/299

Josh Smith Fabric of the Game Memorabilia #/299

Caron Butler, Manu Ginobili and Russell Westbrook Red Memorabila #/249

Laundry Fields Gold Rookies Autographs #/25

Michael Beasley Certified Potential Autograph #/5

Overall Look

These cards remind me of the REM song "Shiny Happy People."  They are shiny with bold colors and there is something intangible about that combination that makes you happy. 

Quality and Variety of Players

The checklist is a little bit of a mixed bag, but the vast majority of names on the list are extremely desirable.  Once you get into the special inserts, the checklist becomes a roll call of amazing players.  

Do the Hits satisfy?  Are the cards too base heavy?

Rookie autos are on card.  Every card, including the commons, are numbered.  The low numbered Fabrics of the Game really compliment the colorful nature of this set.  So yes... the hits satisfy.  Now pull one of the HRX video cards and you'll be singing too.

Will you keep coming back for more?

Upper end collectors will try to construct entire base sets and thrill seekers will purchase Totally Certified by the case or multiple case order.  For most of us, taking the chance on one box will be easy, but don't be surprised if you feel the need to return for another one.     

Rating

4 1/2 out of 5

If you are interested in getting your hands on a box of 2010 - 11 Panini Totally Certified Basketball, do it now.   This is the type of product that gets rush orders and then sells out, which, in turn, makes it hard to find and pushes prices up. 



Review box provided by Panini

Do we Dare To Tear? Help us decide what to do with our 2010 11 Panini Zenith Hockey Box Topper.

We've told you about Panini's Hat Trick of Hockey releases.  Number two in the series is here, 2010-11 Panini Zenith Hockey.  One of the really fun aspects of this box is a 5 X 7 Box Topper card, the return of Dare To Tear.   Here is what we pulled.

It's big... no?   To give you an idea of just how big this card is, here is a size comparison with the base cards.

 So inside this Jeremy Roenick Dare To Tear card is another regular size card that you won't find anywhere else.   It could be an Epix card, a Donruss Elite Rookie card or a National Treasure card.  But to get to the card you have to tear into the Roenick.

To tear or not?   We are going to let you decide.
Use the poll to vote and then use the comments to tell us what you would do and why.  We will leave this open for a few days to let everyone cast their vote.  Then we will reveal the rest of the box break along with the results of the rip if we are dared by enough of you.

UPDATE- Poll is closed.  Here are the final results.

Yes!  I Double Dog Dare You!  - 84.21%
No! That would be barbaric! - 15.79%

2011 Topps Rising Rookies Football, another All About Cards SPEED-break™

For Topps, 2011 Rising Rookies NFL Trading Cards is their first football release this year.   It’s a really nice mix of returning star players and the incoming rookie class. 

SPOILER – One of our autos is #/25, a really nice hit.

Here is our video box break.

2011 Topps Baseball Series 2, another All About Cards SPEED-break™

Topps continues their 60th Anniversary Celebration with Baseball Series 2.   We ripped into a 36 pack hobby box.   Here is our video box break.

Hey Check Out My Cards, what kind of Mickey Mouse operation are you running?

Most of you are probably aware of Check Out My Cards.  I've used the site often to pick up some great deals on singles.  It's also a good gauge of how real world prices are trending on cards.  Though, from a casual check last night, things may be a bit off in some instances.  At the start of my search for some baseball cards I noticed this on the first page.

This was supposed to be a listing in highest price order.  I couldn't understand why the $2.50 2010 Topps Update Atlanta Braves Mickey Mouse All-Stars was listed ahead of the 2005 Upper Deck Trilogy Babe Ruth Cut Auto Front, Don Mattingly & Derek Jeter Auto Back card with an asking price of $11,000.  So I clicked on the Mickey Mouse card and here is what I found.

One of these things is not like the others.

Which one is different?  Do you know?

Can you tell me which thing is not like the others?

And I'll tell you if it is so.

OK, so for the price of 45 Ruth/Mattingly/Jeter autos you can have your very own Atlanta Braves Mickey Mouse All-Star.  Of course you could pay $2.99 but keep in mind, you get what you pay for, so clearly the last one is 166,666 and 2/3 times better than the cheap one.

So, of course, I thought the $500,000 might have been a computer glitch until I looked at the front page again and saw this.

For the same price as the most expensive Mickey, (not Mantle) you can own a 2009 Bowman Sterling WBC Relics Black Refractors of Kosuke Fukudome.   By the way, there were only 25 of these made so this just might be the steal of the century.  Upon further inpsection I noticed something else.

The astute seller of this card is "ziggyz129" who is also the seller offering the Atlanta Braves Mickey Mouse card for the same price.

This poses a real dilemma for those who can only spend a half a million dollars.  Which card do you get?

I wonder if Ziggy is willing to negotiate.

The Complete List of 2011 Topps Allen & Ginter Baseball Autograph Cards

We gave you the complete list of Non-Baseball autographs in 2011 Topps Allen & Ginter, so how about the complete list of BASEBALL autographs?   Sound reasonable.   Here is our list.

Adrian Gonzalez

Albert Pujols

Andres Torres

Angel Pagan

Aroldis Chapman

Brent Morel

Brett Wallace

CC Sabathia

Chase Utley

Chone Figgins

Chris Sale

Daniel Hudson
David DeJesus

Freddy Sanchez

Gio Gonzalez

Jason Heyward

Jose Bautista

Josh Hamilton

Josh Johnson

Joe Mauer

Jose Tabata

Miguel Cabrera

Michael Morse

Nelson Cruz

Randy Wells

Roy Halladay

Sergio Mitre

Starlin Castro

Ubaldo Jimenez