Product Review: 2012 Panini Prominence Football

Panini Prominence came out this week, another addition to the mid-high end football products they have produced this year. In this product they have made it one pack with eight cards. Out of those eight only three are going to be hits, two autographs and one memorabilia card. After buying Momentum last week I thought this was not going to do it for me.

I looked over the checklist and the Autographs and Relics and it didn't seem too bad of a product. The cost is half of what Momentum is but I was a little off about only receiving three hits.

Each box will contain three Base cards numbered /897 and have either Silver or Gold foil, both of which are the same numbering. Not too sure why, I didn't think this was needed but they are in there. In addition to the Base cards you will receive two Legends cards /897. As for the the Hits, they will come from the eighteen or so Autographed or Relic inserts.
Again a strong Rookie presence in this product with Prime jerseys and autographs of the top of the draft class. Every single card in this product is numbered, this always has a very good secondary market value for collectors.

I figured I would take a chance on this product even though I wasn't totally sold on it. So here is what I pulled:

Base Silver cards: Darren McFadden, Dez Bryant /897
Base Gold card: BenJarvus Green-Ellis /897
Legends Silver card: Randall Cunningham /897
Legends Gold card: Ron Mix /897
Autographed RC Card: #215 T.Y. Hilton /499
Black and Blue Relic: Anthony Fasano /170
Autographed RC Material Prime: Robert Turbin /150

When I opened the pack I didn't think the Base cards would be as thick as they are. Very strong and sturdy cards, the pictures and design of the cards really standout. However I did notice that on the Gold base and legend cards that the bottom corners on the front of both were turned up. Not a great thing in this product, the Silver cards all were fine and didn't seem to have the same issue.
The Anthony Fasano relic was a bit of a let down, a very small single swatch. Even though numbered low out of /170 it still was a bust for me on this pack. The Hilton Die-Cut Auto was very nice. I really like the technology in these cards. The corners were sharp and the design is impressive, even for a sticker autograph.
As for the Turbin Patch auto, well this might have saved my box. It is a nice solid 3 color patch of a decent player numbered out of /150. It's not going to pay for the box but it was a nice card to pull.

I haven't decided if i will send in the two damaged cards or not, both aren't high value players so I might just cut my loss on them. My overall view of this product is decent. I like the designs of the cards, very strong rookie insertion rate and aside form the two gold cards the quality of the cards are nicely done. I think Panini could have added a little more into the product and maybe left out the hits like the Fasano I received to give the customer a little more. For a mid-range product it did well, and for those collectors not yet ready to jump into the higher end products, this might just be the product to get you started onto the next level of busting.

Gambler Overall Rating: 4.3 out of 5
Cost: 4/5
Autographs: 4/5 
Memorabilia: 4/5

Design: 5/5

Rookies: 5/5
Fun Aspect: 4/5