Product Review: 2012 Topps Supreme Football

The football season is over but Hobby continues to receive products into the community. The latest is 2012 Topps Supreme, a mid-high end product that provides 4 cards per pack/box.

Back for it's third year, Supreme can pack a punch with every card serial numbered from 462 for the base cards to 1/1 patch, autographs, booklets, you name it. Built on thick stock, Supreme provides a very receptive look and feel for 2012.

Each pack/box will deliver 2 Base cards, 1 Parallel, and 1 Autograph / Relic or Autographed Relic. And all this for around the $100 price tag. Not too bad depending on your pulls, but well worth a shot at some really nice cards in this product.

The base cards have 5 parallels to hunt down as well as printing plates. there are a whopping 29 Autographed, Relics, Patches, Booklets, and other inserts in this product. Some of the relics have been shared from Topps and they are something special on the multiple relic pieces. Just amazes me on the amount of Relics these first year rookies have in products that keep cycling through the hobby.
Now some would say this is a high-end product due to the fact you are pulling only 4 cards per pack/box, but with the price point around $100 it isn't much of a stretch for a collector to take a chance on this product with knowing that a guaranteed hit is waiting for you with 3 other numbered cards.  

We were pretty excited to see what could come from these packs since we saw the sell sheets.
Lets see how we did:

                                Base Cards: 2 -  Von Miller & Ryan Tannehill RC

                                Base Silver Parallel: 1 -  John Elway Sepia /40

                         Rookie Quad Relic - Floyd, Lindley, Jenkins, James /10

Going in we didn't have my hopes up too high with the price point at $100 of hitting that big hit. If it was around the $150 range then we would expect a lot more from this product. The Base cards have a very nice design to them and standout very nicely on the thick stock Topps used. Big fans of the numbered cards and makes for a much higher demand for them on the secondary market, especially rookie cards. The Parallels could have been a little better with how they are presented, maybe a shinny outline of the color you received maybe. As for the Quad Relic card, it is a very clean and nice looking design to match the base cards. Lower numbering is also a key point on these as they don't have hundreds of each. This one turned out to be only out of 10, very nice piece but for something this low should have been a patch in there.

Overall we were pleased with this pack/box and would consider picking up more of this product. A very nice design and numbered cards that don't break the budget is something to have. The secondary market should have a nice acceptance of these for some time to come. Of course you are taking a chance but well worth the price on this product.

Gambler Overall Rating: 4 out of 5
Cost: 5/5
Autograph/Memorabilia: 4/5
Parallels: 3.5/5
Design: 4/5
Concept: 4/5
Fun Aspect: 3.5/5

Product Review: 2012-13 Panini Limited Hockey Hobby Box

The latest Hockey product to hit the shelves is 2012-13 Panini Limited. Product is presented as 1 Pack with 7 Cards. Each Pack will contain 1 numbered Autograph, 2 Autograph and/or Memorabilia cards, 1 Base card and 3 other Parallels, Inserts or other cards.
Each of the cards in this product are numbered from the most at 499 down to 1 of 1 cards. There are 150 cards in the base set which at one per pack is very hard to complete for set builders unless you go the secondary market to find all of them. Limited also has a good share of Short printed cards from the Captains Set, Monikers, Private Signings and Shield patches.
With the Strike shorten season, Panini has introduced 12-13 Rookie Redemption cards inserted at 1 every other box per case. These will be used to redeem XRC of current rookies (checklist not yet available) and will be numbered our of 499. There will be 1 per team and should create some interest on the secondary market for the teams with rookie standouts.
I saw someone open up a couple of boxes at my LCS and decided to take a chance on the product. Being that Panini has done so well in the Hockey world the past year I thought it was a good chance I might pull something decent and on a whim buy it could turn into something. So here is how I did;

Base Cards: 1 - Andy McDonald /299
Base Silver Parallel: 1 - Dustin Byfuglien /49
Phenom Autographs: 1 - J.T. Brown /499
Limited Jersey Prime Patch: 1 - Nicklas Backstrom /25
Limited Travels Dual Jersey: 1 - Ray Bourque /199
Trophy Winners: 1 -Joe Sakic /199
Limited Rookie Redemption: 1 - Washington Capitals /499

Overall I really like this product. The price point is right on at around $100 per Pack and the cards are really nicely done. The base cards have nice technology around the design and love that each card is numbered. The Trophy Winner cards are very nice looking and standout as an insert in this product, looking very different from the others. the Phenom Autograph is nice and used previously in other products. I like the team logo is used on the card and the on-card signature is always a plus in my books.

The Ray Bourque Dual jersey is a nice piece, growing up while he was playing brings back a little history to me and nice to have a card of his like this. The Backstrom patch is really nice, not too much patch but not too much jersey on the piece which is great. The card is sharp and numbered only out of 25 is a nice chip on the secondary market.
I was lucky enough to pull a Rookie Redemption for the Washington Capitals. Not knowing who this will be is a mystery to keep it or not but I will take this over pulling another insert card any day. Values of Rookies in hockey are always high and with the way things are these XRC cards could develop a strong following once a checklist is out there.

Now not everyone wants to spend $100 on 7 cards but I think this is a very good price point (as mentioned above). the quality of the cards, each card being numbered and the Panini brand of Limited staying true to bringing great products to collectors is a very strong sticking point. This isn't for the basic collector by any means though. Set Collectors are out too, this is only for those that are looking for quick hits on Autographs and Memorabilia that will not break the bank but could provide you will some bang if you pull the right card. 

Gambler Overall Rating: 4 out of 5
Cost: 5/5
Autographs: 4/5
Memorabilia: 4/5
Parallels: 3.5/5
Design: 4/5
Fun Aspect: 4/5