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Upper Deck offers a collection of high-end cards that get released every year. These cars are not cheap at all and are meant for collectors only. A pack of Upper Deck comes in a tin that can cost up to $200. These tins are loaded with hits that will be worth the money for the collectors.

Upper Deck

Every year, Upper Deck releases a collection of cards with unique sleeve numbers, shoulder logos, and commemorative logos taken from the game-worn jerseys. The cards are hand-numbered for up to 25.  The 2019-2020 collection has several Rookie Auto Patch Cards, including the Acetate Rookies Auto Patch Cards that feature a large patch and a signed autograph on Acetate stock. For the first time, Upper Deck has introduced a 50 Acetate Rookies Horizontal Variant card collection. Each card is numbered 99 and has a hard-signed autograph.

Overview

The premium card tin from Upper Deck comes at a fraction of the price of the CUP. There are rookie patch cards in the pack, along with large patch cards as the main draw. The autographs are made on-card, and they also decide the price you pay for the entire box. Despite its high prices, the product is a great deal for card collections. However, the experts still believe that Premier is not the best offering from Upper Deck. The only bright side of buying this collection is its jumbo patches. Without these patches, the collectors do not have much to do with these cards.

The RPAs contain a piece of the patch, quality foil, on-card autograph, and numbering similar to the Cup. According to the experts, the value on these cards does not reflect the quality of their design and appearance. It is not the most popular kid in the block as compared to the other two brands, but it can still be a good collection. The cards do look good, and they are not easy to afford, making them a worthy asset for the collectors.

Worth the money?

Considering the amount of the pack, the jersey cards at the end of the pack do not really make any difference for the collectors. The jersey cards are only there to provide a level of satisfaction to the rookies who are happy with some extra cards. For the experts, they are just the fillers to compensate for such high prices. Upper Deck may use it to boast about their hits per box, but the pros can easily figure out the value of jersey cards, which is zero in most cases.

jersey cards

The positives about these cards are that they look beautiful and well-designed. The on-card autographs are another factor to go for this collection. Some of the patches in Premier are truly worth a keep for the collectors. The only factor that does not justify buying these cards is their high costs. While the collectors would still buy them, it may not be exciting enough, considering they are not receiving enough for what they are paying.

The Panini Prestige Basketball has a long checklist of players but does not offer enough frill. Most of the design elements of the game are focused on action. It offers plenty of options for card collectors to explore and collect as a hobby. Panini Prestige Basketball cards are available in retail stores, making it easy for collectors to find them.

cards

The 2017-2018 Panini Prestige Basketball Base Set was the most popular of all card collections due to many reasons. It had a total of 200 cards that were made to the Prestige checklist. The first 150 cards in the collection are of veterans, while the rest of the 50 are of rookies. The rookie cards can be identified based on the types of photos on the cards. Similar to the 2016-2017 set, the new collection contains several elements that are exclusive to certain retail formats. One of the new features you will find in this collection is the Cracked Ice Technology, also known as the Crystal. The Crystal is only available in Hobby boxes. You will also find a pair of autographs in the Hobby boxes.

2017-2018 Panini Prestige Basketball Base

The new collection of Prestige offers a 200 card collection with 150 veterans and 50 rookies. All the players are grouped by teams in the 2017-2018 Panini Prestige Basketball checklist. The final 50 cards come one in a pack. There are also parallels in the collection – Horizon (Blaster), Rain (Fat), Mist (Hanger), and Hobby-only Crystal (#/199, #/10, and 1/1).

A pack contains a variety of inserts and some parallels. There is an All-Time Greats collection that has some of the NBA legends from history. The Hardcourt Heroes contain cards of team leaders. Stars of the NBA introduced the biggest names in NBA today. The Rookie Class introduced some of the new players with or without pictures on the card. Stat Stars collection contains players that have performed well with assists, rebounds, points, and more. Only the Crystal version is not numbered in the entire collection.

The autographs in Panini Prestige Basketball

Each Hobby box contains two autographs from the NBA legends. The card collections can find Bonus Shots Signatures, Prestigious Signatures, or Old School Signatures in the Hobby box that promises to reveal a Crystal parallel. The Bonus Shots Signatures offer the best checklist of all autograph inserts. The signatures on these cards are a mix of veterans and rookies. Fifty players have Prestigious Signature cards and are a mix of retired and current players. Old School Signatures contains only retired players’ collections.

Here is what you will get in a Panini Prestige Basketball card pack

  • Cards per pack – hobby – 6
  • Packs per box – hobby – 24
  • Boxes per case – hobby- 16
  • Set size- 200 cards
  • What is in a hobby box
  • Autographs – 2
  • Parallels or Inserts – 24

In keeping with the spirit of bringing the National to those of you unable to attend, EVERYTHING I acquired Saturday at the show I’m giving away to the blogsphere and it’s readers.

The Details:

To be eligible to win you can do any of 3 things each worth 1-3 entries:

1) Follow me publically on this blog and email me at [email protected] telling me you have done so. (3 entries)

2) Post this contest on your blog, Twitter-feed, Facebook or My Space page and email me a screen shot or link to [email protected] . (2 entries)

3) Leave a comment here. (1 entry)

Contest will run from now until this Sunday night at 7pm CST.
Winners will be chosen by randomizer.org

The Prizes: (Pictures below)

1st Prize- Lisa Gleaves Kissed Auto
2nd Prize- Herman Franks Cut Auto
3rd Prize- Ball Dome
4th Prize- $10 off a Blowout cards and Magnetic snap-tight
5th Prize- Tri-Star Obak Promo Set
6th Prize- T206 PSA Poster
7th Prize- UD redemption cards, Obak mini promos, FCB prospect set
8th Prize- St. Louis Cardinals UD All-Star Poster
9th Prize- Freedom Cardboard Prospect Set

Last place, have junk removal naples come take all of your worthless cardboard instead of letting your mom throw it out on you 😛

Cardboard Gods, written by Josh Wilker, is an American tale about the significance of baseball cards among the young and adults. The book was published in 2010 and explained the life of baseball card collectors who religiously follow their hobby and try to collect and preserve the best cards released in the market.

The author narrates his story and how his older brother taught him the value of baseball cards. The author’s mother was a simple woman who wanted a simple life for her family in the rural side. She went on the leave her husband and lived with a free-spirited man in Vermont. The children had a hard time making new friends in Vermont and struggled in doing so. That is when the author finds a new hobby to collect baseball cards that he bought in bubble-gum packs. His older brother was interested in baseball betting but was not involved much in it. He participated in baseball card fantasy events at the time, but it did not become an obsession for him. Soon, Wilker became more interested in card collecting and began to understand how the cards are valued. The start players were not the actual bounty while searching for the cards. The fringe players like David Clyde and Kurt Bevacqua kept switching between major and minor leagues to become locally and nationally popular among the fans.

book

The book is a retrospective of Josh Wilker on the craze of baseball card collection. It takes a rather sad and bitter take on the hobby of people like himself. Wilker shares some of the unorthodox childhood experiences that may not suit the reading preferences of many readers.

Cardboard Gods is a collection of essays with a new card explained in every essay with a story behind it. The book also mentions Reggie Jackson from 1970, when facial hair became a choice rather than a symbol of rebelliousness. The story behind Rickey Henderson’s rookie card explains why trying hard is unnecessary when what we seek is right around the corner. Similarly, Randy Jones also motivated collectors with a story of not being the best-looking player with the best talent but still become great.

Overview

The book has an interesting read to offer for readers who have little knowledge about baseball cards. If the reader does not know anything about baseball card collection, they may find it hard to relate. At the same time, if they know too much about baseball card collection, they may already know most of the events discussed in the book. It makes the book a general database of the events associated with certain baseball cards and the godlike following by the fans. The book is a collection of humor and tough times that the author has seen in his life. Overall, it is a book written by a baseball fan who grew up as a Red Sox fan and saw how the culture of card collection became such an important part of his life. Wilker puts everything in perspective to teach us how cardboard gods or even a small item from our childhood can heal us.

Many of you may know Michael Fruitman. Mike is the owner of Mike’s Stadium Sportscards in Aurora, Colorado. You can follow him on Twitter here. Also, be sure to “LIKE” his Facebook Page here. Mike is a long-time hobby retailer with a great bit of know-how into running a great LCS.

Earlier this year, he approached GTS Distribution (who, in full disclosure, I am the Senior Marketing Manager for their Sports & Entertainment division) about creating an event timed during the lull of post Black Friday and week before Christmas.

Mike had expressed that the early part of December is always a very slow time of year for his shop and others he’s talked with about the subject.

So we created National Hobby Shop Day! So what exactly is National Hobby Shop Day? Well, I’m glad you asked!

Quite simply, This event is designed to drive traffic to retail stores at a time of the year that can see a decrease in foot traffic. GTS Distribution is providing a number of bundled packages to all brick-and-mortar retailers that are sure to create buzz, hype, traffic and sales this holiday season.2017 National Hobby Shop Day will take place on Saturday, December 9th. All retailers who commit to hosting an in-store promotion on this day will receive the following*:

FREE Autographed Jerseys and/or Autographed Sports Memorabilia!
$100 Account Credit to Host an In-Store Pizza Party!
FREE Packs!
FREE UltraPro Supplies Package & BCW Premium Binders
Collectors, whose LCS participates in the event will have a chance to WIN the above mentioned items while chowing down on some pizza.
20% Coupon for garage floor epoxy las vegas

Thanks to Gellman for pointing out a heck of fairly articulate debate on book value and the opportunity to chime in with my 2c over at Ninth Inning.

I wasn’t necessarily going to comment until the offending Book Value Geek took a swipe at my Junk Wax How To Video

No Jay that would be me assigning value to the over produced crap from the 80’s and 90’s by burning them. Pick any card from 87 to 92, find the “value” in your precious price guide and then find one place anywhere online where the real price is equal to the Beckett (Sucks) Value.

All to often collectors like yourself overvalue their collection based on the prices arbitrarily set by Beckett (Sucks). The only correlation that exists to put a monthly price on a card product is directly proportional to the amount of advertising that products manufacturer spent in said issue.

If you can’t see the obvious manufacturer collusion, conflict of interest in grading and auctions there is no point even arguing the point. You are going to believe what you want to believe because you have been spoon-fed the Beckett (Sucks) kool-aid for the majority of your collecting life.

Also the honorable Dr. James Beckett has been so far removed from this publication for years prior to his death that it doesn’t even make sense to reference him.

In all actuality your collection is only worth about 30-40% of what you think its worth and that is something you CAN NOT and WILL NOT accept because it would shatter the fragile sense of reality you have created for yourself by putting an arbitrary overvaluation on your collection.

Also it has only been recently that they have incorporated auction pricing into their supposed value equation. Typically and for several years after the creation of a peer to peer secondary market system called the Internet, Beckett (Sucks) relied on a couple of dozen pricing “contributors” from around the country. These contributors ,to a man, were all hobby shop owners and their card sales reflected the inherent mark-up associated with any retail venture, cards being no different.

So what is your card worth?

Below is a comment I left in response to the weak-assed, gushy, industry collusive post made by O’Connell on his blog Infield Dirt .

“It would be nice to see someone at SCD actually conduct a hard-hitting investigative piece updating the events that took place at the National last summer.

There has been scant news on that topic for several months, and then we come to find out that Mastro Auctions is dissolved and VP of Acquisitions Brian Marren is out.

These are only some of the questions that need answers:

What is going on with the FBI’s investigation?

Have any charges been filed?

Was the dissolution of the company and release of Marren done to avoid charges ala a backroom plea deal?

Come on, give us some sports collectibles journalism that only someone with your credentials and contacts can provide the consumer and the collecting public.

If the industry media isn’t going to be a watch-dog to the alleged criminal activity and abuse of public trust that Mastro Auctions has been accused of, who will?”