The True Meaning Behind Panini’s Jousting Knight Logo

Maybe the joust is used to poke you in the eyes so you don’t have to look at the long list of unfulfilled redemption cards?

Its coming. We all know it. Any day now an official announcement will be made stating that Fanatics will be purchasing Panini America. I thought perhaps something would be announced during the 2022 Industry Summit. But nothing of importance came out of that event. All I saw there were people giving awards to each other.

Upper Deck would be Fanatics next target as I believe they would love to add the NHL, Wayne Gretzky, Michael Jordan, and Tiger Woods to their portfolio. People will complain about a monopoly. They will even threaten to never open another Fanatics-made product again. But they will. The boycotts and threats rarely last. I remember people saying the exact same things about products such as Prizm, and we all know how that went.

Have you ever wondered why Panini’s logo features a jousting cartoon knight? Panini’s origins go back to Modena, Italy. The company was founded by two brothers Benito and Giuseppe Panini in the early 1960s. Giuseppe Panini, who loved riddles and puzzles, invented his own crossword puzzles under the pseudonym “The Knight”. In the 1970s there was a magazine for Panini sticker collectors whose mascot was Pipino The Knight.

Looking closer you’ll see the letters “EPM”. They stand for “Edizioni Panini Modena”. “Edizioni” is Italian for “Editions”, “Panini” is obviously for the founders, and “Modena” is the city in Italy where the company was first established.

Usually overlooked, this little dude continues to appear on Panini packaging for now.

Just for fun, here are a few other images of Pipino The Knight found on pins/buttons from the 1970s. These were made for promotional purposes and club members.

Panini’s 2018 Illusions Football Autograph COA Mistake Continues To Screw Unknowing Collectors

In 2018 Sports Card Info helped to shed some light on this issue.  Even though not much has changed since the initial story broke, I believe its important to remind people that this continues to be a MAJOR problem in the hobby.  Especially when a collector was recently screwed out of $400.

On February 28, 2020 a Tom Brady 2018 Panini Illusions Living Legends Autograph sold for $393.  Too bad the autograph is a complete fake.  Panini made the huge mistake of printing the message “THE AUTOGRAPH IS GUARANTEED BY PANINI AMERICA, INC.” on the back of a bunch of cards from 2018 Illusions that were never intended to be signed.  But yet these unsigned cards with the autograph COA on the back somehow found their way into the product.  We’ve seen this error popup on the Living Legends, Illusionists, and Mystique inserts.

Panini allowing cards to ship out with their autograph COA yet lacking the actual signature itself opens the door to all types of fraud.  And that’s exactly what we’re seeing here.  Loser scammers will sign the athlete’s signature themselves, and then attempt to pass it off as the real thing.  Because that COA is printed on the back people will believe its authentic.

As you can clearly see the autograph here is on-card.  MAJOR RED FLAG as the authentic cards use stickers.  Another indicator is the absence of a serial number.  It should be #’ed/10 or 1.

Panini simply stamped their autograph COA on too many cards here.  Some were meant for legitimate pack-inserted autographs.  Others received the autograph COA by mistake, and are just basic unsigned inserts.

Tom Brady 2018 Panini Illusions Living Legends insert with a fake autograph (front)

Tom Brady 2018 Panini Illusions Living Legends insert with a fake autograph (back)

This is what an authentic example should look like:

Panini’s 2019 National VIP Set (Something To Look At While Waiting In Their Customer Service Line)

I’m not a big fan of Panini.  Its been years since I’ve opened any of their products.  I think they’re sloppy, careless, and abuse their exclusive licenses to the max.  With all of that said, people continue to buy their stuff and complain.

Panini’s customer support (or lack there of) is so poor its almost impossible to get a hold of someone to talk to.  During the National Sports Collectors Convention its a common sight to see people lined-up at the Panini booth waiting to talk to a customer support representative.  I’ve seen people stand there all day.  Its sad.  Collectors don’t want to spend all of their time at the National waiting to talk to Panini’s customer support.  That time should be used for walking around, looking at all the cool stuff, getting autographs, picking-up singles, and opening boxes.  Its not like you’re going to be satisfied after talking to the Panini employee anyway.

While you’re waiting in that long line at the Panini booth, VIPs should redeem the coupon found in their package of goodies.  That coupon is good for a 10-card set that features Kyler Murray, Dwayne Haskins, Daniel Jones, Vladimir Guerrero Jr., Fernando Tatis Jr., Eloy Jimenez, Trae Young, Luka Doncic, and R.J. Barrett.  The tenth card is still a mystery, and will be unveiled closer to the start of the 2019 National.  I’m fairly positive it’ll be of Zion Williamson.

Panini’s 2018 NSCC 10-Card VIP Set

I don’t do much with Panini products anymore.  But here is a look at their 10-card set VIPs attending The National Sports Collectors Convention will receive.  A redemption coupon will most likely be found in VIP’s swag-bag which can be used to redeem the set at the Panini booth.

Panini’s 6-Card 2016 National VIP Set

VIPs attending the 2016 National Sports Collectors Convention in Atlantic City, NJ will find a coupon in their package which can be redeemed at the Panini booth for a 6-card set.  The set includes Brandon Ingram, Buddy Hield, Carson Wentz, Jared Goff, Kenta Maeda, and Trevor Story.

Even though I don’t participate in Panini’s wrapper redemption program much, we now know what some of those cards will look like.  Wrapper redemption rookies will be numbered to 1,499 copies.  The base set covers baseball, football, basketball, and soccer.  I’m surprised NASCAR isn’t in there.  Then again we haven’t seen the autographs and relics yet.  With Prizm NASCAR coming out next month you’d think Panini would want collectors opening their newly acquired brand during the National.  Its very common for Panini to put poorly performing products on the list of products that qualify for their wrapper redemption program.  They do this as a way to help dealers unload a lot of that unwanted product.

Deer in the headlights look.

Step 1 in professional football: Open your eyes.

Panini’s Rip-Off Strategy Could Benefit NASCAR Collectors

Collectors will get to see the first Panini made NASCAR cards within their 2016 Father’s Day promotional set.  Panini mainly holds these promotions to help dealers move all that unwanted product off the shelves.  Trust me.  There is a lot dealers want to get rid of.  Most of the products you’ll need to buy in order to participate will be ones that performed poorly.  The odds are good that Panini will bring back all those crappy products again next year because that’s what they do.

During the NFLPA Rookie Premiere last month, Panini showed off a lot of cards that we’ll see in their 2016 products.  One of their new NFL products is called Panini Origins.  Taking a look at it, you can clearly see its a straight up design rip-off of Topps Inception.  Panini has such a difficult time coming up with original content on their own.  Its bad enough that they have an NFL exclusive.  Ripping-off another company’s designs just shows you who should truly be allowed to make licensed NFL cards.  Don’t get me wrong, Panini Origins looks good only because it mimics the design of a Topps product.  This makes Panini look just plain lazy.  I use to be a big supporter of them, but all they do is copy others.

Getting back to NASCAR.  Panini’s rip-off strategy could benefit NASCAR collectors.  If they plan to rip-off designs made popular by Topps, why not apply those designs to NASCAR cards.  I wouldn’t mind seeing some Inception-like racing stuff.  Football fans may have seen these designs before, but certainly not NASCAR collectors.  If ripping-off designs is their strategy, at least use it for a sport that hasn’t seen it yet.

In addition to the 2016 Father’s Day set, Panini is suppose to be releasing four NASCAR products – Prizm, Certified, National Treasures, and Torque.  We have yet to know when these will come out.  If anyone of them has the slightest possibility at featuring a ripped-off Topps design, it would be Torque.  Collectors sorta know what to expect when it comes to the three other brands.

I highly doubt Panini will follow through here with any of the suggestions I’ve made.  It would be nice if they came up with some original ideas, but that doesn’t happen very often.  I don’t expect as much on-card autograph content with Panini’s NASCAR products compared to what Press Pass had.  A lot of drivers have posted pictures on social media of them signing stickers.

Panini’s 2015 National VIP Set

Last year I didn’t do much of anything at the Panini booth.  Other than stop by to pick up my VIP set.  None of their required products for the wrapper redemption programs did anything for me.  Most of those required products weren’t too popular anyway.  Most likely they were required to help dealers move them off their shelves.  That’s one of the other reasons why they need to put on events like this every year.

VIPs attending the 2015 National Sports Collectors Convention in Chicago will find a coupon in their welcome package.  Simply take that coupon to the Panini booth and in return you’ll get a 6-card set featuring Kris Bryant, Joc Pederson, Marcus Mariota, Jameis Winston, Karl-Anthony Towns, and Jahlil Okafor.

Sports Card Info Is Runner-Up Winner In Panini’s 2014 NFL Player of the Day Hobby Blogger Promotion

For a second year in a row, I’m happy to announce that Sports Card Info is a runner-up winner in Panini’s 2014 NFL Player of the Day Hobby Blogger Promotion.  Remember that large contest held last October?  Well I guess Sports Card Info did a good job in hosting it.

As a runner-up winner, I won the following:

• $100.00 in cash
• (1) Kelvin Benjamin 2014 Panini NFL Player of the Day RC Jersey
• (1) Blake Bortles 2014 Panini NFL Player of the Day RC Jersey
• (1) Sammy Watkins 2014 Panini NFL Player of the Day RC Jersey
• (1) AJ McCarron 2014 Panini NFL Player of the Day RC Jersey
• (1) Mike Evans 2014 Panini NFL Player of the Day RC Jersey
• Handful of 2014 Panini NFL Player of the Day promo packs – pulled autos of Asa Watson, Connor Shaw, and a Johnny Manziel jersey

Thanks everyone who participated!!!

Sports Card Info To Participate In Panini’s 2013 NFL Player of the Day Promotion

Panini is the king when it comes to promotions.  They certainly aren’t afraid to giveaway some free stuff.  One of their longest and most successful promotional programs is their annual NFL Player of the Day promotion.  For more than a decade the Panini POD promotion has helped hobby shops bring in more customers, and sell products.  This year there are almost 900 hobby shops registered to participate.  Each hobby shop is sent an exclusive prize pack that contains all sorts of stuff they can giveaway to those customers that meet the requirements.  Be sure to see if your local hobby shop is one of the participants, so you can get your hands on some exclusive cards.  In the end, one lucky collector will get to spend the day with an NFL player, while tons of others will walk away with a lot of free prizes.

For the first time ever, Sports Card Info will be participating in Panini’s POD program this year.  I was contacted by Panini earlier this week, and happily agreed to participate.  One of the Panini POD prize kits should be arriving shortly.  Expect at least one contest to take place sometime between October 1st and November 15th.  I’m glad that Panini asked me to participate, as there are many collectors who don’t live near a hobby shop in order to get involved with this promotion.

First Glimpse Of Panini’s Hoops Cards In NBA Baller Beats

Lots of new gadgets and games are being introduced this week at the Los Angeles Convention Center during E3.  Just like I said in this blog post last week, one of the products being demonstrated is NBA Baller Beats.  I know this is a sports card blog, and I rarely talk about video games, but some of the in-game rewards are virtual Panini NBA Hoops basketball cards.  In the trailer above you get to see your first glimpse of these in the game.  Way cool!  I wish more trading cards were incorporated into video games.

Anyone who preorders NBA Baller Beats at GameStop will receive an assorted 3-pack of NBA Fathead 5×7 Tradeables.  This is probably one of the best ways I have seen trading cards and video games working together.