Card of the Day: Bryson DeChambeau 2021 Upper Deck Artifacts Golf Ball Marker Relics

Brad Utterstrom Offers A Glimpse Of His 2015 Topps Gypsy Queen Art

In addition to Monty Sheldon, artist Brad Utterstrom also contributed his talents to this year’s Gypsy Queen.  Brad made (15) different 1/1 art patch cards.  Five of them can be seen below, and the rest will be on display here shortly.  Between Brad Utterstrom and Monty Sheldon, there are 40 total 1/1 art/patch cards to be found.  Consider yourself very lucky to pull any one of them.  These guys did a fantastic job.

Monty Sheldon Showcases His 2015 Topps Gypsy Queen Art

Monty Sheldon is at it again!  Check out some of the artwork he worked on for the 2015 edition of Topps Gypsy Queen.  This year he made (25) art/patch cards each numbered one-of-one.  These are some of the top tier cards to look for when breaking open your boxes.  Any one of these cards could easily be the centerpiece of your collection.

In addition to the art/patch cards, Monty Sheldon also worked on a (15) mini card set called “Basics of Base Ball”.  Each card in the set details a fundamental aspect of the game.  The printed versions should come 1:24 packs (one a box).  The original painted one-of-one “Basics of Base Ball” mini cards will also be inserted into packs of 2015 Topps Gypsy Queen.  Those can be seen below, and will be much harder to pull.

Panini Takes A Beating With Flawless & Thorpe Relics

This industry of ours has taken a few big blows to the head within the last week.  Its always taking hits, but these kind hurt big time.  When you have an industry that’s based on trust and authenticity its going to happen.

First off, let me say that anyone who purchases a box of cards that costs over $1,200.00 is completely nuts.  I don’t care if you have more money than god, there is no reasoning for this.  The cards found in 2014 Panini Flawless Football are very nice looking, I’ll give them that.  But there is nothing in this product that we really haven’t seen before.  This is just my opinion, and I’m sure there are people out there that strongly disagree.  Slapping a high price on the same old stuff doesn’t make a product innovative.

By now you’ve probably heard about the tiny problem Flawless Football has with the event-used versus game-used swatches.  At first I didn’t think much about it, especially when it was just a couple of players.  Its happened before.  But then the list got longer.  I’m glad Panini is owning up to the problem, but that’s only happening because they got caught.  Event-used relics shouldn’t have been anywhere near a product of this caliber.  What grinds my cookies the most is how fast Panini responded with such accurate numbers.  Its almost as if they knew what they were doing.  If they wanted to play things out, they should have waited a bit to release the info on which cards were effected.  That would have at least made collectors believe Panini was doing some digging to get that info.  Releasing that much highly-detailed information so fast looks like they were documenting it in the first place.  This just shakes the trust all around.  And this is the company buying up all the licenses.  Someone needs to stop turning a blind eye to all those cleared payments.  Cutting corners to help the bottom line isn’t going to fix anything.  Can you really trust anyone?  The simple answer is no.  I wish we could, but in the words of Rocky Balboa “The world ain’t all sunshine and rainbows.”  We live in a world where you need to question things and look beyond the flashy show.

I usually don’t write a lot of posts like this.  Panini has been very kind to Sports Card Info over the years by supplying boxes to review and including me in their NFL Player of the Day blogger promotion.  But something had to be said.  Even though what I’m saying has already been said before by other collectors.  I suppose another voice can’t hurt.  Things will just blow over though and not much will come of it.  Just like it has for years.  It won’t be long before another incident rises up.

Speaking of another incident, I’d stay away from every single Jim Thorpe baseball relic made from 2005-2014.  Apparently the jersey used to make over 2,000 relic cards never even was in the presence of Mr. Thorpe.  Its sad to see people still spending tons of cash for these cards.  Panini has really taken a beating the last week.

I will always enjoy opening up packs and boxes.  As long as there aren’t too many base cards.  I don’t need meaningless base cards and inserts.  Low numbered parallels and “hits” are what I enjoy.  But sometimes it can really hurt when you see what goes on behind the scenes.  This industry can be like sausage.  You may like to eat it, but you don’t always want to watch it being made.

Johnson Redline Relic Contest! – NOW CLOSED

I originally wasn’t going to hold a contest this week since I’ll be heading to the National.  But then I realized the entire hobby would fall apart if I didn’t.  This week’s contest is for a Jimmie Johnson 2014 Press Pass Redline Relics Race-Used Firesuit #’ed/50.  Good luck!!!

Contest Details:

• This contest will end Sunday, August 3, 2014 @ 8:00 p.m. EST.
• To enter, please leave a comment in this post.
• You can enter once per day.
• The winner will be selected at random.
• Please provide a valid e-mail address when entering.
• The winner will receive an e-mail when the contest is over.
• The winner has one week to send me their contact information or the contest will be held again.
• Once the contest is over, I will need the winner’s mailing address so I can ship them this card for FREE!!!

Card of the Day: Santa Claus 2013 Topps Strata Signature Relics Rookies

Gloves & Sweat Soaked Towels Highlight Panini’s NSCC Relic Promos

Have you gotten in line yet?  You better or your not going to get any of these prized Panini promo packs.  I’m already camped out inside the Donald E. Stephens Convention Center waiting for Panini to show up.  I’ve got my boxes, food, water, and smartphone.  I think I can wait it out until Wednesday night.  I guess in the mean time we’ll just have to settle for these new images Panini released today teasing us of what is to come next week during the 2013 National Sports Collectors Convention.  Enjoy!

Looks like Panini is bringing back their employee cards.  Now that’s a business card.

A Closer Look At Lombardi’s First Relic Cards

These are a couple of better images of some of the Vince Lombardi personally worn jacket relics that you’ll find inside 2012 Leaf Lombardi Legacy that should be released next month.  Remember, you get one of these Lombardi relics per box, plus four base cards and two inscription autographs.  These are the same two pictures you’ll find on the sales sheet, but much better quality.

Celebration Relic Cards

Collectors have seen so many different relics cut-up and placed into cards.  Over the years its been getting more and more difficult to try and find something that’s truly unique.  We’ve seen jerseys, pants, bats, patches, helmets, etc…  One small thing that I’d like to see would be relics used during specific team celebrations.

As soon as the Phillies won their 5th straight division championship the other night, all the players put on the T-shirts and hats stating they were division champs.  I think it would interesting to pull a card that contains a piece of shirt worn by one of the players during a celebration like this.  It would be even better if the shirt was still drenched in champagne.  I know a lot of collectors probably think this is just another gimmick, but throw it into Allen & Ginter and nobody will know the difference.

On another note, I still don’t know why no company has ever made USFL relic cards.  I’m sure there would be some collectors that would love to pull a Steve Young LA Express jersey card.

Captain America Comes To Cardboard

Upper Deck Entertainment has had a ton of success with its superhero related products – Iron Man, Thor, and now Captain America: The First Avenger.  Due to be released on 6/14/11, collectors will find (2) relics or autographs per box on average.  Insignia manufactured patches come (1) per box too.  Sketch cards fall about (1) in every other box.  Autographs and relics include:

• Chris Evans (Captain America / Steve Rogers)
• Tommy Lee Jones (Captain Chester Phillips)
• Hugo Weaving (The Red Skull)
• Samuel L. Jackson (Nick Fury)
• Hayley Atwell (Peggy Carter)

Its going to be a great summer packed with superheros and cards!

Example of an insignia manufactured patch