Fake ’18 Panini Illusions Football Autographs Start To Surface

Earlier this week I blogged about those elusive missing autographs that have been coming out of 2018 Panini Illusions Football.  I warned you that people would take advantage of that misprinted COA, and start signing them in an attempt to pass them off as the real deal.  Well, that didn’t take too long.  A seller on eBay that goes by “tolpul0” from Twin Falls, ID took a misprinted Sam Darnold card, signed it themselves, and is now selling it as an authentic autograph.  What a total crock!  Its sold too.  Last I saw it had one bid for $20 with a few days to go.  Not only is the autograph a terrible counterfeit, but its on-card.  Authentic pack-pulled examples are all signed on stickers.  PLEASE BE CAREFUL!

It would be nice if those who pulled a misprinted error could exchange the card for something.  The least Panini could do is give an official statement on the matter and/or give us an estimated print run of the errors.

CollectorCrate To Start Next Month

UPDATE

• This company is no longer in business.

Beginning next month, collectors will be introduced to CollectorCrate.  If you’re familiar with what Loot Crate is, CollectorCrate should be easy enough to understand.  For a monthly fee ranging from $29.99 to $99.99, CollectorCrate will ship you a box full of sports collectibles every month.  Items in the box cover a wide range of cards, packs, toys, etc…  And the fun thing about it is that you don’t know what you’re going to get.  CollectorCrate will allow you to pick your favorite sport.  So at least you’ll know that your box will be baseball, football, or basketball themed.  There is no word yet whether or not hockey will be thrown into the mix, but I have a feeling if this takes off they plan to.  CollectorCrate boxes have the letters “BB”, “FT”, “BK”, and “HK” printed on them.  I can only assume the “HK” stands for hockey.  As of right now, CollectorCrate plans to start shipping their first round of boxes in mid-October.

I for one find this to be a cool thing, and I hope collectors are drawn to it.  Watching people open their Loot Crate boxes is fun, but those aren’t sports related.  I can really see this turning into a big thing.  CollectorCrate should develop close relationships with Topps, Upper Deck, Panini, and Leaf.  Heck, throw in Lil’ Teammates, TeenyMates, and OYO Sportstoys too.  One thing you see Loot Crate do is have exclusive merchandise which can only be found inside their boxes.  This is something I would like to see CollectorCrate eventually get into.  The sky is the limit when it comes to what kind of promotional items CollectorCrate could put together for the National.

Don’t forget to follow CollectorCrate on Facebook, Twitter, Instagram, and YouTube.