Card of the Day: Antonio Brown 2014 Topps Valor #135

Card of the Day: Josh Gordon 2012 Topps Valor Auto

Dawson ’15 Topps Valor Auto Contest Winner Announced

Congrats to Peter McCarthy on being the lucky winner of the Paul Dawson 2015 Topps Valor RC Auto #’ed/800.  Once Peter McCarthy sends me his mailing address, I will ship this card ASAP.  Thanks!

Dawson ’15 Topps Valor Auto Contest! – NOW CLOSED

This contest is for a Paul Dawson 2015 Topps Valor RC Auto #’ed/800.  Good luck!!!

Contest Details:

• This contest will end Friday, December 4, 2015 @ 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!!!

Gordon ’15 Topps Valor Relic Contest Winner Announced

Congrats to Barry on being the lucky winner of the Melvin Gordon 2015 Topps Valor RC 1-Color Patch #’ed/289.  Once Barry sends me his mailing address, I will ship this card ASAP.  Thanks!

Gordon ’15 Topps Valor Relic Contest! – NOW CLOSED

This contest is for a Melvin Gordon 2015 Topps Valor 1-Color Patch RC #’ed/289.  Good luck!!!

Contest Details:

• This contest will end Friday, November 13, 2015 @ 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!!!

2015 Topps Valor Football Box Break & Review

The first little taste that collectors got of Valor came during the National Sports Collectors Convention.  Topps was giving out stickers with the Valor “V” on them, but at the time we had no clue as to what it meant.  Then came the official Valor Twitter account.  Collectors had a feeling that it was going to be some type of new product.  If Topps was going to try out a new NFL product, 2012 sure was the year to do it.  That was one of the best rookie classes to come along in awhile.

When Valor was released, it was my kind of product.  Cards came in a cool circular, bronze metal tin, and only had (1) pack.  The autographs were on-card with a lot of unique designs.  For some reason though, it didn’t really catch on with collectors.  Its a shame, because I enjoyed it.  I remember opening a few boxes at a local card show shortly after it was released.  I kept one of the empty tins on my shelf for a long time because it was just so different.  It was like one of those bronze shields the Spartans use in the movie 300.

Topps skipped Valor for 2013, but brought it back last year.  However this time is was quite different.  The format was completely changed.  Gone was the cool tin, along with a majority of the on-card autographs.  Stickers were brought in with a lot more packs.

The 2015 version of Valor is similar to last year’s set.  There are (20) packs per box, and you get (4) “hits”.  Boxes cost less than $80.00 which is a plus for those collectors on a budget, but looking for something to bust that has a decent amount of “hits”.  But this format has been done many times before.  Among all the sticker autographs, Topps has included some cool stuff they got signed during the Rookie Premiere.  This would be the Battle Anthem and Battle Paint cards.  They’re quite rare, but do offer some unique content.

Valor has always had cool designs.  Glossy photos with a matte background always looks nice.  But I don’t think it ever lived up to what Topps had hoped.  Now it feels like one of those run of the mill products.  I know for a fact that Valor was never intended to be like that.  The ideal Valor in my mind would have the original format/quality, but with today’s box price.  I highly doubt that will happen though.

All-in-all, it was a fun break for a very affordable price.  For the casual box breaker, Valor would make a great Christmas gift.

Here is what I pulled:

Auto

• Paul Dawson RC Auto #’ed/800

Auto/Relic

• Rashad Greene RC Auto/4-Color Patch #’ed/50

Relics

• Ameer Abdullah RC Jumbo Jersey Die-Cut #’ed/300
• Melvin Gordon RC 1-Color Patch #’ed/289

Parallels

• Dan Marino Glory #’ed/99
• Marshawn Lynch Discipline #’ed/199
• C.J. Mosely Courage #’ed/299

Inserts

• Clay Matthews Battle Cry #BC-CM
• J.J. Watt Battle Cry #BC-JW
• Roger Staubach Gridiron Warriors #GW-RS
• Howie Long Gridiron Warriors #GW-HL
• Dwight Clark Gridiron Warriors #GW-DC
• Phil Simms Gridiron Warriors #GW-PS
• Matt Forte Gridiron Warriors #GW-MF

Card of the Day: Dan Marino 2014 Topps Valor #189

2012 Topps Valor Football Box Break & Review

Design: 

Topps sure does get an A+ for presentation when it comes to their new Valor brand.  The packaging resembles a prop from the movie 300.  I honestly thought a Spartan might jump out and stab me with a spear.  I’m glad Topps decided to place the bottom portion of the round tin in a cardboard holder.  This helps them stand up much better and stops them from rolling around.  Its fun to have a unique box design, but you also have to make sure it can easily be displayed and stored.

Valor is a fantastic looking product.  The card stock is thick and Topps made the cards to look as if they had been drawn or painted by using certain filters on their photography software.  The overall design is quite simple and uncomplicated.  The best part of the design is the on-card autographs.  The signatures look great!  I love it when an autograph over takes a large portion of the card and isn’t confined.  The only drawback I see are on the veteran autographs which contain stickers and white boxes.

When it comes to simple design, I always think about having plain white backgrounds.  That’s about as simple as you can get.  With Valor, Topps kept the simple design but was also able to throw in a lot of color at the same time.  This especially applies to the parallels.

Price: 

Boxes are currently selling for about $180.00.  I was able to get mine for $150.00 at the show.

“Hit” Quality: 

Boxes contain six cards – (2) base and (4) autographs/relics.  Valor is mainly geared towards rookies, but it does have its share of veterans in it as well.  You almost have to for the price.  The big cards to look for are the rookie patch autographs that come (1) per case.  But there is a lot of other great stuff in here too.

I pulled the following:

Relic

• Mohamed Sanu RC Speed Field Armor 2-Color Patch #’ed/70

Autos

• Sean Lee #’ed/250
• DeVier Posey RC Honor #’ed/50
• Robert Turbin RC #’ed/170

Base

• Chris Johnson #’ed/170
• Dan Fouts #’ed/170

Overall: 

Overall, I give 2012 Topps Valor 4.5 footballs out of 5 (1=poor & 5=perfect).  This is by far one of the best looking football products that Topps has issued.  Those white boxes and sticker autographs for the veterans are the only thing holding it back from receiving a perfect score.  Its not for those collectors on a tight budget though.  Topps had been lightly promoting Valor ever since the 2012 National Sports Collectors Convention.  During the NSCC they were handing out stickers with the Valor “V” on them and a Twitter account had opened for it.  This is just my kind of product.  Very little base cards, and a handful of “hits”.

Card of the Day: Vick Ballard 2012 Topps Valor RC Auto