It’s our favorite time of year, we think of it as Christmas in January February for all us hobbyists. It’s Panini’s Playoff Contenders release time! With each years release of the product, Panini strives to make the set more interesting and collectible. They have a tradition of creating short-print variations of players that typically sell for obscene amounts of cash, and recently they have started to add variations for each card in the set.
This year, Panini unveils a new chapter for the product, where it appears that EACH player in the Rookie Ticket set has a variation card. Yesterday we gave you a quick glimpse into how you can find the variations for 2012 Rookie Ticket Autos. Today we bring you a visual guide to see the differences between each of the Rookie Tickets in the set.
It appears that Panini has made it easier this year to identify the photo variations of players they have slipped in 2012 Playoff Contenders Football. On the reverse side of the card, you will find that variation versions are missing the players details in the box that surrounds the team logo in the lower right side of the card.
These variation photos were posted on their blog earlier this week, and you can see the different photos on the front, along with the differences on the rear of the cards.
Yesterday, Panini announced an interesting tidbit regarding their upcoming 2012 Panini Prizm Football release. In addition to the base 100 rookies in the set, there are 25 players who appear on hobby-exclusive, photo-variation RCs that fall one per box on average.
Yesterday, we brought you the Top 10 list of Colin Kaepernick Rookie Cards. Today, we are going to focus on Ravens quarterback Joe Flacco. Flacco has been the starter for Baltimore since his 2008 rookie year, after being drafted in the first round out of the University of Delaware. Flacco has a huge frame, standing at 6’6″ and weighing 250 lbs, making his body the prototypical size for a NFL quarterback. What makes him even more special is his arm strength, which typically assists in most of Joe’s down field big plays.
Currently his cards are at a much more affordable level than his counterpart Kaepernick, but that won’t last if Joe is the one holding up the trophy at the end of the game.
It appears as if Panini has inserted some Super Short Print Variations of players into their 2012 Donruss Elite Extra Edition release. This Albert Almora was posted on the web a few hours ago, showing both variations. The SSP varaition is the one on the right with white gloves.
Just in time for Superbowl 47, the sports card hobby has had a new superstar born. Colin Kaepernick stood in the shadows of Alex Smith most of his 2011 rookie season, taking a total of five snaps in live action. The athletic quarterback, who was draft in the 2nd round of the 2011 NFL Draft from the Universty of Nevada, received his chance to play after starting quarterback Alex Smith was sidelined due to an injury.
This years release of Contenders Football marks the 20th anniversary of the set. Over the last 20 years, this set has included some of the most iconic rookie cards in the hobby, with each year passing the cards becoming more desirable and collectible.
With the rookie crop that we have had in 2012 mixed with the milestone set for Contenders, we think that this is going to be a very hot product.
It’s like the stars have aligned, the moon is full, and Halley’s Comet just stormed by.
Three of the largest, and probably most sought after, 2011 Topps Chrome Football Rookie Superfractor Autographs have been listed on eBay within days of each other.
