Hot on the heels of Topps' successful Topps Now program, Panini is also offer up special cards that commemorate certain events or feats in sports during the 2016 NFL season. I happened to see a blurb about this a few weeks ago in one of their newsletters I receive in my inbox. Actually what caught my eye wasn't the article able the program itself, but the image of Carolina Panthers QB, Cam Newton.
Panini is even pricing their cards the same as Topps. Each card retails for $9.99 with free shipping. However Panini took it a step further and is producing serially numbered colored parallels. Orange are numbered to 50, blue are numbered to 25, purple are numbered to 10, green are numbered to 5 and there is also a black 1/1 for each card. Prices range from $24.99 to $149.99.
While Topps is releasing the print run for each card after the 24 hour window to purchase the card has closed, Panini is actually printing this print run on the back of the card. You can see above that the first card in the set had a print run of only 140 cards.
The cards themselves seem to be printed on normal card stock. They of course have a UV coating on the front and back. I love the simple, boarderless design and the full bleed photos. However it may just be me, but the image looks a little fuzzy...even in hand. Cam already has two cards in the set and his #1 target, wide receiver Kelvin Benjamin has a card. These photos seem to be a little fuzzy too.
Overall I'm excited about the program and it's nice to see that Panini has a little a variety over Topps, however if Topps had the NFL license and was making Topps Now cards, I think I'd give Topps a slight edge.
I was wondering if any bloggers would bite on these. I didn't realize that Panini actually numbered these, which is a pretty great touch. Very cool to see how these stack up to Topps Now - thanks for the comparison!
ReplyDeleteI've got a few more Instant cards to share along with some Topps Now cards in the backlog of things to scan/talk about.
ReplyDeleteI'm not that big of a fan of the design of Panini Instant but I do appreciate the fact that they included the print run on each card. That Topps Now doesn't do this bugs me. If there is a Seahawks card worth picking up I might jump on it.
ReplyDeleteI'm only grabbing the cards of Panthers players. They did one for Cam as some sort of Fantasy Football thing and I passed on that one.
DeleteI ordered the first NASCAR one they did. J said I wasn't going to mess with these kinds of cards, but that lasted all of maybe 10 minutes after I saw one I wanted.
ReplyDeleteI saw Panini was doing other sports, but I haven't looked into them. I assume they'll do the Instant thing for the upcoming NBA season. If that's the case I'll have to keep my eye out for Charlotte Hornet players...
DeleteNew product. Worth speculation investment?
ReplyDeleteSo far it appears the print runs are lower than some of the early Topps Now cards. I guess only time will tell. I collect for the fun of it though so while I don't play that speculation game, I can see why people do.
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