Posts

Another Ligue 1 Hobby Box

-
Image
 As mentioned a couple of posts ago, the Ligue 1 Select boxes are very short printed so it feels like low numbered hits come flying out of each box. If you recall, I ended up with two /5 gold autographs as well as a really nice jumbo swatch /3 with a piece of the badge. These are just absolute beautiful cards and since it's the inaugural product, Panini seems to be loading them up. I enjoyed the first box so much that I bought another one last Friday and it ended up having even more value than the first. To start, I hit another low numbered autographs. This time it was Vladimir Smicer Gold /10. As a Liverpool fan, I am happy with that. I got another low numbered jumbo patch, this time numbered /5. It also has a great chunk of the jersey, with two letters off the shirt sponsor. This is Charlie Cresswell of Toulouse.  Now that the guaranteed box hit are out of the way, I can discuss the two most valuable cards I pulled. First up was a case hit stained glass Prizm of Thierry Henr...
Post a Comment
Read more

Topps Chrome Star Wars

-
Image
 It's fun to sometimes stray away from the norm and try something a little bit different in the hobby, so I recently partook in some Star Wars Chrome breaks. These spots are usually broken down by character, or even by letter when it's a bunch of minor characters they lump together. It's not exactly the cheapest break to get involved in, but I decided to try my luck in a few and hit some nice things. The coolest thing I ended up with was a Mace Windu autograph signed by voice actor TC Carson. I also hit a green refractor /99 as you will later see below. Oddly enough, I hit these cards in a serial where I was assigned the number 7. Lucky for me, his case cards end in 27 and 37 so I got the autograph plus the green was numbered 57/99 so I got that one as well. Lux Bonteri voice actor auto Jaso Spisak Phil Lamarr auto as Klatoonian Crime Boss The Grand Inquisitor Cosmic Crystals Case hit Ezra Bridger Star Wars Logofractor /77 Luminara Unduli green refractor /99
Post a Comment
Read more

Inaugural Panini Optic NWSL

-
Image
 Being a San Diegan that appreciates women's soccer, I've considered myself a San Diego Wave FC fan since their inception about five years ago. My family and I have attended a handful of games over the years and I'll catch them on TV from time to time. Obviously, I'm also a collector of sports memorabilia so the possibility of the NWSL getting a contract with Topps or Panini always intrigued me. It finally happened earlier this year, and their first ever product just dropped a couple weeks ago. I bought two First Off the Line Hobby Boxes of the product directly from Panini when it dropped. They only made an estimated 60 cases of FOTL. Each hobby box guaranteed 3 autos or memorabilia cards. Well I opened my boxes last night and got way more than that. My first box had three autographs and two memorabilia cards. The first auto I pulled was in fact a former Wave player, star forward Delphine Cascarino. This was the green autograph /5 so was a hell of a start. The second au...
Post a Comment
Read more

Sealed Hobby Boxes

-
Image
 I bought a couple of hobby boxes yesterday and the result ended up being one of the best openings I've done. I went to one of my local card stores where they actually consistently have soccer product and decided on two products that I have personally seen hit a lot in breaks. First was Ligue 1 (French soccer league) H2 hobby box which guarantees one autograph and one memorabilia card plus three additional numbered parallels. When I've seen these opened, they have often been loaded and for $199 it seemed like a good gamble for me. Well, it paid off. In my first pack of twelve I hit an excellent autograph of a soccer legend, Marseille forward and former Ballon d'Or winner Jean-Pierre Papin. It was his gold autograph /5. In the very first pack! In this same hobby box I somehow got a second autograph and it was a bonus because these boxes only guarantee one. Somehow, this autograph was ALSO a gold /5 autograph. This is of OGG Nice, and current Juventus forward, Jeremie Boga. H...
Post a Comment
Read more

Collection Update

-
Image
  A few more autographs to catch up on here. First, I hit a redemption in a Topps Chrome UEFA Club Competitions break. It was a rookie auto purple Refractor /75 of Kendry Paez. Paez is an uber talented young player whose head is full of rocks, so the potential he has oodles of will likely be underutilized. Nonetheless, Topps got this fulfilled and sent back to be incredibly quickly. The latter two autos are from my latest foray into the new 2026-27 Topps Flagship Premier League. I took Leeds in a case break for $22 and ended up with five numbered cards plus the two autographs above. It ended up being a great value pickup. The autos are Anton Stach /150 and Wilfried Gnonto /199.
Post a Comment
Read more

Roberto Carlos Marks of Excellence

-
Image
 Another card from my favorite autograph insert set Marks of Excellence was delivered on Friday, and this time it was Roberto Carlos /10. I've said a lot about these cards already, but I think the aesthetic of the on card autograph plus the design of these cards makes these cards beautiful. I also think long term these will be more valuable due to the hard signed nature of the signature.
Post a Comment
Read more

Topps Soccer Premier League

-
Image
 It's been a couple of weeks or so since I've found time to post some new additions. A new product came out last week, 2026-27 Topps Premier League Flagship. These are affordable breaks to participate in since they aren't the premium chrome stock and there is some great hit potential. I took Manchester United in one break by taking four of ten serial spots and it paid off. A serial in a break is when the breaker can't get anyone to buy the full team so they break that team down into ten spots. Each spot is randomly assigned a number 0-9 and whomever has that number gets the corresponding hit on the card itself. For example, if you have serial number 4 for Man United and then an autograph numbered 34/50 comes up, or 4/10, or 184/250 etc, that card belongs to the 4 spot. You're essentially getting a piece of the pie rather than the whole pizza at 1/10th the cost. I had 4 of the 10 pieces and got four autographs from it. The Peter Schmeichel /25 was one I was particula...
Post a Comment
Read more