Panini's Basketball Hall of Fame product was released early last week. I stayed up late last Tuesday night to checkout the first HOF cards posted to eBay and was a bit sticker shocked. It seemed a few sellers wanted to capitalize on the collectors who need to be the first to add a new product to their collections. I've been watching the HOF prices over the past week and feel that many of the cards will be relatively affordable. In fact, many of the cards should come down in price over the next few weeks. That's definitely a good thing for collectors, and there's a couple of reasons why.The first is that the NFL and MLB seasons are in full swing. Many collectors tend to focus on a particular sport when that sport is in season. The NBA is still several weeks away from even getting started. I know the Dr. James Naismith Basketball Hall of Fame enshrinement ceremony was last month, but mid September is really a weird time to release a basketball product.
Other than a questionable product release date, the biggest reason why many of the prices (of singles) should go down or at least stay reasonable for the HOF product is print runs. Many collectors prize rare 1 of 1's or 5 of 5's, but this product features relatively high print runs of 399 and 499 for auto's and jersey swatches of Hall of Fame players. There are Panini Prime swatches that are more limited. For example, the Dream Team Game Prime Threads have a print run of 99. Although considerably more limited than the non-Prime Dream Team Threads (print runs just above or below 1,000 depending on player), a print run of 99 for a multi-color piece of one of the Dream Team jerseys is actually pretty generous. There are a number of other insert and parallel sets, and many of them also have jersey swatches or auto's of Hall of Famers with fairly high print runs.
There certainly are a few cards with extremely short print runs like the cut signatures that feature a few 1 of 1's and 5 of 5's, but this is a product that offers many auto's and relics of great players. I've been waiting for Hall of Fame to come out for a long time. I like the look of many of the cards. The biggest plus, beside the large print runs, all on-card auto's. I almost think Hall of Fame should have just been included in Panini's National Treasure basketball product that came out last month. On-card auto's and jersey swatches of hall of fame and Dream Team players would have really strengthened the disappointing National Treasure product.
So what do you think, is Panini's latest basketball offering something that has caught your interest? Do you think the large quantity of jersey and auto'd cards will help to make the singles on the secondary market become even more affordable? Finally, do you like the large print runs or is this flood of Hall of Famers going to ultimately hurt the overall basketball trading card market?
A. I really like the Team USA jersey cards... and overall I like this product.
ReplyDeleteB. I hope that the large quantity of jersey and autographed cards keep the prices at a reasonable level. Everything is based on supply and demand, so it'll depend on how many people enjoy this product a few months down the road. If it becomes a popular issue, than prices may eventually go up... but realistically... prices will probably level out after next year's products hit the market.
C. I love the large print runs... to me it's not about the $$$... it's about being able to enjoy these at a reasonable price. Larger print runs = lower prices = Happy Fuji
I'm with you. Sure, it's cool to have a card that maybe only 4 other people in the entire world have, but if I can get a cool looking card of Chris Mullin for a good price, I don't care if there is one or 1,000 of that card out there. I still get to enjoy it.
ReplyDeleteI'm not sure what to think of this set. I was very excited when I first heard about it, but as I watch box break after box break, I get less excited. I wish there were more of the Dream Team jersey cards. This year's enshrinement was all about the Dream Team and I would have loved to have seen those be one per box. Like you said, screw the print runs those are insanely cool cards. Second, as with any product, there's a lot of the less desirable athletes, but not so many of the big names. I would have gladly paid more to have a better shot at someone like Bird, Magic, The Admiral, etc.
ReplyDeleteI know he's probably in there as a cut signature, but the huge mistake by the HOF voters of not getting Dennis Johnson in there sooner means one less autograph that I would be interested in for this set. If there are DJ or Red Auerbach cuts in here, I'd absolutely love to luck out and pull one of those.
I definitely think that I have to pick up a box of this after my vacation. It seems to have settled down at a nice price and if it shows up on a weekend special, that much better.
Offy, the box are def going to come down. There are some Best Offer boxes on eBay now starting at $85. No question those can be had for a cheaper price.
ReplyDeleteThere are Bird, Magic, Pippen, Ewing, Mullin, Drexler, Cousy, Walton, Dominique Wilkins, Havlicek, West, I. Thomas, Stockton, Olajuwan, Kareem, The Big O, auto's and more. There is no DJ cut auto, but there is a Red Auerbach 1 of 1 cut auto.
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