Product Preview: 2010 Panini National Treasures Football

One of Panini's most recognizable and important brands is its National Treasures line. National Treasures is Panini's most high end product which features many auto's, patches and very hefty price tags. There are products and price points for all collectors, but it's imperative that those price points match the quality and value of the product. 2009's National Treasures Football and 2010's National Treasures Basketball were disappointing at best. The fact is, the value and quality were not there for those products. At $400 a box, sticker auto's are not acceptable. For that matter, sub par quality or design of any kind is unacceptable. It seems Panini has rectified any concerns collectors may have voiced in regards to last years NT Football product with its 2010 installment.

Panini just released some product images of its March 2, 2011 National Treasures Football release. There will be a dramatic increase in the number of on-card auto's including some very nice looking Pen Pals and Rookie/Patch auto'd cards. It does appear there still will be a number of sticker auto's in the product, but this is a nice step in the right direction. The Knight's Lance, Panini's official blog, is stating that each $400 box will include eight cards, including six auto'd or memorabilia cards per box.

I certainly like the effort to include more on-card auto's and hope this strategy will cary over to Panini's 2011 National Treasures Basketball product. If the box breaks look anything similar to the many card images that Panini has dangled in front of collectors, this will be one of the more sought after products of the year. Here's just a few of the images The Knight's Lance has recently posted. What do you think?: