Preview: Famous Fabrics Civil War Set

Next up for Famous Fabrics will be the Civil War release, set to release tomorrow. This product will be a little different compared to other recent Famous Fabrics products, the biggest change would be the pack out and price.

 

Each box will run $1,200-1,300 and contain 6 cards. Each box break will give you one Civil War Cut Signature (1/1), one Original Artwork Painted card (1/1) and four base cards (#/40). There will only be 150 boxes made so this is beyond an extremely rare release.

 

The base cards are limited to #/40 and there are only 15 cards on the checklist, mainly focusing on battles. Each base card will be encased and numbered.

There are 150 cut signatures and they are divided in to three designs; Union Cut Signatures, Confederate Cut Signatures and Gettysburg Commemorative Cut Signatures. Some of the names included on the checklist: Abraham Lincoln, Jefferson Davis, U.S. Grant, P.G.T. Beauregard and Robert E. Lee. The cards will be encased and number and each design will be a different color so Union signatures are blue, Confederate are gray and Gettysburg are brown.

The Original Artwork Painted cards have a 15 card checklist with each card #/10, though each card is painted individually. I believe Jared Kelley is one of the artists involved in the project. The art cards are dedicated to the 150^th Anniversary of the Battle of Gettysburg so the 15 people included are connected to the battle; Lincoln, J.E.B. Stuart, George Custer, George Meade, George Pickett, James Longstreet, Jefferson Davis, John Buford, John Reynolds, Joseph Hooker, Joshua Chamberlin, Richard Ewell, Robert E. Lee, U.S. Grant, Winfield Hancock.

 

Early Preview: 2013 Panini Hometown Heroes Baseball

Panini is bringing a new retro baseball set to shelves towards the end of the year, Hometown Heroes. The base set will contain a 300-card checklist which will include players from the 1950s through today. There will be parallels, inserts and autographs (currently 6 autograph sets are expected). Only the Hometown Heroes autographs will be on-card signatures.

 

The set seems to be bi-polar with some of the cards having a pleasant retro look while others are over-burdened with varying elements that seem to be conflicting. I like the base card and the Sport Discs, which reminds me of when I was a kid and would run up to Circle K to get a Slurpee and pull the discs off of the bottom of the cup, but I am not a fan of the other card designs.

It seems like many of the complaints are related to Panini’s not having a MLB licensing and the lack of logos and team names, which does not bother me, what bothers me is the conglomeration of designs. There does not seem to be uniformity to the set, something that is shared with Panini’s Cooperstown Baseball, which was also recently previewed.

 

A Look At The 2013 Goodwin Champions Museum Collection

With the release of Upper Deck’s 2013 Goodwin Champions many people turn their attention to the cool inserts that UD includes in the Museum Collection relics insert. Last year the Museum Collection theme was the Civil War, this year it is the Wild West and next year the theme is World War I (UD already has my attention).

 

Some of the Museum Collection relics have been inserted in to packs including a piece of a Money Bag, a Gambler’s Vest and Chuck-A-Luck Layout (a dice game). Currently there are roughly 20 auctions for these packed out relics and reasonable prices seem to be ranging around $30-40 each.

 

The larger relic cards are through redemption and according to Upper Deck’s blog these oversized cards are nearing completion and should be ready to ship soon. Many of the relics focus on the gambling aspect that was common in the towns of the old west but there are other relics like an arrowhead, pay dirt gold, wood from a stagecoach and a railcar, a rail spike, a calendar and a piece from Buffalo Bill’s chair.

 

 

Sneak Peek At Upper Deck's National VIP Cards

Upper Deck is offering a 6-card VIP set and a wrapper redemption program that offers different cards for each day of the National Convention. There will also a case redemption.

 

The 6-card VIP set is made up of Upper Deck spokesman and Chicago stars.

The wrapper redemption will offer 4 different collections of players depending on the day plus random packs will include autographs.

 

The eligible products are:

5 packs of 2013 SPx Football, Upper Deck Football, Goodwin Champions, 2012-13 SP Authentic Basketball, 2012-13 SP Authentic Hockey or 2 packs of 2012 Fleer Retro Football, 2012-13 Fleer Retro Hockey or 2012-13 Fleer Retro Basketball

Any people who open a 6-box case of any of the Fleer Retro sports products at the Upper Deck will receive this Michael Jordan autograph card.

 

 

UD will also be running an Expired Redemption Raffle. Collectors can bring in up to 5 expired redemption cards, people not attending the convention can send in their cards for a chance to win, to the Upper Deck booth by Saturday August 3^rd before 10:30am to take part. They will be giving away 100 prizes.

Sneak Peek At Sportkings National VIP Cards

ITG/Sportkings will be offering a 9-card VIP set for VIP ticket holders plus three wrapper redemption programs, one for opening a box of Sportkings Series F and one for opening a 16-box case of Sportkings Series F at their booth and one for opening a 10-box case of Horrors of War II.

 

The 9-card VIP set includes a Sportkings Anthology of Chicago Blackhawks hall of Famers like Hull, Mikita and Esposito.

The wrapper redemption program is two levels, if you open a box of Sportkings Series F you will receive a multi-relic memorabilia card and if you open a 16-box case you get a 1/1 “Spectacular” Patch card.

UPDATE 7/28
The redemption for opening a 10-box case of Horrors of War II is quite interesting, when you open the case you will receive a coupon for a custom made 1/1 Art Relic card. After the National you can exchange the coupon for a card to be made specifically for you, you choose a personality that you would like sketched on the card and Famous Fabrics will add an authentic relic from the corresponding conflict. An example card was included in the announcement.