Upper Deck is scheduled to release 2012/13 SP Authentic Basketball next week, and the product will deliver some massive hits including Michael Jordan and LeBron James Autographs. Collectors that have pulled either of these players autographs from a pack are part of a special club. It’s the…Holy **** I can’t believe I just pulled this card club.

SP Authentic Basketball comes in a 12 box case with two 6 box inner cases. One of the 6 box cases will have a Michael Jordan or LeBron James Autograph, while the other 6 box case will have a an autograph from one of the following players: Michael Jordan, LeBron James, Larry Bird, Magic Johnson, Bill Russell, Julius Erving, Allen Iverson, Reggie Miller, Karl Malone, Grant Hill, or Chris Paul!

Each 24 Pack box will contain 3 autographs or memorabilia cards. Some of the signatures include SP By the Letter Autographs, College Pride Autographs, Flashback Rookie F/X Autographs, Homecourt Signatures, Authentic Nickname Signatures, and Sign of the Times Dual, Triple, and Quad Autographs. There will also be “homecourt signatures” with rare Final Floor Signature and Dual Signature variations!

As an Authorized Internet Retailer for Upper Deck, we currently have boxes available to pre-order at the 2012/13 SP Authentic Basketball page. We can’t wait to see what our customers pull! In the meantime the preview images will have to hold us over:

You can check out all of our SP Authentic Basketball Boxes here, as well as visiting our basketball cards section.

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Box Breakdown:

• 20 Packs Per Box, 6 Cards Per Pack
• Two Autographs and One Memorabilia Card Per Box
• Two Starbursts and Thirteen Inserts Per Box
• 240 Card Autograph Checklist
• Look for Starburst and Artists Proof Parallels

Highlights:

• 300 Card Base Set
• 240 Marks of Brilliance Autographs
• 60 Brilliant Beginnings Rookie Autographs
• City-to-City Dual Memorabilia Cards
• Gametime Jerseys Memorabilia Cards
• Starburts and Artists Proof Parallels
• Springfield Inserts of Basketball Hall of Fame Legends

Featured Preview Images:

To check out further images and details, visit our 2012/13 Panini Brilliance Product Page, or visit our basketball cards section.

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Our latest submission to PSA has returned and we’ve been busy adding the cards to our site. This submission was full of legendary players. About 100 new cards have been added and they’re all baseball cards and football cards ranging from 1910 to 1972.

Here are some of the highlights:

1910 E93 Standard Caramel Honus Wagner PSA 2 (GOOD)

1963 Topps Baseball #200 Mickey Mantle PSA 3 (VG)

1967 Topps Baseball #581 Tom Seaver Rookie PSA 4

1959 Topps Baseball #380 Hank Aaron PSA 4 (VG-EX)

1960 Topps Baseball #200 Willie Mays PSA 5 (EX)

1955 Topps All American Football #37 Jim Thorpe PSA 3 (VG)

1958 Topps Football #62 Jim Brown Rookie PSA 5 (EX)

1957 Topps Football #138 Johnny Unitas Rookie PSA 6 (EX-MT)

To check out all of the cards that we just added, browse through our vintage sports cards section – or go directly to our vintage baseball cards or vintage football cards. As we acquire vintage cards you will see new items added to the site all the time.

And of course, we are always buying! If you are looking to sell cards be sure to visit our  buying page.

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One of the main drivers of the sports card market is strong play by rookies. Sometimes they come out of nowhere and have huge seasons, other times we know they are coming. We see them far in advance. We watch them in high school, the minors, or college to see what the hype is all about. Every so often one of these big names lives up to the hype. Players like LeBron James, Sidney Crosby, Bryce Harper, or Andrew Luck, we heard how good they were, were told by analysts how good they were, and then they delivered. When a player comes along and lights his sport on fire it carries over into the sports card world. Rookie cards rise, products that give you a chance at rookie cards catch fire, and collectors have that much more fun opening boxes. It’s one of the great things about the hobby.

We may have another one of those players on the way with Andrew Wiggins. Just yesterday the 6’8 Small Forward who grew up in Toronto, Canada, and played High School Prep Basketball at Huntington Prep in West Virginia signed a letter of intent to play for the Kansas Jayhawks. As the #1 high school prospect, many well regarded analysts have called him the best high school prospect in a long time, and others have gone as far as to say he is the best prospect since LeBron James. He’s posted incredible numbers in high school and played strongly for Team Canada in International Play. To make his story even more interesting, his mother competed for Team Canada in Track and Field and won a few Olympic Medals and his father played six seasons in the NBA.

There’s no telling what the future will hold or what will happen with his college career, but NBA Draft sites already have him as the top pick of 2014. One thing is for sure, Andrew Wiggins is an explosive player with International appeal. He may just be the best prospect since LeBron James, and if he comes close to living up to the hype next year he will absolutely light the basketball card world on fire when he enters the NBA and his has first rookie cards.

There is no doubt that we will see plenty of Wiggins next year with the Jayhawks’ wide national exposure, and he may even play for Team Canada this summer in the 2013 U19 FIBA World Championship. Until then we’ll have to sit back and imagine what his best rookie cards will be.

Senior Year Highlights Courtesy of Hoopmixtape.com

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Topps has put out information and preview images for one of the hottest football card products year in and year out, 2013 Topps Chrome Football.

Here’s the box breakdown as well as some preview images featuring a few of the upcoming 2013 NFL Rookies.

1 Rookie Autographed Card per Hobby Box!

There will be up to 45 NFL rookie cards from the base set featuring both on-card and sticker autographs. They will be available in the following refractor parallel versions:

• Rookie Autograph Refractor (#’d to 150)
• Rookie Autograph Military Refractor (#’d to 99)
• Rookie Autograph BCA Refractor (#’d to 75)
• Rookie Autograph Black Refractor (#’d to 25)
• Rookie Autograph Prism Refractor (#’d to 15)
• Rookie Autograph Gold Refractor (#’d to 10)
• Rookie Autograph Red Refractor (#’d to 5)
• Rookie Autograph Super-Fractor (#’d 1/1)

There will also be Rookie Autograph Patches (#’d to 50), Dual Rookie Autographs (#’d to 30), Triple Rookie Autographs (#’d to 15), and Rookie Autograph Variations!

The Insert and Autograph Breakdown includes 1969 Topps Football Rookies as well as Refractors #’d to 99 and Refractor on card Autographs!

There will also be 1959 Topps Football Rookies with Refractors #’d to 99, Red-Bordered Refactors #’d to 75, Prism Refractors #’d to 50, and On Card Refractor Autographs #’d to 15.

1986 Topps Football Rookies will have Refractors #’d to 99, Gold-Bordered Refractors #’d to 75, Prism Refractor Die-Cuts #’d to 50, and On Card Autographs with Refractor Technology #’d to 15.

There will also be the popular 1965 Topps Football Tall Boys design with up to 30 rookies.

The Chrome Rookie Die Cuts looks awesome. There will be up to 35 Rookies and there will also be die-cut blue refractors #’d to 50, die-cut red refractors #’d to 25, die-cut refractor autographs #’d to 15, and die-cut superfractors #’d 1/1!

Here is how the 220 Base Cards Breakdown:

Veterans – 111 cards (with veteran card variations of up to 30 players).

Rookies – 109 cards (with rookie card variations of up to 25 players).

Base Parallel Cards:

• Refractor Parallel: 1 in 3 packs
• Blue Wave Refractor
• Military-Bordered Refractor Parallel #’d to 499
• BCA-Bordered Refractor Parallel #’d to 399
• Prism Refractor Parallel TBD
• Black-Bordered Refractor Parallel #’d to 299
• Blue-Bordered Refractor Parallel #’d to 199
• Sepia-Tone Refractor Parallel #’d to 99
• Gold-Bordered Refractor Parallel #’d to 50
• Red-Bordered Refractor Parallel #’d to 25
• Super-Fractor Parallel #’d 1/1
• Printing Plates

Topps Chrome Football is scheduled to release in November. We’ll have boxes available for pre-order soon.

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History shows that the greatest rewards come from those who take the greatest risks. The rookie cards in these products may command huge sums on the secondary market already. But they’re also likely to be the rookies collectors look to with regards to what’s the best. Both sets use patch swatches and on-card autographs for key rookies (National Treasures also has rookie cards for second-tier players that are just autographed).

And it’s not going to take long for supply to dry up. 2012 Panini National Treasures rookie cards are limited to 99 copies each. 2012 Topps Five Star rookies range from a high of 300 for less desirable players to a low of 50 for top stars like Andrew Luck.

Early returns are showing 2012 Panini National Treasures Andrew Luck and Robert Griffin III rookies going for more than $1,000 each. Recent sales are also showing an upward tick for both. Having just been released, it’s still early to tell the patterns in Five Star.

The high-end rookie hits go beyond the main set for both releases as well. Low-numbered parallels, massive patch pieces and additional autographs have also caught the attention of collectors.

It’s not all rookie hits either. While first-year players are driving the products, there is a deeper veteran and legends presence in National Treasures and Five Star than in most every other set released this year. National Treasures’ Virtuoso Signatures and NFL Greatest Signatures include lots of Hall of Famers and future Canton inductees. In Five Star, Signatures, inscribed Quotable Signatures and Signature Patch cards offer a similar mix.

It’s appropriate that the football card season closes with the most prestigious products of the year. And what a memorable year it was for football card collecting. Now it’s time to look ahead to 2013.

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Topps has announced that 2013 Topps Five Star Baseball is “coming back and it’s coming strong!” Here are the initial details from Topps:

New Cards – 25 Piece Signature Book Cards, Greatest Lineup of All-Time Cut Signature Book Cards, Batting Gloves, and Five Star Autographed Legends.

Box Breakdown:

• 1 Base Cards
• 2 Active or Retired Player Autographed Cards
• 1 Autographed Patch of 1 Autographed Card
• 1 Autographed Book Card or 1 Silver Signatures Autographed Card
• 1 Jumbo Swatch, Patch, Batting Glove, MLB Logo, Bat Plate or Bat Knob Relic

Check out these preview images – there are some stunning cards! Release date is TBA.

Check out our complete selection of Topps Baseball Cards by visiting our Baseball Cards section.

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Box Breakdown:

12 Boxes Per Case, 20 Packs Per Box, 6 Cards Per Pack

Each box contains Two Autographs and Three Prizms

Also find: 1 Elite Extra Edition, 1 Rookie Relevance, 1 Brilliance, 2 Team MVPS, 1 Top Prospects, 2 Dominance, and 2 Team USA per box

Highlights:

Gold Parallels – Exclusive to Prizm Hobby as well as Finite Black 1/1 Prizms!

USA Baseball Inserts Including USA Baseball Prizms, USA Baseball Gold Prizms (#’d/10) and USA Baseball Signatures Prizms (#’d/25) – including the first ever USA Baseball Autograph of Mike Trout!

The USA Baseball Signature Prizms signers list is strong as it includes Mike Trout, Buster Posey, Austin Jackson, Clayton Kershaw, Justin Verlander, Justin Upton, Andrew McCutchen, and other stars.

Other hits include Rookie Prizm Autographs, Rookie Relevance Prizms and Gold Prizms, Top Prospects Prizms and Gold Prizms, Elite Extra Edition Autograph Prizms and Gold Prizms!

The non-prospect signer checklist includes the following: Cal Ripken Jr., George Brett, Bo Jackson, Rickey Henderson, Ryne Sandberg, Reggie Jackson, Ken Griffey Jr., Don Mattingly, Tony Gwynn, Deion Sanders, Dave Winfield, Bernie Williams, David Wright, Paul Konerko, Joe Nathan, Joe Girardi, Chris Sales, R.A. Dickey, and many others!

To see complete information and check out our box price, visit the 2012 Panini Prizm Baseball Hobby Box product page, or head to our baseball cards section.

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Following releases of Retro Basketball and Retro Football, today Upper Deck Fleer Retro Hockey Cards come out. The product is heavy on Rare 1990′s insert cards, with each box containing 4. You can also expect a total of 6 Autographs per box. Some of the highlights of former insert sets include ’96-’97 SkyBox Autographics, ’99 SkyBox Premium Autographics, and ’94-’95 Fleer Rookie Sensations!

Other inserts you can find include the following:

• 1997-98 Precious Metal Gems (Red #/100, Blue #/25, and Green #/10)
• 1996-97 Flair Showcase Row 2 Legacy & Legacy Masterpiece parallels!
• 1997-98 EX Essential Credentials Future & Now parallels!
• 1996-97 Flair Showcase Hot Shots!
• 1997-98 SkyBox Premium Golden Touch!
• 1998-99 SKyBox Thunder Noyz Boyz!
• 1998-99 Playmaker’s Theatre!
• 1997 Fleer Diamond Tribute!
• 1998-99 Fleer Tradition Electrifying!
• 1997-98 Ultra Stars!
• 1997-98 Metal Universe Championship Hardware!
• 1998-99 SkyBox Premium Intimidation Nation!
• 1997-98 Jambalaya!

Upper Deck has also announced that over 99% of the autograph content in the product is live.

Here’s the autograph breakdown:

• 1992-93 Fleer Ultra Auto parallel – inserted 1:360
• 1993-94 Fleer Ultra Auto parallel – inserted 1:240
• 1994-95 Fleer Ultra Auto parallel – inserted 1:180
• 1994-95 Fleer Rookie Sensations Autos – inserted 1:23
• 1996-97 SkyBox Autographics – inserted 1:8
• 1999 SkyBox Premium Autographics – inserted 1:16
• Regular Cards Auto parallel – inserted 1:40

Some Preview Images:

With current stars like Steven Stamkos, Sidney Crosby, Alexander Ovechkin, and NHL Legends Wayne Gretzky, Mario Lemieux, and Bobby Orr included in rare insert cards and autographs, there will definitely be many cards from Retro that collectors are itching to get their hands on.

You can find more product information on our 2012/13 Upper Deck Fleer Retro Product Page, or visit out hockey cards section.

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Now that the baseball season is underway, baseball card collectors can expect a flurry of releases in the months ahead. Coming out in consecutive weeks are 2013 Topps Gypsy Queen Baseball and 2013 Topps Tribute Baseball. While they come with significantly different price tags, they’re both notable for the amount of autographs they deliver. Not only is there a ton of ink, but the vast majority is signed on-card.

Released last week, 2013 Topps Gypsy Queen Baseball comes with an old-school vibe, kind of like Allen & Ginter without the non-sport content. Autographs fall two per box, which is much higher than A&G. The main autograph lineup in 2013 Topps Gypsy Queen Baseball has 67 different signers. They span several generations, including Hall of Famers, retired favorites, current players and rookies. Among the top players on the checklist are Bryce Harper, Mike Trout, Nolan Ryan and Willie Mays.

Not all of the Gypsy Queen signers are superstars. But isn’t a bad thing for player and team collectors. The biggest thing is the variety the set offers and the fact that all of the signatures are done directly on the card.

2013 Topps Tribute Baseball takes the same approach, but with a more high-end look and feel. The main single-signed autograph checklist has more than 125 different signers. That’s further expanded by many players having multiple autographs. Not only are all hard-signed, but they’re numbered to 99 or less. And while there are some lesser names, overall it’s extremely strong. Sandy Koufax, Ken Griffey Jr, Buster Posey and Hank Aaron are among those who have single-signed autographs in 2013 Topps Tribute and not in Gypsy Queen. The set also has some of the last Stan Musial signature cards.

Besides basic autographs, 2013 Topps Gypsy Queen and 2013 Topps Tribute have different levels of rare multi-signature and autographed memorabilia cards. So while collectors wait and see which superstars and rookies emerge this season, these early-season releases are delivering some excellent options for autograph collectors of all budgets.

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