2011 Panini Gold Standard Football Product Review
Reviewed By Mike Smeth
Good: High end hit potential, Cool Concept
Bad: Lacks some of the wow factor that its basketball counterpart enjoyed, Too many irrelevant rookies featured on checklist.
The Bottom Line: 2011 Panini Gold Standard Football is a mixed bag overall, but ultimately has more working for it then against it. It's impossible not to compare it head to head with 2011 Topps Triple Threads Football because of the similarity in price point and scope, as well as release date. Neither does a job of significantly one upping the other.
Card Design: 3.5/5.0
The majority of the insert sets in 2011 Panini Gold Standard Football look the part of a premium football card product. Unfortunately, Panini applied uncomplimentary sticker autographs and boring one color jersey swatches to a disproportionate number of the hits. This just doesn't jive very well with the design or the fundamental theme of the product.
Checklist: 3.0/5.0
The biggest weakness in the checklist is the fact that it is composed of so many noncollectable rookies. There are far too many offensive lineman, defense of players and undrafted free agents present in the various autographed and memorabilia subsets. That's not to say that there aren't a lot of blue-chip rookies well represented throughout the set, but rather that they are harder to come by because of how watered-down the overall rookie checklist is.
Value: 3.0/5.0
2011 Gold Standard Football is a solid value – at least as far as high end football card products go. Each gold bar shaped hobby box sports an average of five hits, three of which are autographs and two of which are memorabilia cards. However the quality of the hits suffers because of the large checklist of largely irrelevant rookies that the product has. Every one of the hits that I pulled from my review box was either a defensive player or a late round no-name offensive pick.
The Fun Factor: 3.3/5.0
As far as my particular box break, I have to say I was pretty disappointed with the product. But overall, I've seen enough good boxes of 2011 Gold Standard to know that there are plenty of great breaks to be had.
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With the economy the way it is, gold is one of the few sure things; the standard against which all things of value are held. With that comes 2011 Panini Gold Standard Football, a set that holds itself in high regard. Single-pack boxes boast three autographs, two memorabilia cards, four inserts and three base cards. Everything is serial numbered, none of which are higher than 499. Whether they're seen as collectibles or by more practical means, cards embedded with 14-karat are about the closest thing collectors will ever find to guaranteed value. In a similar vein, Super Bowl Ring Signatures and Super Bowl Ring Team cards offer real diamonds.
Product Configuration: One pack per box, 12 cards per pack
Price Point: High-End Football Card
Target Audience: Hit Seekers, Autograph Collectors, Memorabilia Card Collectors, Football Card Collectors
Box Break
- Three Numbered Autographs
- Two Numbered Memorabilia Cards
- Four Numbered Inserts or Parallels
- Three Numbered Base, Rookie and/or Legends Cards
- 12 Total Cards
Product Highlights:
- Autographs numbered to 499 or less.
- Memorabilia Cards numbered to 299 or less.
- Inserts and Parallels numbered to 299 or less.
- Base, Rookie and Legend cards numbered to 299 or less.
- All 36 participants in the 2011 NFL Rookie Premiere have on-card autographs (/499 or less).
- Bullion Brand Logo Signatures (/5 or less) offer an autograph and gear logo.
- Double Standard Signatures (/99 or less).
- Golden Anniversary Material Signatures (/49).
- NFL Shield Signatures (/1).
- Each 15-box case has a card with an embedded piece of 14-karat gold that make a team, NFL or Hall of Fame logo.
- Both Super Bowl Ring Signatures (/10 or less) and Super Bowl Ring Team have diamonds embedded in them. In the case of the Ring Team cards, collectors get six diamonds.
Card Gallery: