30 Day Baseball Card Challenge

Monday, April 25, 2011

Sticker Autographs Rule!


Okay... maybe I'm getting a little carried away. I'll rephrase that.

This 2010/11 Crown Royale "Scratching the Surface" autograph rules!

In fact, this card looks so awesome... that Beckett has listed these as "on-card" autographs. Personally, I think Panini just did an amazing job of blending a sticker autograph into the design of their card. Sure, there's still the fact that the player never actually held the card... but I definitely think they took a huge step in the right direction.

Actually... the process is quite simple. They printed stickers that look like hockey rinks and had The Big Pavelski sign them. Then, they embedded the sticker into a card with a "shadow box" sort of effect, so it hides the edges of the stickers.

Leonardo de Vinci once said, "Simplicity is the ultimate sophistication". Although I wouldn't say this is always true... it seems to fit this particular situation.

Kudos to Panini. If you're going to continue using sticker autographs... then at least you're headed in the right direction. Heck... you tricked Beckett into thinking they're on-card.

And... if by chance... they actually are on-card... which I'm 99% positive they're not... then take my brilliant idea (which is really quite simple) and get to work. Ugly sticker autos have flooded our hobby for over 10 years... it's time to end this disease...and you're holding onto the vaccine.

Shoot... maybe one day... you'll actually start hearing collectors say "sticker autographs rule!".

Have a happy Monday... Sayonara!

6 comments:

Spankee said...

wow, that card is awesome.

Hackenbush said...

If they are stickers at least they have value added in that they are team specific and more interesting looking than a silver band-aid.

Feather Chucker said...

When I first started looking at cards again it seems like Panini was considered trash. Your recent reviews and cards have made me wonder what gave people this impression. Is it just the rumor mill making Panini sound like the crappy brand in the card world?

Fuji said...

spankee - thanks... i'm probably going to chase a few of these down

hackenbush - yeah... i forgot to mention the sharks logo on them and they're 100x better than the silver band-aid and 50x better than the clear ones

kev2380 - it the scheme of things, panini is actually my least favorite manufacturer. i love UD's designs and the tradition of topps... but it is what it is... and panini definitely has something with these.

Charles @ Hoopography said...

Those are sweet. I need a Sabres one!!!

Fuji said...

charles - looks like the sabres have three players in the checklist: miller, vanek, and gerbe

i tried to find them on ebay for you... but didn't see any available. they had a bunch of other guys though. best of luck!