First Look: 2014-15 Panini Gold Standard Basketball
By Stephen Laroche | Beckett Basketball Editor
It’s back – and it looks like it might be even better than ever.
Preliminary details about 2014-15 Panini Gold Standard were released today and basketball collectors are in for a treat with all of the improvements that Panini America has implemented this season.
Releasing on January 21, each pack of Gold Standard will contain 10 cards and five of those will be either autographs or memorabilia cards. At least four of those cards will feature autographs, which means that this product has the potential to deliver some serious value on a consistent basis. One of the four signed cards will be an Autographed Rookie Jersey and for the first time, every card in the product is serial-numbered – a move that will satisfy many collectors.
What else can be found inside of these premium packs? Find out after the jump.
The excitement continues with a 200-card base set that will be augmented with 33 Autographed Rookie Jersey subset cards and additional variations that the brand is known for along with the all-new classic team and photo variants. It should be noted that the base set will have two different parallels while the Autographed Rookie Jerseys will have eight different parallels to collect with varying amounts of swatches and even a one-of-one Laundry Tag version.
Panini has noted that there will also be more prime memorabilia content in packs than in previous years and the program is highlighted by collector favorites such as Black Gold and White Gold Threads, but there will be all-new sets such as Newly Minted Memorabilia to track down.
Autograph content is impressive in Gold Standard with such hard-signed collections as the foil-etched AU (#’d to 79) and 14K Autographs. There will also be Good As Gold which add a compelling swatch of memorabilia along with a player’s signature and have Prime and Platinum parallels.
One of the most intriguing aspects of Gold Standard, however, are the non-memorabilia inserts. Two sets were teased, including the one-of-one Solid Gold cards which are printed on real gold! For rookie collectors looking for something remarkable, there will be Freshly Minted (#’d to 20) which have an embedded gold disc.
Stephen Laroche is the editor of Beckett Basketball and Beckett Hockey magazines. Have a comment, question or idea? Send an e-mail to him at slaroche@beckett.com. Follow him on Twitter @Stephen_Laroche.
