By Chris Olds | Beckett Basketball Editor

Panini America‘s first NBA product of the 2011-12 card season is nearing completion — and one of the most important stages for one card type to be found has been completed.

The autographs — rather, the on-card autographs — and they can be found in 2011 Preferred.

One of the high-end product’s sets, Silhouettes, carry rather striking signed prime patch cards and they are one of the sets found in the product, which is comprised of cards echoing three past products in the company’s portfolio — Panini’s Choice (a nod to Cramer’s Choice from the Pacific days), Crown Royale Silhouettes and Donruss Signatures. In fact, it’s a “three-brand” product without “base” cards at all as every card in the set is autographed except for a selection of booklet cards.

Now set to arrive on March 21, this $200-per-pack product will include three autographed cards and one six- or eight-piece booklet card in every pack.

All autographs will be limited to 99 or fewer copies.

Chris Olds is the editor of Beckett Basketball magazine. Have a comment, question or idea? Send an email to him at colds@beckett.com. Follow him on Twitter by clicking here.

Join Beckett Basketball’s Chris Olds and Rob Springs as they rip into a pair of 2011 Upper Deck All-time Greats Basketball boxes in this latest episode of Box Busters.

What will they find inside? Watch and find out …