Base-Set Variations Bring Chase, Intrigue to 2012-13 Gold Standard Basketball

One of the most interesting -- but perhaps less-heralded -- aspects of Panini America's Gold Standard Basketball brand during its first three years in existence has been the inclusion of veteran base-set variations that have created feeding frenzies for the rarest versions among impacted player collectors. The phenomenon began with that inaugural 2010-11 Gold Standard Basketball release and featured Pete Maravich, Patrick Ewing and Dennis Rodman.

Panini America 2012-13 Gold Standard Basketball Main

One of the most interesting — but perhaps less-heralded — aspects of Panini America’s Gold Standard Basketball brand during its first three years in existence has been the inclusion of veteran base-set variations that have created feeding frenzies for the rarest versions among impacted player collectors. The phenomenon began with that inaugural 2010-11 Gold Standard Basketball release and featured Pete Maravich, Patrick Ewing and Dennis Rodman.

The brand followed suit last year by releasing variations for six new legends, including Shaquille O’Neal, Gary Payton and Dikembe Mutombo. For the recently released 2012-13 Gold Standard Basketball, Panini America officials added seven new well-traveled stars to the variation game: Anfernee HardawayGrant Hill, Shawn KempJason Kidd, Steve Nash and Rasheed Wallace.

More than just providing compelling — and sometimes downright devilish — chases for player and set collectors, these Gold Standard SPs have become something of a delightful nomad’s land; a one-stop photographic summation of the featured player’s globetrotting NBA ways. Wallace, for example, is featured on six different variations in 2012-13 Gold Standard Basketball, one chronicling each of his career stops at Washington, Portland, Atlanta, Detroit, Boston and New York.

We’ve provided a complete visual guide to this year’s variations in the gallery below. One thing to note about the print runs of this year’s SPs: Each player appears on 349 total cards, regardless of how many variations he has. The quantity of each variation is tied to his tenure with a particular team. The shorter his career in one place, the rarer that team’s variation is.

Make sense?

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0 Replies to “Base-Set Variations Bring Chase, Intrigue to 2012-13 Gold Standard Basketball”

  1. Thanks for clarifying this!
    So Grant Hill Clippers would be a rare card!
    Thanks Tracy and this is definitely an awesome idea!

  2. The variations are a cool twist. Maravich would have been neat. Hope to see you guys at the National on Sat.

  3. You should add Jim Jackson, Tony Massenburg, Chucky Brown and Joe Smith to nex years checklist, it would be hard to collect all of the variations of these players 😀

  4. So no exact print run available?

    sheed played for 16 seasons.means ,since there are 349 cards, that there are about 22 cards for each season.

    he played 1 season each for the Celtics,bullets and Knicks.means there are about 22 cards for each team.Atlanta was only one game so that could be a 1/1 which would be cool ( can you confirm this maybe? ), Portland were 8 seasons which means there are about 176 cards and Detroit were 5 seasons which would be about 110 cards.

    makes sense,right?

  5. Why did I know gotsheed? would be on here? I think the lesser variations shouldn’t be so rare as 1/1 so that a few people can own them and good luck to all of them!

  6. Nice way to add an additional chase to the product, hopefully people busting these will pay a little more attention to the base cards now instead of cruising straight to the hits. Thanks Tracy!

  7. In Grant Hill case – 349 is the total of this cards (Clippers, Suns, Magic, Pistons)? or maybe 349 in Clippers and 349 in Suns, Magic, Pistons? If the first – then Clippers should be rarest version. Can anybody confirm it?

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