Genuine Diamonds, Emeralds Add Luster to 2012-13 Flawless Basketball Base Set

If you missed our world-premiere unveiling of the 2012-13 Flawless Basketball trailer earlier today, do yourself a favor and watch it — either now or after you’ve checked out the first of our must-see preview galleries below. To be sure, there’s an air of mystery surrounding the exact makeup of the most expensive trading card product in Panini America history and over the course of the next few days, we’ll begin replacing the intrigue with cold, hard facts and countless breathtaking images.

If you’ve seen the 2012-13 Flawless Basketball trailer, you know by now that the product comes packaged in 10-card metal briefcases. What you might not know, however, is that every one of those briefcases includes either a diamond-embedded base card numbered to 20, an emerald-embedded parallel numbered to five or a diamond-embedded parallel numbered to only one. Real diamonds. real emeralds. For real.

In the gallery that follows, we profile just some of the precious gems that make 2012-13 Flawless Basketball’s base set perhaps the most extravagant ever produced. Every diamond- or emerald-embedded base card is secured in a protective case before pack out.

Enjoy the gallery and stay tuned to The Knight’s Lance in the days ahead as we unveil details regarding the other nine cards in each 2012-13 Flawless Basketball briefcase.