Panini America Goes Back to Cali, Catches Up with Kobe Bryant and His Autographs

Good things tend to happen for collectors when Panini America Memorabilia Business Manager Brian Bayne takes a trip. And Bayne just returned this morning from a whirlwind weekend in Los Angeles.

While there, Bayne rubbed elbows with superstar company spokesman Kobe Bryant and then took in last night’s stirring Drew League-Goodman League basketball game featuring fellow Panini America exclusive athletes Kevin Durant, John Wall and Derrick Williams.

Later this week we’ll profile a few huge breaking Panini Authentic developments stemming from the basketball game, during which Wall and Durant combined for 105 points. But for now, we’ll focus on the quality time Bayne spent with Kobe over the weekend.

You can see the fruits of Bayne’s and Kobe’s work in the gallery below, which details just some of the cards Kobe signed. The session turned out to be rather historic, as Kobe signed every last one of his outstanding autographs. All that remains now are three cards from 2009-10 Donruss Elite Basketball and one from 2010-11 National Treasures — all four of which are in the process of being remade as we speak.

Once those are completed, Bayne will likely be on another plane headed for California. But like we said, good things happen for collectors when Bayne travels.