Panini America Personal Collection Spotlight: Hunter Reed’s Gridiron Gems

I got an email from Chicago collector Hunter Reed a week before Christmas week inquiring about the breakdown of the home and away jersey pieces featured in the 2010 Gridiron Gear Gridiron Gems set. A brief email exchange later, I discovered I was dealing with nothing less than one of the preeminent Gridiron Gems super collectors on the planet.

I got an email from Chicago collector Hunter Reed a week before Christmas week inquiring about the breakdown of the home and away jersey pieces featured in the 2010 Gridiron Gear Gridiron Gems set. A brief email exchange later, I discovered I was dealing with nothing less than one of the preeminent Gridiron Gems super collectors on the planet.

As a result, Reed’s also the perfect choice to help The Knight’s Lance kick off the Panini America Personal Collection Spotlight, a recurring series showcasing the world’s finest collectors of Panini America products.

If you or a collector you know is as crazy passionate as Reed about a Panini America set or insert, please let us know via email at [email protected].  Until then, enjoy this tale of how Reed become a true Gridiron Gems guru, in his own words and pictures.

Panini America Personal Collection Spotlight
Who: Hunter Reed, Chicago
What: Gridiron Gems

I started collecting when I was 14 in 2000. For my birthday, my brother, his best friend and my dad took me to a sports card show and I was lucky enough to pull an autographed card of Olandis Gary. Ever since that moment, I’ve been addicted to cards. I would always bust random boxes but never really collected anything in particular until 2001, when I saw the preview for 2001 Playoff Honors and first laid eyes on the Hidden Gems set.

I don’t know what it was about the cards, but the giant slide-out autographed jersey was the coolest thing I’d ever seen. I probably bought around 10 boxes of 2001 Playoff Honors just hoping to pull one of them. Finally, on Easter that year, I pulled a Leonard Davis Hidden Gems.  Flash forward to 2004: My car broke down on me so I ended up selling my collection to pay for a new one, but I made sure to hang on to that Leonard Davis card. Almost a year later I landed my first full-time job and was making good money, and I decided that the only cards I ever really liked were the Hidden Gems. So I set out to become a super collector of them.

My favorite year of Gridiron Gems is probably 2006. It was the first time that the company nailed the design and quality of cards perfectly. Before, the set was so unique but there didn’t seem to be an idea of how the make them just right. In 2006 the company switched to a jumbo cutout window so you can actually see the autograph and the improved overall design helped to better protect the actual cards. My favorite card is probably the Roddy White from 2005. There’s just something about the black jersey swatch with a silver autograph on that card design that really pops.

My favorite story regarding collecting the Gridiron Gems happened about a year or so ago. There was another Gridiron Gems collector who decided to dump his collection on eBay, so in a span of a week I was able to pick up about 37 different cards that I needed for various sets. Out of the 70 or so cards he was dumping, I was able to get every card he had that I needed with the exception of five. I made sure to get the tracking info once they were mailed and then I took the day off of work just to be sure I would be home when UPS dropped off my package! I was like a kid in a candy store opening up that package and sliding out each jersey swatch to admire the autographs.

As it stands right now I’m missing just two cards from the 2001 set (Chris Chambers and Rudi Johnson; I just got the Chris Weinke for Christmas), three from 2002 (David Carr, Julius Peppers, Roy Williams), one card from 2003 (Dallas Clark), three cards from 2004 (Ben Roethlisberger, Devard Darling, Darius Watts; I actually just won the Kevin Jones card last week) and two cards from 2005 (Cadillac Williams, Braylon Edwards). I have complete sets from 2006, 2007, 2008 and 2009 and I’m already more than half way done with the 2010 set!

I know the highlight of my collecting life will be when I finally finish the flagship 2001 set. Since the set is so old and I’m missing so few cards, any time I’m able to find one I’m missing it truly feels like an accomplishment.

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6 Replies to “Panini America Personal Collection Spotlight: Hunter Reed’s Gridiron Gems”

  1. I too believe these are some of the best rookie auto cards to come out every year as they bring something unique to the hobby. I only have Michael Vick, Larry Fitzgerald and Ben Tate though.

    1. Hi,
      I’m the guy this article was about, thanks again Tracy! I just wanted to answer Brian’s question, the jersey swatch were event used up until 2006 and then they were just manufactured jerseys. At least, until 2006 it always said event used jersey swatch on the cards and every year after that it would just have wording about the autograph being authenticate and never mentions the jersey being event used.

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