Base-Set Variations Bring Chase, Intrigue to 2014-15 Gold Standard Basketball (Gallery)
One of the most interesting — but perhaps less-heralded — aspects of Panini America’s Gold Standard Basketball brand during its first four 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,…
Panini America Examines Second QC Case of 2014-15 Gold Standard Basketball (Gallery)
Panini America's annual distributor conference came to a successful, productive close yesterday afternoon after more than two days of meetings, presentations, camaraderie and spirited back-and-forth dialogue between Panini America officials and North America's top sports card distributors. Despite a bulging itinerary that left little room for downtime, Panini America's Basketball Product Development team took advantage of the captive audience by…
Panini America Offers Must-See Sneak Peek at 2014-15 Court Kings Basketball Retail
Retail-focused hoops collectors are in for an artistic treat the next time they hit the trading card section of their local mass merchandiser. In fact, many may have already experienced it depending on where in the country they're located. Panini America's retail edition of 2014-15 Court Kings Basketball has been shipped and is making its way to store shelves as…
Panini America Offers a Special Black Friday Preview of 2014-15 Prizm Basketball
Finally, 2014 Black Friday has arrived. While many Americans are packing malls and big-box mass merchandisers in search of great deals on holiday gifts, seemingly just as many collectors are descending upon their local hobby shops or iCollectPanini.com to get in on Panini America's Black Friday promotion. Indeed, the biggest shopping day of the year is full of seemingly endless…
Teaser Gallery: Panini America Cracks Early Boxes of 2014-15 Totally Certified Basketball
It promises to be a Totally Certified kind of week here at Panini America, what with 2014 Totally Certified Football releasing today and 2014-15 Totally Certified Basketball launching on Wednesday. Since collectors across North America have already started ripping 2014 Totally Certified Football, we're going to focus this Teaser Gallery on the 2014-15 Totally Certified Basketball. In the gallery that…
Panini America Provides Detailed First Look at 2014 Black Friday Promotion (Gallery)
It’s been called the most successful hobby shop promotion of all time by longtime industry experts. It's made hobby shops across North America bona fide post-Thanksgiving retail destinations. It's delivered some of the most unique and sought after trading cards in recent years. And late next month, it's making its triumphant return. News flash: Panini America's 2014 Black Friday promotion…
Panini America Breaks Boxes of Target-Only 2014-15 Prestige Basketball Plus (Gallery)
Yesterday here on The Knight's Lance we brought you the world-premiere first look at Panini America's new 2014-15 Prestige Basketball Premium, one of four new Prestige Basketball SKUs available only at Target stores beginning as early as this weekend. The $200 Premium edition is the highest-end of the four Prestige SKUs. Next up is the Plus edition ($65 SRP), with…
Shoe-In for Set of the Year: A Master Gallery of Immaculate Basketball’s Sneak Peek
The revolutionary Sneak Peek insert randomly inserted into Panini America's 2013-14 Immaculate Basketball has been one of the most talked-about insert sets in recent trading card history -- and for good reason. The idea of deconstructing some of the most spectacular game-worn sneakers in NBA history and incorporating them into trading cards is a shoo-in (no, make that "shoe-in") for…
Out of the Box: Panini America’s Sneak Peek Insert Gives Game-Worn Kicks a New Home
If the shoe fits, you don't always wear it. Sometimes when the shoe fits -- even barely -- you make history with it. And when the shoes that barely fit also happen to have been worn by iconic NBA superstars in a game, well, you create something the likes of which card collectors have never seen -- and you shout…
It’s Gotta Be the Shoes: Sneak a Peek Inside Panini America’s Immaculate Basketball
Back in the late 1980s, Spike Lee helped Nike put Air Jordans on the mainstream map with his entertaining portrayal of Mars Blackmon, a hype man of the highest order who contended in a series of now-classic commercials that the greatness of Chicago's otherworldly basketball superstar could be attributed to one thing: "It's gotta be the shoes." Truth be told, there…