The Panini America Quality Control Gallery: 2011 Donruss Limited Cuts (33 Images)

Panini America Product Development Director Ben Ecklar stopped me in the hall this morning with his iPhone in hand and let his fingers do the talking as he swiped his way to his phone’s photo inventory. He then handed the phone to me and asked if I’d be interested in using any of “those images.”

Those images, it should be noted, were taken by Ecklar on Monday and Tuesday during his trip to the printing facility to pack out and QC the heavily anticipated 2011 Donruss Limited Cuts, the cut-autograph-per-pack blockbuster that began shipping today.

It took me all of about two minutes — maybe less — to drag those images to my desktop and begin preparing the following gallery. As you’ll soon see, 2011 Donruss Limited Cuts appears to be a truly epic offering with a high ceiling and tons of handwritten history that spans the worlds of sports, entertainment, politics and pop culture.

I could go on and on about the set’s checklist or its dual- and quad-signed cornerstones, but figured it would probably be best just to let Ecklar’s images tell the story for me.

Enjoy.