Panini Blog The Panini America Quality Control Gallery: 2012-13 Marquee Basketball (144 Pics)

[Panini Blog]

I could spend the rest of the afternoon trying to describe with rosy descriptors just how cool and how different Panini America’s 2012-13 Marquee Basketball is. Luckily for you, I’m not going to do that. Instead, I’m going to spend the next five minutes or so doing that, and then letting the must-see Quality Control Gallery do the rest of the talking for me.

Even as NBA collectors across the country are falling head-over-heels in love with today’s release of 2012-13 Select Basketball, the Panini America Product Development team already has finished the QC process for Marquee, which releases April 10. To be sure, Marquee will offer a dramatically different collecting experience than Select does. After the jump, we’ll detail some of the primary differences.


For starters, there’s the unique Rookie Card content. Seventy of Marquee’s 80 rookies are featured on one of five distinctly different printing technologies, and each is produced in identical quantities. There’s the laser-cut “Rookie” version, the “white acetate” version, the “white leather” version, the “dark holofoil” version and, my personal favorite, the sweet, psychedelic “Swirlorama” version. For those counting at home, that’s five different Rookie Cards for each player. Ten additional rookies are featured on all of the technologies except white leather.

Then there’s the stacked insert content that features, among other niceties, the fantastical floating heads and holofoil of Election Night Signatures, the hardcourt simplicity of the Legends autographs and the smoky-cool aesthetic of the Rookie autographs. Of course, Marquee’s insert roster is also bolstered by more white leather (Rookie Rivals), laser cutting (All-Rookie), acetate (Champions) and “Swirlorama” (Slam Dunk Legends). Heck, even Marquee’s foilboard base cards are stunning to the eye.

In the massive gallery below we detail the many fascinating facets of 2012-13 Marquee Basketball, a true print-technology achievement sure to provide the most varied and diverse basketball collecting experience this season (not to mention 40 Rookie Cards and three autographs per box — and a pack price of $6).

Enjoy this extended first look and stay tuned to The Knight’s Lance for additional coverage of Marquee in the coming days. (Oh, and the stand used to showcase Marquee’s acetate cards in this gallery is a personal prop and is not included in the product.)

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