Buzz Break: 2012 Panini Americana (100-pack lot)

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The box: 2012 Panini Americana Heroes & Legends trading cards (100-pack lot)
Where to buy: BlowoutCards.com (this lot and other options)

Cards per pack: 8
Cards in this lot: 800
Base set completion: 
125 of 125 (100 percent)
Duplicates: Yes -- between one and 11 extra copies per card (only one set in this particular lot)

Notables on base cards – George Washington, Thomas Jefferson, Abraham Lincoln, Theodore Roosevelt, John F. Kennedy, Jimmy Carter, Ronald Reagan, George Bush, Bill Clinton, George W. Bush, Abby Wambach, Alex Morgan, Barbara Bush, Kerri Strug, Carly Patterson, Lisa Fernandez, Cat Osterman, Bruce Jenner, Dan Gable, Hope Solo, Jacqueline Kennedy Onassis, Sally Ride, Scott Carpenter and many more

Insert/short-print cards: 57 (all inserts in gallery below)
Silver Proofs (3) – George Washington, Kerri Strug, Rachel Buehler (/50)
Astronauts (8) – Alan Bean, Barbara Morgan, Eileen Collins, Gene Kranz, Jack Lousma, Kathryn Thornton, Robert Crippen, Scott Carpenter
Military Elite (5) – Shade Lee, Charles McGee, Herbert Carter, Roscoe Draper (2)
U.S. Women's Soccer (9) – Heather Mitts, Christie Rampone, Jill Loyden, Kelley O'Hara, Nicole Barnhart, Lauren Cheney (2), Amy Rodriguez (2)
U.S. Women's Soccer Teammates (16) – Carli Lloyd & Megan Rapinoe, Abby Wambach & Heather Mitts (3), Pia Sundage & Becky Sauerbrunn, Amy Rodriguez & Jill Loyden, Christie Rampone & Lori Lindsey, Heather O'Reilly & Sydney Leroux (3), Amy LePeilbet & Kelley O'Hara (2), Stephanie Cox & Tobin Heath (3), Lauren Cheney & Rachel Buehler
Olympics (16) – Jim Thorpe, Dick Fosbury, Bob Beamon, Bruce Baumgartner, Carly Patterson, Frank Shorter, Gary Hall Sr., Greg Louganis, Katie Hoff, Tommie Smith, Dan Jansen, Billy Mills (2), Cat Osterman (3)

Autographs/Memorabilia: 2
Olympics Materials (1) – Frank Shorter (/205)
Elite Materials (1) – Roscoe Draper (/499)

What's Buzz-worthy: This isn't my favorite of the past Americana sets -- in fact, it might be near the bottom of the list since soccer and presidents aren't my thing -- but at less than $20 for 100 packs it's definitely worth the rip for its potential. There are some huge potential finds here on the hobby side -- check out the asking prices on autos from this set -- but ink isn't as easily found in these retail packs. (Boxes indicate autos are possible but the wrappers don't offer particulars.) You're mostly looking at rarer parallels, inserts and memorabilia cards here -- and this one might have delivered lightly compared to other lots on that front. If you land the right name on a parallel or hit or two you're probably ahead at this price. The product is basically built from these groups -- past presidents (they're all in there), notable military veterans such as the Tuskegee Airmen, Astronauts and other NASA notables, a heavy presence for the U.S. women's soccer team and other notable Olympians from the past. The hobby wax for this one has largely dried up but the notable soccer stars here have powered interest. Even their base cards have sold -- team set lots in bulk -- for more than you might think for this one. Astronauts also have a decent collecting base as do politicians and others off the typical collector radars. The memorabilia cards here also have parallels, which can add to the demand for names that, again, you might not expect to hold as much value. Meanwhile a number of people in this set don't have any other autographs or memorabilia cards -- or even base cards -- that will help the potential interest, too. This one is pretty low-risk with decent reward potential at roughly five packs for $1 -- the original price was $2.99 a pack. Blaster boxes typically deliver a hit every time so you could play it safe that way and the 24-pack retail boxes deliver two, but these huge lots make for some good ripping. This particular lot delivered as many as 12 copies of some cards and as few as one for some cards, so there was just one set built from this group, but that's probably just how this particular mix broke down. There are a lot of names among the soccer sets we didn't find, either, meaning your lot definitely could deliver even better than this one did.

Product Grade: B
Lot Grade: A-
Fun Grade: B+

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