Buzz Break: 2021 Historic Autographs Famous Americans set

From time to time, Buzz will break a box of something and post the results here. Like this and want to see more? Or maybe there's a box you'd want to see busted? Send Buzz an email at BlowoutBuzz@blowoutcards.com.

The box: 2021 Historic Autographs Famous Americans (factory set)
Where to buy: BlowoutCards.com
First Buzz preview: Click here (checklist is in gallery below)

Keep reading for a full breakdown and gallery of what was in this one.

Cards per set: 342
Base set completion: 
330 of 330 INSPIRE parallel set; other one is HISTORIC (both are /250)
Duplicates: 0

Notables on base cards – See gallery for a small sample from just the modern third of the set ... it includes a massive range of names from history, sports, pop culture, politics and more.

Insert cards: 12
Alloy (foilboard) parallels (8) – John Coltrane, Paul Newman, Sammy Davis Jr., Rocky Marciano, Linda Darnell, Mary McCarty, B.B. King, Jane Withers (/150)
Aurora (sparkly ribbon on foilboard) parallels (4) – Lizzie Borden, Lewis & Clark, Count Basie, Henry Wadsworth Longfellow (/25)

Autographs/Memorabilia: None in this format.

Rough-cut edges are heavy here ... see story for details.

What's Buzz-worthy: I liked what I saw in a recent blaster break of this one so I bit on this cheap factory set with the idea that I might have a card or two pop out of it with slab potential but this one ain't gonna cooperate on that front. Why? It looks like these were cut backs up, meaning the card fronts have rough edges where the cardboard gave up to the pressures of the blade and so that side has fraying. The backs, for the most part, are clean on the edges for most cards and the severity of the chipping here was at its worst on one third of the set (the reds, which have all of the newer pop culture nods I might slab). Did this happen on all sets? Maybe, maybe not ... I might try once more as these are very affordable and there is still a cleaner chase here with the parallels inside every set. (Some of those had rough back edges, some did not.) The base set in this box was an INSPIRE version (a clean watermarking gloss on the fronts says INSPIRE), while 250 other sets are HISTORIC and the volumes made on all cards here are noted on the card backs. (I don't recall that being on any cards in the blaster box.) ... As I noted during my other break, the checklist for this one is as huge as the variety of who's found inside and you can see a touch of that below. The company said it intends to make this more like a "living set" that adds more people to it over time -- and I like that. ... The blaster cards were very clean and I noted that in my past break -- so I was a little surprised by the bad cuts. I'll probably do one more just to see if it's not as bad on another. If they're clean, I'll probably grade a few of the cards here just to have a nice high-grade card of somebody who might not have a ton of cards.

Product Grade: A- (huge set with a ton of names from all around us ... without breaking the bank)
Box Grade: B+ (inserted parallels had some good names in this box but there are better ones to be found)
Fun Grade: D (the rough cuts were a huge bummer here since I'd want to grade)

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