Panini America reveals Kobe Bryant auto redemption plan

The untimely death of NBA great Kobe Bryant earlier this year left many collectors wondering what might happen with Panini America autograph redemptions that were still in the works.

Today, Panini revealed its plans -- a mix of fulfillments where possible and then comparable replacement autos as well as a special set and some new Bryant-inspired Mosaic parallel cards for cases where collectors simply won't be able to get an autograph that Bryant had committed to sign before he died.

Panini's full statement is below. 

"It’s been more than nine months since the tragic and untimely passing of Los Angeles Lakers legend Kobe Bryant. Even now, fans across the globe — including all of us inside Panini America — are struggling to comprehend and cope with the loss. Panini America’s internal process of developing a detailed plan for addressing those fans and collectors with outstanding Bryant autograph redemptions has been completed.

"It’s been a difficult and somewhat unprecedented situation in the hobby, because for many of those outstanding redemptions, they will unfortunately never be signed.‎

"For those situations where live Bryant autographs are available, and beginning this week, Panini America will send Bryant autographs to waiting collectors with existing and active redemption cards in the system. Best efforts will be made to honor the exact redemption, but unfortunately there will be instances in which comparable Bryant autographs will be sent instead.

"In view of these circumstances, expired redemptions are not subject to redemption. For those collectors who entered expired Bryant redemption cards after the expiration date, they will be given 50 percent of current Beckett value in Panini Rewards points.

"To address customers who have Bryant autograph redemptions in the system but will not be receiving them because there are none remaining, Panini America has created special six-card Kobe Bryant Redemption Packs incorporating five exclusive parallels from the 2019-20 Mosaic Basketball set (featuring current NBA stars and rookies such as Luka Doncic, Steph Curry, Zion Williamson, Ja Morant, Tyler Herro and more) but featuring exclusive Purple Snakeskin (/24), Purple & Gold Snakeskin (/20), Gold Snakeskin (/8) and Black Snakeskin (1/1) parallels.

"The sixth card in these packs will be from a new commemorative 48-card Kobe Career Highlights subset (printed on Optichrome) honoring the top moments from his career. The Kobe Career Highlights set will feature a Purple base level (/24), a Purple & Gold parallel (/20), a Gold parallel (/8), a Black 1/1 parallel and a special Snakeskin Gold version  (/10).

"Kobe Bryant Redemption Packs likely will begin shipping in early December. Panini America is proud to be able to deliver the Kobe Bryant Redemption Packs which will honor the career, life and legacy of Kobe Bryant."

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