What: 2021 Panini National Treasures football cards
Arrives: May 4
Box basics: Three autographs and three memorabilia cards per eight-card box (four boxes per case)
Order: Click here (live soon)

What's buzz-worthy: National Treasures hits the gridiron once again with a new crop of Rookie Cards, plenty of hits and added color that may not have been the norm in past releases.

Keep reading for more as well as a full gallery of images.

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From time to time, Buzz will break a box of something and break down 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 Panini Playoff football cards (jumbo pack)
Where to buy: BlowoutCards.com (for hobby)

Keep reading for a full breakdown and gallery of the highlights from this one.

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The Blowout Cards Forums are where thousands of collectors converge daily to discuss, well, a little bit of everything. Here are a few threads about collecting and more that you should check out right now.

What's Buzzing: Tom Brady is back, Amari Cooper has a new QB, Scott Hall, Wander Franco in 2022 Topps Heritage and more in today's edition.

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The Blowout Cards Forums are where thousands of collectors converge daily to discuss, well, a little bit of everything. Here are a few threads about collecting and more that you should check out right now.

What's Buzzing: Topps Heritage breaks and chatter, NBA chatter, slow-arriving NFL cardboard, Jackie Robinson vs. Mickey Mantle, NFL chatter and ... where's Freddie Freeman headed?

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The Blowout Cards Forums are where thousands of collectors converge daily to discuss, well, a little bit of everything. Here are a few threads about collecting and more that you should check out right now.

What's Buzzing: Heritage is here, Carson Wentz, Deshaun Watson, some thoughts, holograms and waiting on WrestleMania.

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The Blowout Cards Forums are where thousands of collectors converge daily to discuss, well, a little bit of everything. Here are a few threads about collecting and more that you should check out right now.

What's Buzzing: Carlos Rodon sees Batman, 2022 Topps Heritage, new breaks, a must-see thread and collectors have some thoughts about something revealed yesterday.

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The Blowout Cards Forums are where thousands of collectors converge daily to discuss, well, a little bit of everything. Here are a few threads about collecting and more that you should check out right now.

What's Buzzing: Calvin Ridley, Derek Carr, Aaron Rodgers, big pulls, retail surprises and the MLB lockout are all on minds today.

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From time to time, Buzz will break a box of something and break down 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 Panini Playoff football cards (jumbo pack)
Where to buy: BlowoutCards.com (for hobby)

Keep reading for a full breakdown and gallery of the highlights from this one.

Continue reading →

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 Panini Mosaic NFL (hanger)
First Buzz preview & checklist: Click here
Where to buy: BlowoutCards.com (a few formats)

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

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The Blowout Cards Forums are where thousands of collectors converge daily to discuss, well, a little bit of everything. Here are a few threads about collecting and more that you should check out right now.

What's Buzzing: Mickey Mantle Topps NFT sale goes big, checking in on the MLB lockout and more in this Friday-afternoon edition.

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What: 2022 TRISTAR Hidden Treasures Game Day Greats Football Jerseys
Arrives: April 15
Box basics: One autographed football jersey per box (five boxes per case)
Order: Click here (live soon)

What's buzz-worthy: TRISTAR's Hidden Treasures line takes the field for 2022 with it familiar format from the past but with some new stars (past and present) included here once again.

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The Blowout Cards Forums are where thousands of collectors converge daily to discuss, well, a little bit of everything. Here are a few threads about collecting and more that you should check out right now.

What's Buzzing: MLB lockout chatter and potential card fallout, Mac Jones vs. Trevor Lawrence, new pulls, Star Wars cards and more.

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What: 2021 Panini Encased football cards
Arrives: April 13
Box basics: One graded on-card auto, one other auto and two memorabilia cards per five-card box (eight boxes per case)
Order: Click here (live soon)

What's buzz-worthy: Encased drops for a sixth season with the same familiar format but with the new crop of top rookies and plenty of star power in a high-end release.

Keep reading for more info and a full gallery.

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Like many collectors, Buzz is a fan of grading and knows that there are many reasons that collectors choose to slab cards. Sometimes it's to enhance the appeal and protect them when selling. Other times it's to protect an investment for the long-term or to protect for sentimental reasons. Or, it might be just for fun or curiosity about a potential grade.

Here's this month's grading diary here on The Buzz ... another super-sized edition with some new inclusions like comic books and magazines.

FRESH OFF THE TRUCK
The Book: Captain Britain No. 1 (1976 Marvel UK magazine, with mask) -- first appearance of the character
The Reason Graded: This one arrived back in my hands from CGC on Sunday, so I'll have it lead off here as it's as fresh as it gets in my stash of slabs -- and it actually presents a question for people familiar with pressing. (Help a newb out!) First, the back story ... I picked this up probably 30 years ago via Mile High Comics for more than I would have normally spent back then -- probably around $20 -- for a NM-MT copy. For all these years, it was in its magazine bag with one of their old round condition stickers still attached before I recently decided to dig it out for slabbing. Why? It's obscure -- it's a newsprint-style, magazine-size book released only in the UK -- and it's pricey when it's in elite grade. (We'll get to that.) This debuting character is one that had evolved a lot by the time I had gotten into comics (around 1990) and he was the leader of the British X-Men group, Excalibur, which launched as a standalone title in 1988. As part of collecting key issues and artist favorites back then, I tracked down this debut that was mentioned on the back of his 1990 Impel Marvel Universe card. (That set is what drew me into comics.) I knew this copy wasn't perfect, but it was close and I figured it was best to get it slabbed despite some paper-texture funk (the vertical black lines in white areas around the nameplate and corner box). I assumed some of that might lighten up as part of CGC's pressing/cleaning process. If it helped at all, I had figured it might get it closer to one of those top grades.
The Grade: CGC 9.4 (Universal)

Click for a closer look

Reality Check: This one checked in lower than I had hoped for as I had thought a 9.6 might be realistic -- but the only dramatic difference here vs. higher marks is the dollar signs and probably some of that funk. (My back cover wasn't as clean as I remembered so my gut feeling may be moot.) A 9.8 copy of this has topped $5,000 on eBay while ones in my condition have been around $1,500 ... so it's still a good slab. (I'm sitting on it like everything else in my stash.) ... Here's where I can use some help from the pressers/slabbers out there, though. It seems like pressing may have actually added to the funk or emphasized it in spots. Some of the white areas definitely have more of that showing now, not less, particularly around the right side of the No. 1 box and the "free inside" mask circle where there's plenty of white paper. It's absolutely the same book (minor pulp spots are there as they were when I sent it) but I was surprised by the paper texture seemingly being emphasized (or not as clean) after pressing. (Click on the image above right -- ignore the color difference as that is likely due to my photography skills.) You can see more dark spots/texture of the paper visible -- perhaps it's from ink on the inside page showing through? I assume I'm not the first to press one of these -- or that they wouldn't press these if it would make its condition worse. I didn't have this on my mental list of outcomes, and naturally, I wondered whether this dropped me a grade and it will always bug me now. Perhaps this happened because the cover is newsprint and not white paper? The time it takes for pressing has had me not doing that on nearly all other submissions but this one -- my first sub I had pressed -- left me wondering if it helped at all. (If I could do this one all over again ... I would not have.) By the way, the color you see peeking out the right side? That's a perfect mask tucked inside the issue just like the cover promises from almost 50 years ago. All in all, I'm glad I graded this one and I think it's the priciest comic book in my stash ... but it definitely prompted some questions.

Keep reading for more of this month's pick-ups and new slabs for Buzz.

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The Blowout Cards Forums are where thousands of collectors converge daily to discuss, well, a little bit of everything. Here are a few threads about collecting and more that you should check out right now.

What's Buzzing: Wander Franco, Joel Embiid, big pulls and "What happens to the baseball card market if there is no season?"

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The Blowout Cards Forums are where thousands of collectors converge daily to discuss, well, a little bit of everything. Here are a few threads about collecting and more that you should check out right now.

What's Buzzing: New releases, new breaks, new pulls, showing off color-match cards and pondering the NFL's most-athletic player.

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The Blowout Cards Forums are where thousands of collectors converge daily to discuss, well, a little bit of everything. Here are a few threads about collecting and more that you should check out right now.

What's Buzzing: MLB Mount Rushmores, new pulls, NBA chatter, the 10 most-collectable NFL players ever and more.

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The Blowout Cards Forums are where thousands of collectors converge daily to discuss, well, a little bit of everything. Here are a few threads about collecting and more that you should check out right now.

What's Buzzing: Big pulls, NFL chatter, storing sets, pondering NBA at 75 cardboard and ... Michael Jordan or LeBron James?

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The Blowout Cards Forums are where thousands of collectors converge daily to discuss, well, a little bit of everything. Here are a few threads about collecting and more that you should check out right now.

What's Buzzing: New breaks take center stage today along with an NBA thread worth a look, the MLB lockout and Juwan Howard.

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The Blowout Cards Forums are where thousands of collectors converge daily to discuss, well, a little bit of everything. Here are a few threads about collecting and more that you should check out right now.

What's Buzzing: Wander Franco, 2022 Topps chatter and pulls, NBA All-Star Weekend, pondering National trips and if you could rip five NFL boxes, what would they be?

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What: 2021 Panini One football cards
Arrives: March 30
Box basics: One encased on-card autograph per box (20 boxes per case)
Order: Click here (live soon)

What's buzz-worthy: One is back for the gridiron with it's all-in-one approach in every box -- a one-card box with a new crop of rookies, plenty of legendary players from the past and present and more potentially inside.

Keep reading for more and a full gallery of images.

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The Blowout Cards Forums are where thousands of collectors converge daily to discuss, well, a little bit of everything. Here are a few threads about collecting and more that you should check out right now.

What's Buzzing: NBA chatter, eBay's authenticity service, Wander Franco's Rookie Card, two big fish that got away, Aaron Donald and is Cody Rhodes really done with AEW?

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The Blowout Cards Forums are where thousands of collectors converge daily to discuss, well, a little bit of everything. Here are a few threads about collecting and more that you should check out right now.

What's Buzzing: Cooper Kupp caps a career year with Super Bowl MVP, Matthew Stafford cards, Joe Burrow and more.

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The Blowout Cards Forums are where thousands of collectors converge daily to discuss, well, a little bit of everything. Here are a few threads about collecting and more that you should check out right now.

What's Buzzing: Super Bowl picks, new pulls, showing off Matthew Stafford cards, pondering the MVP, a football breaks and more.

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The Blowout Cards Forums are where thousands of collectors converge daily to discuss, well, a little bit of everything. Here are a few threads about collecting and more that you should check out right now.

What's Buzzing: Super Bowl picks, new pulls, a football breaks marathon and more in today's edition.

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