Tomorrow, 2010 SP Authentic goes live officially, and a small handful of auctions have already popped up on eBay. This is Upper Deck’s first attempt at an NCAA based SPA, and so far I really like the looks of the cards – at least the ones on the sell sheet. Its kind of a bittersweet go live because of my past connection with its NFL licensed brothers from previous years. I think the lines and composition of the patch cards seem to be top notch, regardless of a lack of NFL license. After seeing the absolute shit that National Treasures is bringing this year, who is to say that an extremely limited case run of SPA wont generate some buzz?
Regardless of the way the cards are produced, people have already weighed in with strong opinions of the cards that have surfaced. Many of the opinions contain some hardcore complaints stemming from the size of the patch window, something that makes no sense to me with non-game used swatches. Because many collectors still value these barely-player-touched jerseys, even to the point of buying them without autographs, it may matter to them, but not me. The swatch could be even smaller, and my list of opinions would not bear mention of them.
I think this set will have a similar response as SPX, with more buy in from the hobby due to the hard signed autographs. From what I can tell, this release still takes the SPA brand to heart, minus its NFL roots. That little part of the equation is huge for someone like me, and has really forced me out of this product. Its unfortunate, because I really think this would have been a TREMENDOUS NFL licensed release.
Here is what is up so far:
Rob Gronkowski Rookie Patch Auto /499 – Not a fan of the photo UD used or the seller used, but I don’t think this will be representative of the rest of the RPAs
Joe Haden Rookie Auto /599 – I like this one, though I cant tell if its on card or sticker.
Armanti Edwards Patch Auto /499
James Laurinaitis Sign of the Times Auto
Dexter McCluster Rookie Auto Patch /499
Ben Tate Super Swatch Auto /25
With the way SPA turns out, should be interesting to see how Exquisite’s final product will look.
Looks like a pretty solid set. And the Haden is on-card
No doubt I will open a couple. But I sure do hope that the patches get better than that Gronk.
Could the swatches get any smaller?