With each of the last two years of Five Star football, the most sought after cards in the product are easily the “Quotable” inscription cards. These cards include a standard on card signature, but also includes a secondary inscription that usually makes the card extremely special and unique. The Five Star Quotable inscription of Adrian Peterson that I own is, by far, my favorite card in my PC – even over the NFL logo auto 1/1 I also own. I absolutely love these cards, as the people at Topps have proven to know which inscriptions to pursue, as well as how to make them special.
They have been known to sell for crazy money, and that looks to be the case again this year:
2012 Five Star Bryce Harper Inscription Auto
2012 Five Star Buster Posey Inscription Auto
2012 Five Star Will Clark Inscription Auto
2012 Topps Five Star Prince Fielder Inscription Auto
2012 Topps Five Star Yu Darvish Inscription Auto
2012 Topps Five Star Carlton Fisk Inscription Auto
Baseball has had inscription cards before, with Panini offering a few last year, and Upper Deck offering their fair share over the course of their license with MLB. However, I stand by the simplicity and beauty of the Topps Five star design, providing a huge space for each player to write what they need to. I think that this set, like in football, has a focus on autograph content over relic content. The players are provided huge signing areas in every card in the set, and this is the main reason why the inscription cards are so cool.
Im sure that there will be people that are unhappy with Five Star, whether its the checklist, the relics or the condition of the cards, but I am not one of them. With such a high end look to the cards, plus unique content like this product has been told to have, I am in love. Its rare that a baseball product like this elicits a response of this kind from me, but I cant argue with the results. They are just too damn pretty.
I am sure you wouldn’t be so “in love” if you happened to buy one of the many boxes I have seen busted on the internet so far. From what I saw, there are no patches, no 1/1s, very few big names, the packaging is awful, the cards chipped, but you have plenty of redemptions “to feast on”.
I am revaluating triple threads after the mess I saw so far, and museum looks a much better product at half the price of this thing, and I am sure if this product was called “Panini five star”, you would have already smashed it.
You mentioned some very valid points – if they were the things that mattered to me.
There are three things that matter to me in a product, and I judge everything based on them. I dont bust boxes like other do, so I judge based on the cards themselves:
1. Design and look
2. Autograph content and whether it is hard signed
3. Photography on the cards and how it is presented
If any of these things are off, I dont really go that much further. I can forgive stickers if 1 and 3 are awesome, but that’s really the only one ill budge on.
Five star delivers on all three of these things, and presents an awesome singles market. Card chipping, redemptions, and content are all common issues with high end/hard signed products, and I have come to understand it is what it is. I would happily trade redemptions for sticker autographs, as players determine more of whether or not they are needed. If it meant that I have a choice between redemptions or lots of stickers, I choose redemptions every time. I can wait.
As for the condition, chipping makes no difference to me, as condition really has no bearing on PC cards. If there was a crease down the middle that damaged the aesthetics, its one thing, but not when its a little white at the bottom that isnt that big of a deal.
Panini wouldnt make a product like this, and if they did, I would definitely be a fan. Your reaction is pretty common, and I dont fault you for thinking it. You just have to consider the way I judge. Its not the normal process that the majority of the collectors present.
I like these cards!! Just picked up a Mike Trout and Mike Schmidt Auto for my PC’s. Great looking cards, but I will not be busting a box. Great preview!!
How long until we see stickers with inscriptions. I’m sure Panini has their monkey design team working on it now.
Is it just me or does the Yu Darvish inscription look a little shifty. That looks in no way like he wrote that.Look at how neat and straight the lines in his auto are and look at the writing in the inscription.
Someone said that on Twitter, and Topps responded that he did all of the inscriptions. His auto looks to be japanese, so its entirely possible that his handwriting is completely different in English.