Over the last few years, Treasures has undergone a transformation that has made it much more of a high end product for the money. Previous years have been spotty at best, and I continue to have no clue why it was given a pass to be the top valued set of the year. After starting the run with a bunch of sticker autos and cards that wouldnt be out of place in their lower end brands, Panini has made an effort to get more higher end content for the set. It has paid off, even though they continue to fail with some terrible designs and concepts each time it is released.

Here are past designs from 2012, where the set first started to go in the right direction. I hated the rookie patch auto design, but the overall look was great:

2012 National Treasures Tom Brady Virtuoso Auto

2012 National Treasures Russell Wilson Rookie Patch Auto

2012 National Treasures Andrew Luck Jumbo Patch Auto Booklet

2012 National Treasures Russell Wilson Jumbo Patch Auto Booklet

In 2013, the set continued to improve, even though the product tanked thanks to the rookie class being so bad:

2013 National Treasures Colin Kaepernick Auto Colossal

2013 National Treasures Michael Irvin Inscription Auto Nicknames

2013 National Treasures LeSean McCoy Jumbo Patch Auto Booklet

This year, lets hope the trend continues.

We got our first preview yesterday and I found myself praying that this is the design for the main Rookie cards of the set. The last few years has gone from awful to not great but not bad, and this design would be a nice change with some great looking cards. It cant be worse than 2012, so I have that going for me.

Im still disappointed that they are going to be using shots from late May, taken at the rookie photo shoot. We have seen with other examples that game photos are easily obtained and used for a set released as late as treasures will be released, yet they opted out in 2013 as well. But, the design is pretty enough that I dont think that will matter all that much.

My only concern will be that they will try to poop out another horrible design for the main rookie patch autos, and these will be an insert. At least I will have a card to chase, as these are easily worth the price of admission. Simplicity and Panini are usually a recipe that doesnt mix well, but it seems like they embraced it for these cards. The results are great.

Last year’s design wasnt actually bad at all, and the majority of the set was pretty damn good in the way it looked. I hope that Panini continues to use Treasures as an opportunity to produce simple cards with great photos and nice patches. It really doesnt need to be anything more than that. This is a great start. A great start indeed.