As of last night, I posted a contest that aims to give away a free box of Five Star just for talking about your favorite Topps football card. I think its only fitting that I talk about mine, even though it happened as recently as this morning. Although I have a few Topps football cards that currently reside in display mode atop my Man Alcove, this new card will definitely share top billing with my previous collection centerpieces.

First, a little background. For those of you who have been reading this blog for a while, you can probably remember my excitement over the annoucement that Five Star was coming. It would be the only completely hard signed product of the year, and was looking to take over as the king of the super high end mountain. Topps was infamous, especially on this site, for having failed at many of their high end products in the past, but it was generally understood that Five Star would be different.

As Topps put preview after preview on their facebook page and twitter page, many autograph and memorabilia focused collectors started revving their money making engines just to have a shot at buying some of the ridiculous cards they were showing us. I spent most of the following months squirreling away money, and I can tell you it was the best decision I have ever made.

Once the release date got closer, I started talking with various industry insiders about some of the cards that were being signed in the sessions that Topps was organizing over the days prior to packout. For literally three months, I heard nothing as to whether or not my favorite player, Adrian Peterson, was going to sign his cards, or if he would continue to be redemptions as he had been in previous Topps and Panini products that year. One of my closer and most reliable contacts gave me some great news about two weeks before release, that Peterson had indeed done a signing, and that he was actually there to witness it! His words were something like “they were the coolest cards I have possibly ever seen,” a type of statement that I rarely hear come out of his mouth.

Topps Five Star released on Wednesday, and within hours, I had already secured my first Peterson autograph. I may have overpaid a little, but again, for me, its not about money with these types of cards. Its all about perceived awesomeness, and as far as I was concerned, it was definitely worthy of the price tag. Little did I know that it was only the beginning.

I waited three long days for the first Peterson inscription to show up, and when it did, my jaw dropped open. I rarely have the kind of reaction I had to this card, and it all stemmed from one thing that got me to a point of hyper ventilation. Peterson had switched in 2008 to a truncated and much less awesome AD28 signature from his longer signature signed during his rookie year. Although I had gotten used to the relative give-up attempts at signing his stuff, anything was better than nothing. This card was completely different, because not only had he inscribed it “ALL DAY” but he had signed the most beautiful autograph I have ever seen him sign on a card.

After emptying my paypal account to get the card, I could not be happier. It is taking its spot as my absolute favorite autographed card I own, and will forever sit on its makeshift throne at the front of my Peterson display. I may have spent more money than I ever expected to spend on a non-rookie Peterson card, but when the card looks like this, its hard to care even a smidge. Card should be in hand early next week, more scans when I have them: