If Santa’s vehicle of choice in your neighborhood is a Lamborghini, you may find a box of 2014-15 Panini Eminence Basketball under the tree. The new undisputed king of pricey trading cards arrives Wednesday with Eminence, a new product that costs around $6,000 per box.
No, that’s not a typo.
Eminence, which is listed as a 2014-15 issue even though we’re already a couple of months into the 2015-16 season, features 7-10 cards per pack/box. All of them are either autographed or contain a small piece of precious metal; silver, gold or platinum.
These are not cards you’ll want to stick in your bike spokes.
Panini broke new ground with the 2012-13 debut of its Flawless Basketball line, one which sort of redefined “high-end” with its much ballyhooed packaging in a metal briefcase. Eminence goes about six steps further. It’s a product aimed primarily at wealthy high rollers and box breakers who cater to big spenders.
While Eminence is part of the NBA trading card partner’s basketball stable, the autograph checklist is sort of a mix of hoops, history and entertainment. Thanks to cut signatures (some of which, sadly, come from original letters that have been sliced up), your box may have Kobe and JFK. Dwight Howard and Harry Houdini. Elvis and Ewing. Ty Cobb and Tony Parker. There’s an Abe Lincoln cut, a Napoleon and a General Custer (those two would have something to talk about).
Every card in Eminence is numbered to 10 or less and obviously many of the tougher autographs are 1/1.
Dual Cut Signature autograph booklets include some potentially valuable pairings such as Alexander Graham Bell and Thomas Edison; JFK and Jackie, John Lennon and George Harrison and even John Belushi and Gilda Radner of Saturday Night Live fame.
There are 10 Wilt Chamberlain autographs sprinkled into the boxes.
With Upper Deck holding the rights to Michael Jordan and LeBron James, however, two of the sport’s big guns won’t be part of this one.
You can check out the hottest 2014-15 Panini Eminence basketball singles and boxes on eBay via the live list directly below the full checklist link.
2014-15 Panini Eminence Checklist
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2014-15 Eminence Jumbo Patch Auto Scottie Pippen 09/10 Bulls RARE Sealed Case
8 bids - Price: $590.00 - Watchers: 54
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OSCAR ROBERTSON /10 AUTO NBA LOGOMAN FINE SILVER BAR SSP 2014-15 PANINI EMINENCE
11 bids - Price: $147.50 - Watchers: 26
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