After the unimpressive performance of products from the 2013 NFL season, there was some hesitancy going into the 2014 collecting year. Many shops lost significant dollars on last year’s releases or at best, broke even on many of the higher-end offerings instead of getting fat like we did in 2012.
2014 Panini Flawless NFL gave many shops the hope that Panini would be able to deliver higher-end releases that collectors were clamoring for. Then again, unimpressive products like 2014 Bowman Sterling NFL, 2014 Topps Triple Threads and others made looking at order forms on anything that would retail for $300+ almost ulcer worthy. Short of being a breaker the night of release, stocking your shop’s shelves with pricy wax can be about as smart as betting on a horse with three legs.
Although it had a great history with NBA products, there was some hesitancy from shops in 
committing to Panini Immaculate football. Let’s face it, while the 2014 MLB version looked good, it’s hard to say it was anything close to a raging success.
So far the NFL version seems to be surprising hobby shops and collectors by delivering significant value and some of the sweetest swatches of any release of the season in spite of releasing a couple of weeks after the Super Bowl. If nothing else, it is giving me hope that 2014 National Treasures NFL will do as well, if not a lot better.
Some major hits have surfaced. For a mere $4,500 you too can have this Peyton Manning relic card that looks truly spectacular.
Boxes offer six cards total with five of them being signed or featuring relic swatches and with most boxes dropping in the $400 range or $66.66 a card (including the commons), you know going in that pulling just about any rookie not named Odell, Johnny or Teddy, means breaking even on your box will take some serious cardboard mojo.
It’s not only about the rookie autographs, though, since there are signatures from Peyton Manning, Andrew Luck Barry Sanders, Jerry Rice, Emmitt Smith, Joe Montana, Tom Brady, Roger Staubach, Brett Favre, Dan Marino, John Elway and enough other HOF members and Pro-Bowlers to make putting down a car payment for some on a box a decent proposition.
Brady’s latest Super Bowl win isn’t hurting the value of this card.
The first box we sold yielded a Johnny Manziel rookie redemption, a sweet Jimmy Graham relic and some other tasty cards. We actually recorded it and even though we didn’t rush things, it took only 1:39 to go through this 4 Benjamin box.
We had so much fun seeing that box opened that over this past weekend, we hosted a two box break of Immaculate paired up with 3 boxes of 2013 Panini Momentum NFL. Take a look at the Teddy Bridgewater rookie card and you can see why the shop lit up when it got pulled.
While the Bridgewater box should probably pay for itself, the other one left a bit to be desired. Either way, it’s safe to say that Panini is onto something with the gridiron version of Immaculate and when it comes time to order the 2015 version, I’ll be doing it with more excitement with thoughts of the sweet pulls I saw from this season.
Rounding out the top 5 products on the hot list are the following releases:
2) 14/15 Upper Deck 2 NHL – Now that collectors are finally learning some of the names of this year’s Young Guns like Jonathan Drouin and others, they are warming up to some of the current year offerings. Upper Deck 1 & 2 always sell well out of the gate to collectors who are working on sets or prospect searching and this year is nothing different.
3) 14/15 Upper Deck SPX NHL– See above, but add an additional 2 relics or signed cards per box with one autographed rookie relic card in each box.
4) 2014 Bowman Sterling NFL – Sure, I called it out earlier in this piece, but now that I am offering it for less than $200 a box, people are taking a closer look at this 13 hit per box product and we have had to go back into the well repeatedly just to keep it in stock.
5) 2014 Playoff Contenders NFL – In the past month, wholesale on this release has gone up about $10 and it shows no sign of slowing down. All we need in 2015 is for each rookie WR to come down with an OMG one-handed TD catch and we’re all set for a monster season.
This week will see the release of 2014 Topps Museum Collection NFL and 2015 Topps Heritage MLB and I see at least one if not both of those being part of the next Hot List.
Mike Fruitman owns Mike’s Stadium Sportscards in Aurora, CO. Normally, his column focuses on what products are selling best in hobby shops. He’s got thousands of cards for sale onCOMC.com under the ID cardmn5150. Enjoy new arrivals and big hits from Mike’s on Twitter. Mike’s is always looking for more friends on Facebook and you can email him at [email protected]
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