Like many collectors, Buzz is a fan of grading and knows that there are many reasons that collectors choose to slab cards. Sometimes it's to enhance the appeal and protect them when selling. Other times it's to protect an investment for the long-term or to protect for sentimental reasons. Or, it might be just for fun or curiosity about a potential grade.

Here's this month's grading diary here on The Buzz ...

The Card: Joe Namath 2015 Topps 60th Anniversary Rookie Reprint Autographs #T60RAJN
The Reason Graded: Buzz first met this NFL legend almost 20 years ago and landed the ink for free thanks to some luck while autograph hounding but when it comes to certified autographs of this icon I didn't have any until recent years. Why? He's always been a pricey auto but that has come down a bit as he's been a steady signer and doesn't have quite as much hobby heat as the guy at the end of this month's list. This release was how Topps burned off its Hall of Famer autographs via packs on its website once its NFL deal was done, so the influx of big-name autos helped make the supply even stronger at the time perhaps without added demand. I scouted them all where I buy and this one looked near-perfect to me in both its centering and that ink. Seriously, look at that signature ... that's a perfect Namath auto.
The Grade: BGS 9.5/10

Reality Check: I absolutely thought I had a BGS 10 contender with this one, though I submitted it before I picked up my better loupe and I probably didn't check the back as closely as I should have. Either way, it's still a very solid card in my stash. I don't grade autographs all that often -- I fear results I won't like on those -- but this one I had to. Most of them landed this grade with only one higher so I don't feel bad about not landing a 10.

Keep reading for more of this month's pick-ups and new slabs for Buzz.

Continue reading →

What: 2019 TRISTAR Hidden Treasures Game Day Greats Full-size Football Helmets
Arrives: Sept. 25
Box basics: One autographed full-size football helmet per box (three boxes per case)
Order: Click here (live soon)

What's buzz-worthy: TRISTAR's Hidden Treasures hits the gridiron with full-size helmets for the first time with a number of past and present stars to be found.

Continue reading →

What: 2019 Leaf Autographed Football Helmets
Arrives: Late October/early November
Box basics: One autographed mini-helmet per box (three boxes per case)
Order: Click here (live soon)

What's buzz-worthy: Leaf brings a new batch of autographed helmets to the masses with a mix of past and present stars as well as a celebrity presence.

Keep reading for more.

Continue reading →

What: 2019 TRISTAR Hidden Treasures Game Day Greats Football Jersey Edition Series 2
Arrives: Sept. 11
Box basics: One autographed football jersey per box (five boxes per case)
Order: Click here (live soon)

What's buzz-worthy: TRISTAR's Hidden Treasures line takes on jerseys for a second time this year with Hall of Famers, new rookies and plenty of other notables all possible in this one.

Continue reading →

What: 2019 Leaf Autographed Football Mini-Helmets
Arrives: Oct. 30
Box basics: One autographed mini-helmet per box (10 boxes per case)
Order: Click here (live soon)

What's buzz-worthy: Leaf brings a new batch of autographed mini-helmets to the masses with a mix of past and present stars as well as new draft picks -- and some surprise helmets in there, too.

Keep reading for more info.

Continue reading →

Leaf Trading Cards will have three promotional sets up for grabs at this year's National Sports Collectors Convention in Chicago as well as a promo card set for VIP attendees.

First up will be a 1992 Leaf Metal set that will be in packs. To receive a pack at the company's booth, one must open a box of 2019 Leaf In The Game-used Sports or 2019 Leaf Pop Century. These cards will be paralleled with a few colors and include the likes of Ken Griffey Jr., Kyler Murray, Giannis Antetokounmpo, Mike Tyson, Barry Sanders, Hulk Hogan, Stephen Curry, Ichiro Suzuki, Lionel Messi, Daisy Ridley, Harrison Ford, Larry Bird, Conor McGregor and plenty more.

Continue reading →

What: 2019 Leaf Autographed Football Jersey Edition
Arrives: Sept. 25
Box basics: One autographed custom jersey per box (10 boxes per case)
Order: Click here (live soon)

What's buzz-worthy: Leaf brings the fabric of the game to collectors once again via the blind-wrapped football memorabilia market with "the hottest players in the game, an incredible selection of Hall of Famers, the hottest rookies and some of the game's most-popular fan favorites."

Keep reading for more.

Continue reading →

What: 2019 TRISTAR Hidden Treasures Autographed Football Mini Helmets
Arrives: July 3
Box basics: One autographed mini helmet per box (10 boxes per case)
Order: Click here (live soon)

What's buzz-worthy: TRISTAR's Hidden Treasures is back on the gridiron once again with new NFL names, new styles of helmets and some of the biggest names from the past all inside.

Continue reading →

What: 2019 TRISTAR Best Of All Time 1 autographed memorabilia
Arrives: June 5
Box basics: Six autographed items per case
Order: Click here

What's buzz-worthy: TRISTAR's autographed memorabilia line goes uptown with it promising the biggest names in the history of sports in tow.

Keep reading for more and a gallery of what's in this one.

Continue reading →

Have you seen the latest cool cards from a new release? With so many options for collectors of all kinds arriving every week it's possible you haven't. That's where Buzz comes in -- well at least on one brand you'll see here from time to time in what we're calling Buzz's Pick Six. Simply put, here are six cards from a new arrival that seemed interesting to this collector and we think they might interest you, too.

This week's releases: 2019 Panini Contenders Draft Picks and 2019 Panini Prizm Draft Picks -- a combo since I truly couldn't decide which way to go during this NFL Draft weekend.

--

THE TOP GUY ... 
The Card: Kyler Murray 2019 Panini Prizm Contenders Optic Mojo College Ticket autograph (/15)
The Price: $1,250 opening bid (six days remaining)
Why it’s Buzz-worthy: This card is perhaps a tad confusing ... it's a Contenders Optic card from Prizm and there's one in Prizm packs, too, but that one is not serial-numbered to 15 according to the checklists. Either way, this is a big pull and it's got on-card ink of the guy who went first in the 2019 NFL Draft last night and also the Heisman winner who is the only player ever taken in the first round of both the MLB and NFL drafts in the same year. There's a lot of attention and storyline here -- especially with the added Josh Rosen drama -- but he might be the biggest name of the bunch drafted so far when it comes to cardboard. (At least until everybody suits up.) This is an actual auction instead of a Buy-It-Now with new-car pricing attached, so we'll see how much demand there is here in a few days.

Keep reading for five more interesting items in this week's roundup ...

Continue reading →

From time to time, Buzz will break a box of something and post the results here. Like this and want to see more? Or maybe there's a box you'd want to see busted? Send Buzz an email at BlowoutBuzz@blowoutcards.com.

The box: 2019 Panini Contenders Draft Picks football cards (FOTL hobby box)
Where to buy: BlowoutCards.com (for hobby)

Packs per box: 6
Cards per pack: 18
Cards in this box: 108
Base set completion: 
64 of 100 (64 percent)
Duplicates: 8

Notables on base cards – Joe Namath, Derrick Henry, Amari Cooper, Phillip Lindsay, Nick Mullens, Brett Favre, Mitchell Trubisky, Drew Brees, Leonard Fournette, Odell Beckham Jr., Terry Bradshaw, Saquon Barkley, Dan Marino, Marcus Mariota, Jerry Rice, Carson Wentz, Earl Campbell, Red Grange, Alvin Kamara, Peyton Manning, Barry Sanders, Cam Newton, Emmitt Smith, Tim Tebow, Deshaun Watson, Nick Chubb, J.J. Watt, Russell Wilson, Patrick Mahomes II, Derek Carr, Michael Thomas, Sam Darnold, Marcus Allen, JuJu Smith-Schuster, Andrew Luck, Christian McCaffrey, Adrian Peterson, Antonio Brown, Dak Prescott

Continue reading →

From time to time, Buzz will break a box of something and post the results here. Like this and want to see more? Or maybe there's a box you'd want to see busted? Send Buzz an email at BlowoutBuzz@blowoutcards.com.

The box: 2019 Panini Prizm Draft Picks football (blaster box)
Where to buy: BlowoutCards.com (for hobby)

Packs per box: 6
Cards per pack: 5
Cards in this box: 30
Base set completion: 25 of 100 (25 percent)
Duplicates: 0

Base cards – Ray Lewis, Michael Thomas, Barry Sanders, Nick Chubb, Adrian Peterson, Jared Goff, Derrick Henry, Dak Prescott, Alvin Kamara, Phillip Lindsay, A.J. Green, Cam Newton, JuJu Smith-Schuster, James Conner, Kerryon Johnson, Ezekiel Elliott, Julio Jones, Eric Dickerson, Melvin Gordon III (All-Americans), Leonard Fournette (AA), Clemson Tiger (Mascots), Penn State Nittany Lion (Mascots), Dan Marino (Stained Glass), Emmitt Smith (SG), Sam Darnold (SG)

Continue reading →

What: 2019 Leaf Memorabilia Treasury
Arrives: Summer
Box basics: Five memorabilia pieces per box
Order: Click here (live soon)

What's buzz-worthy: Leaf Trading Cards' next release will include memorabilia from around the collecting world with autographs, tv- and movie-used costumes and plenty of other surprises.

Keep reading for more.

Continue reading →

What: 2019 TRISTAR Hidden Treasures Game Day Greats Football Jersey Edition
Arrives: April 24
Box basics: One autographed football jersey per box (five boxes per case)
Order: Click here (live soon)

What's buzz-worthy: TRISTAR's Hidden Treasures line takes on jerseys for another season with Hall of Famers, new rookies and plenty of other notables all possible in this one.

Continue reading →

Have you seen the latest cool cards from a new or recent release? With so many options for collectors of all kinds arriving every week it's possible you haven't. That's where Buzz comes in -- well at least on one brand you'll see here from time to time in what we're calling Buzz's Pick Six. Simply put, here are six cards from a new arrival that seemed interesting to this collector and we think they might interest you, too.

This week's release: 2018 Panini Contenders football cards

--

UNIFORM NUMBER PREMIUM?
The Card: Baker Mayfield 2018 Panini Contenders Draft Class Gold Autograph (/18)
The Price: $1,999.95 Buy-It-Now (or best offer)
Why it’s Buzz-worthy: I didn't choose this card because of the serial-number that matches his uniform -- that might be partly behind the asking price here as it's a one-of-a-kind card from the 18 that exist -- instead it's simply because I think there might be more upside for his non-standard autographs in this one as people chase the regular autographs and their various parallels more for this brand. Those are pricey (and this is, too) but over time if he continues to build upon his rookie year it's the rarer cards that could have the most movement or interest vs. those that everybody chased and more people might have. I also picked this one because I think the design is solid and the photo works so well I'd almost slap the "cardboard perfection" tag on this one. In fact, I can't do that. It is perfect.

Keep reading for five more interesting items in this week's roundup ...

Continue reading →

Like many collectors, Buzz is a fan of grading and knows that there are many reasons that collectors choose to slab cards. Sometimes it's to enhance the appeal and protect them when selling. Other times it's to protect an investment for the long-term or to protect for sentimental reasons. Or, it might be just for fun or curiosity about a potential grade.

Here's this month's grading diary here on The Buzz ...

The Card: 2017 Donruss Rookie Gridiron Kings #2 Patrick Mahomes II
The Reason Graded: His break-out campaign started off so strong I had to revisit my past pulls from Donruss last year -- I busted a ton -- and I submitted a trio of his cards. You saw one last month, you see this one here and you'll see another in March. (Call that a spoiler.) This insert isn't the most-striking of cards but it looked very clean in my pre-examining of cards so it made the cut.
The Grade: BGS 9.5

Reality Check: None have graded higher but this one is not alone on the pop report. That surprises me a bit as grading seems to be all about standard RCs, rare numbered parallels and the ol' big mojo hits, but it seems that a season like the one he had could be prompting anything from his first year on cardboard to get another look. (Ironically you can still grab boxes of this one and others relatively cheap, too. To me that all spells fun ... and wax will dry up over time.)

Keep reading for the rest of this month's new grades and additions.

Continue reading →

Between everyday Buzz Breaks and the near-monthly Buzz 12 in 12 marathons, Buzz busted a lot of packs in 2018.

How many? Well, Buzz is almost afraid to count -- though it was seemingly news to me that the 12 in 12 marathons actually started early last year. (That's even more proof there's been a lot of wax to get these hands ... it's all a blur.)

It was a year of memorable pulls for me at times with some icons' autographs found in my packs. It also was fun one ripping into really old packs, too, with some cheap thrills there.

Breaks are among the most-popular items seen here nearly every day and Buzz knows that. So look for plenty of breaks in 2019 -- but, before that time comes, keep reading for links to not one, not 18, but 25 memorable breaks from 2018.

Continue reading →

Have you seen the latest cool cards from a new release? With so many options for collectors of all kinds arriving every week it's possible you haven't. That's where Buzz comes in -- well at least on one brand you'll see here from time to time in what we're calling Buzz's Pick Six. Simply put, here are six cards from a new arrival that seemed interesting to this collector and we think they might interest you, too.

This week's release: 2018 Panini Playbook.

--

FROM THE VAULT ... TO THE VAULT
The Card: Baker Mayfield Playbook Vault Tri-Fold Jersey Auto Premium (1/1)
The Price: $4,599.99 Buy-It-Now (or best offer)
Why it’s Buzz-worthy: I'd argue that these Vault cards are the most-impressive finds from this booklet-loaded brand and Mayfield might be the hottest rookie right now. The 1/1 versions of these cards are almost comically stacked with logos from various types of memorabilia but they carry a stronger feel than the simpler versions. (Buzz would be happy to pull any of these ... any type, any player ... I like books.) This is a card that will be locked away in a collection somewhere once it goes and it probably won't ever be seen again.

Keep reading for five more interesting cards from this one ...

Continue reading →

The Blowout Cards Forums are where thousands of collectors converge daily to discuss, well, a little bit of everything. Here are a few threads about collecting and more that you should check out right now.

What's Buzzing Today: Nothing but big pulls and show-off threads in today's edition.

Continue reading →

Do you like Buzz Breaks? Today's your day then as we launch 12 in 12 -- a series of a dozen breaks of wax boxes and wax packs in a dozen hours. We'll post one every hour all day long ... this is Hour 2.

The packs: 1990 Pro Set Series 2 NFL (1,000-plus)
The cost: Too much but not that much (Buzz found a deal he couldn't refuse) Get your new NFL boxes by clicking here

What's inside this one? Keep reading ...

Continue reading →

From time to time, Buzz will break a box of something and post the results here. Like this and want to see more? Or maybe there's a box you'd want to see busted? Send Buzz an email at BlowoutBuzz@blowoutcards.com.

The box: 2017 Panini Classics football cards (hobby box)
Where to buy: BlowoutCards.com

Packs per box: 14
Cards per pack: 10
Cards in this box: 140
Base set completion: 
112 of 300 (37 percent)
Duplicates: 0

Notables on base cards: Dan Marino, Todd Gurley, Peyton Manning, Ken Stabler, Mark Ingram, Joe Greene, Joe Namath, John Elway, Tom Brady, Randy Moss, Raymond Berry, Fran Tarkenton, Matthew Stafford, Carson Wentz, Andrew Luck, Deion Sanders, Eric Dickerson, Steve Largent, Y.A. Tittle, Ed Jones, Boomer Esiason, Russell Wilson, Calvin Johnson, Len Dawson, Lawrence Taylor, Eddie George, Brett Favre, Bo Jackson, Aaron Rodgers, Franco Harris, Drew Pearson, Emmitt Smith, Roger Staubach, Rod Woodson, Brian Urlacher

Continue reading →

What: 2018 TRISTAR Hidden Treasures Series 2 Autographed Football Mini Helmets
Arrives: Oct. 17
Box basics: One autographed mini helmet per box (10 boxes per case)
Order: Click here

What's buzz-worthy: TRISTAR's Hidden Treasures is back on the gridiron once again with some new NFL names and some of the biggest names from the past all inside its boxes.

Continue reading →

What: 2018 Leaf Autographed Football Helmets
Arrives: Late October
Box basics: One autographed mini-helmet per box (three boxes per case)
Order: Click here

What's buzz-worthy: Leaf brings a new batch of autographed helmets to the masses with a mix of past and present stars as well as multi-signed helmets and at least one name you might not expect ... Ben Affleck.

Keep reading for more.

Continue reading →

The Blowout Cards Forums are where thousands of collectors converge daily to discuss, well, a little bit of everything. Here are a few threads about collecting and more that you should check out right now.

What's Buzzing Today: Legendary RB ink, NSCC chatter, Trea Turner's big game & more as we work for the weekend.

Continue reading →

What: 2018 TRISTAR Signature Series National Edition
Arrives: Aug. 1
Box basics: One autographed item per envelope (eight envelopes per case).

What's buzz-worthy: TRISTAR's Signature Series returns with just 80 eight-pack cases of authenticated autographed memorabilia just in time for this year's National Sports Collectors Convention in Cleveland.

Continue reading →