2012-13 Panini Gold Standard Basketball hobby box

Sport:  Basketball
Product:  2012-13 Panini Gold Standard
Break Date:  December 16, 2013
Hit Breakdown:  four autographs, one memorabilia card, one metal card
Summary:  With Amazon credit in hand, I went hunting for some higher-end boxes to break, and decided to make it easier to choose, I'd focus on 12/13 product. I settled on a few, and was pretty excited for Gold Standard for a variety of reasons.

One, the cards are well-designed. It's a nice-looking product. Two, there are a decent amount of hits. Lastly, the price was really reasonable.

The boxes arrived, and I got to crackin'. On top of the pack, staring me in the face, was the metal card, and it was a really sweet way to start the break - Kobe Bryant. The Bryant itself books at over the price of what I paid for the box, so it was an immediate win.

The base cards are really nice, but I didn't land anything that really excited me...but that's not why I bought the box anyway...I did it for the autos. The first auto that was there was a PC card for me, so if the box didn't contain a single other card, it would have been a win. The Bradley Beal auto was nice and bold, and the red jersey swatch looks really nice.

The other hits were nothing overly exciting - the JJ Redick Black Gold /199 is a good looking card, and the jersey piece has a white pinstripe through it. The other autos (Michael Ray Richardson, Landry Fields, and an Alexey Shved redemption) were all anti-climactic.

But, the Kobe metal is a really nice card, and the Beal, well, it's basically what I was hoping for in the first place.

Overall, this Gold Standard box was really, really good to me. However, I do have my University of Florida bias.

Grade for the product:  A
Grade for the break:  A

What we pulled:
Rookie Autograph:  Bradley Beal
Mother Lode Autographs:  Michael Ray Richardson /99
Gold Strike Signatures:  Landry Fields /199, Alexey Shved /249 (Redemption)
Black Gold Threads /199:  J.J. Redick
Gold Standard Metal:  Kobe Bryant
Hall of Gold /199:  Dave Bing
Base /349:  Deron Williams, Gerald Wallace, Bob Cousy, Jeremy Lin, Rasheed Wallace