We were given a glimpse of this product as part of the 2018-19 Panini Chronicles Basketball and at short notice it was announced that 2018-19 Panini Obsidian Basketball would be coming to collectors via a direct to consumer release. Now available on the Panini America website this mid to low end release is sure to turn a few heads with it’s striking micro etch design.
Whilst the autographs are all stickers the general appeal of this release is actually the base cards. Printed on thicker 100pt stock and featuring a smooth Prizm like surface they are quite an attractive design. The full array of top 2018 NBA Rookies are present in this set including Luka Doncic, Trae Young, DeAndre Ayton, Marvin Bagley, Jaren Jackson Jnr, Colin Sexton, Michael Porter Jnr and more. At $120USD per box they represent reasonable value even if there are only 5 cards per box due to it holding 2 autographs on average and are all numbered to 75 or less. The rookie jersey autographs of the bigger name players are limited to 50 or less making them a little harder to hit, but rarer as a result. Based on the checklist it looks like this is a limited print run product with around 450 cases available in total.
See below for the preview images as well as some of the nicer hits out the early boxes opened by Panini.
