First and foremost, I'd like to thank the wonderful people at Topps for providing us with this box.

http://www.blowoutcards.com/images/football/2008toppsmayoFB.jpg

PRODUCT DESCRIPTION

24 packs per box
8 cards per pack
MSRP: $89.99-$99.99

2008 Topps Mayo Football pays tribute to the first Football Cards ever created from more than 100 years ago!
Originally honoring top players in the Ivy League, Topps Mayo continues the tradition and recognizes the best in another League –
The National Football League.


</U>Cut Signatures from the Turn of the Century!
Original 1894 Mayo Cards!
Public Figures and Personalities!
Every Autograph is Signed On-Card!

Two Relics OR One Autograph and One Relic Per Hobby Box!*

*Insertion rates reflect hobby box configuration




Base Cards

8 Cards Per Pack!

330 Subjects!All 330 subjects are featured on the classic Mayo Football card design in a standard 2 1/2” x 3 1/2”, color, 16 pt. format.
Veterans, Legends, Rookies, Coaches, Public Figures, Short Prints






Autographed Cards--Signed On-Card!

Two Relics OR One Autograph and One Relic Per Hobby Box!

Mayo AutographsRookies, Veterans, and Retired NFL players appear with their signatures on mini-cards that are framed to regular size.


Mayo AmericanaNotable celebrities autograph their mini card.

Autograph subjects will also appear on a parallel version, signed with red ink, and hand numbered* to 10.


Cut SignaturesCut signature cards featuring personalities such as Norman Rockwell, Mark Twain, and Orville Wright!





Relic Cards

Two Relics OR One Autograph and One Relic Per Hobby Box!

Mayo RelicsNFL players highlighted with a jersey relic on framed mini cards


Mayo Americana16 prominent personalities, such as Colin Powell, Cornelius Vanderbilt, and Al Franken appear with a relic piece on framed mini cards


Mayo Century SeriesCards featuring public figures from 1894 with original memorabilia from the era, such as stamps, coins, and actual pieces from the USS Maine!





1894 Original Mayo Cards

Only in Mayo!

Mayo Cut Plug Cards From 1894!Original cards from the actual 1894 Mayo Cut Plug Football Set are framed and randomly inserted!





Insert Cards-8 Per Box!

Late Addition--Super Bowl Logo History!

Team Logo HistoryNEW! Super Bowl Logo History. These puzzle cards chronicle the iconic logos of the last 11 (SB XXXII-XLVII) Super Bowls as well as the dueling contenders for the Lombardi Trophy. Each "card" consists of three 2-1/2" X 3-1/2" cards featuring the Super Bowl logo flanked by 2 helmets which represent the competing teams for each specific Super Bowl!


Famous Ships20 of the most renowned ships of all time, including the RMS Titanic, USS Moniter, Andrea Gail, etc.





Mini Parallel Cards

All 330 base cards are paralleled in the original Mayo size - 1 9/16” x 2 7/8”

One Per Pack!
1894:
Each card back features the original Mayo logo and is numbered* to 5
Harvard:
The iconic Harvard crimson “H” highlights each of these numbered* to 25 cards
Princeton:
Each card sports an orange Princeton “P” on each back. 1 Per Box!
Yale:
The same 330 subjects featuring a Yale blue “Y” on each card back
Mayo:
The original black and white design. 1 Per Pack!
Mini Printing Plates:
Each of the 4 printing plates from the base set in a mini size and framed. Each Is One Of One!




VIDEO BREAK

PART 1

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ttnsbVz9uhU

PART 2

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yFS5yyO0FoE

WHAT WE PULLED

Base (138/330) - 41.82%
Dupes - 0
Super Bowl Logo History (21/33) - 63.64%
Dupes - 0

http://i224.photobucket.com/albums/dd158/enigmas_cards/Reviews/CCF02012009_00004.jpg

Topps Mayo is based on the design of the 1894 Mayo's Cut Plug cards. The base cards have a black border with the player's picture in the middle. The photos looks like paintings as there are not action photos. Under the photos, you find the player's last name and team. The immediate bottom has the Mayo logo and the words "For Collecting and Trading."

The last 11 Super Bowl (not counting this year's) is commemorated in a 33-card set called Super Bowl Logo History. These cards feature the helmets of the teams that participated in a specific Super Bowl along with the logo from that Super Bowl. When the three cards are put together side by side, they line up perfectly to showcase everything.

http://i224.photobucket.com/albums/dd158/enigmas_cards/Reviews/CCF02012009_00005.jpg

Each pack of Topps Mayo has 1 mini card. Most will be a variation of the base card. They look the same on the front and back, just smaller in size. There are other mini back variations to highlights some of the Ivy League schools or the original Mayo logo.

Mayo Black & White Design
Mayo Logo /5
Harvard "H" /25
Princeton "P"
Yale "Y"

The Princeton back is 1 per box and the Yale "Y" is 2 per box on average.

Princeton (1) - Mario Williams
Yale (2) - Laurent Robinson, Jason Witten

There is a 20 card mini set devoted to various famous ships of history. The ships are featured with a full-card picture. The name of the ship is listed below it. The back of the card details the importance of each ship.

The final mini set is devoted to breeds of Horses. Much like the Ship series, the horses are given a full-card photo with the name of the breed underneath the photo. The back of the card shows a checklsit for the 15-card set.

http://i224.photobucket.com/albums/dd158/enigmas_cards/Reviews/CCF02012009_00006.jpg

The relic and auto cards are done as mini cards. They are encased in a hard plastic case and encircled by a black border with a white swirl design. The relic pieces are in a football shape and are located at the bottom of the player's photo. The autos are in the same place as the relic piece and are hard signed.

Relic (1) - John David Booty
Auto (1) - Eddie Royal

Ratings (Out of 5):
Base - 4.5
Fun - 4.0
Overall Design - 4.0
Value - 3.0
Rebuy - 3.0

Final Grade - 18.5/25 (74%)

As a huge fan of the Allen & Ginter series in baseball, I have to admit I was ecstatic at the prospect of a similiar series being released in football. I had plans to do all the base and mini sets. Even started shifting funds to the side to save up for purchasing a case for myself. But then, Topps made changes to the release.

Originally, the boxes were going to be 1 auto and 1 relic. Then right before the release, it was announced it had changed to either 1 auto and 1 relic or 2 relics per box on average. There's a lot of excitement behind the autos because they are hard signed and highly coveted in that form. But that's not the bad part.

The worst part was the complete overhaul of the auto lineup. Numerous autos were taken off the checklist and collectors were not notified until late in the game. Sure, Topps tried to replace these autos with others, but the anticipation behind the opportunity to pull certain names on the original checklist was wasted.

However, I have to admit I do like the base cards and design. Sticking with the 1894 Mayo theme, the cards are done as paintings instead of the regular action photos. The mini variations using the college letters and colors is a nice touch. Unlike A&G, (and a nice thing), there's only two other mini series to chase.

I'm not sold on the Super Bowl cards. I think I'd much rather have the 50 States set in football like you found in this past year's A&G release. If you were going to go this route, why not do all the Super Bowls? Why just the last 11?

Once again, I'd like to thank our fine sponsors at Topps for providing us with the box and the opportunity to review it.

Cool looking cards! Nice review Tony, and Thanks Topps!

This product looks great just like baseball's A&G and love the style. I am disappointed in the auto change right before release...it took out a lot of great possible autographs. Other than that, I still really like the design and would agree with Enigma, why just the last 11 Super Bowls?

Anyway, thanks again Topps for the product to review.

definitely a great looking product...Thanks to Topps for the box to review...Thanks Ed

Nice review.

DOn

Nice break and review, Tony!

Thanks Topps!

Darin

Nice break tony.

really like the design, but Tony i have to agree with you, I am not a big fan of the Super Bowl cards. But it would be cool if they had them all that way you could get all the ones your favorite team won.

Nice review Tony.

Nice Break Tony

PS Look What A&G Started

Mike

Great break Tony and much thanks to Topps for providing us with it!

I'm a big fan of the "old-timey" cards, so I really like the set. And this break was better than most I've seen, at least it had an auto (and a decent one at that!). But I don't think I have ever heard more grumbling about one particular set. The cards themselves are really well done and I'd love to get my hands on some, but the marketing effort and the pricing really made this release fall short of collector's expectations.

Great review, Tony!

And thanks to Topps for the box!

Ashley

Nice review Tony,And thanks to topps for the box.

Great review!
I like the look of the product, and it is smart to make the decoys not worthless.

for whatever reason, this design doesn't work for me at all...maybe I am too new school...famous ships, history, horses...not football, so not for me.

thanks to topps though and tony for the review

GREAT looking set but I heard you only get maybe 1 hit per hobby box. If that's true then it's not worth the price.

Nice Royal auto!

what are th e odds of pulling an original mayo card?

I really like the old-school look and design. Good review. Wasn't too happy about the last minute changes.

I like the design of the cards... thanks Topps

Very attractive cards--thanks Topps!! Nice review Tony!

Nice review Tony. Very interesting with the different elements involved in this set. I'm not a huge fan of mixing sports and other things within card products so I' don't really care for horses and ship either. This reminds me of the Co-Signers baseball break I did why back when. If I wanted boxing cards, I'd look for a boxing product, I don't want them in my baseball. I'm sure many football collectors will feel the same way with this product.

Interesting looking cards...very retro looking. Nice break and review Tony. Thanks Topps!

Interesting and different. I wonder how the mass have reacted to this new set.

Nicely done with the review.

Thanks again to Topps. :thumb:

Cool looking cards! Nice auto!

Oh the irony! I was searching YouTube for a break of the Mayo since I loved the pics I had seen of the product but was still sketchy. Sure enough it led me to Tony's break/review which lead me back here haha. I should have just looked here first!!

That being said, I LOVE the look of the Mayo and even the fact there are random world figures/items in them. I understand a lot of them aren't football stars, but these aren't a mere 3 cards per pack like a lot of product these days. The buybacks seem pretty cool, most are in pretty bad shape but for being 100 years old, what do you expect really. It's cool how they mounted them in the frames though.

The thing that turns me away from it is that what seems like a good number of people were posting around that they weren't even landing the "on average" hits of "Two Autographs OR One Autograph and One Relic Per Hobby Box". With boxes hovering around $100 at first, that's not good news. I was really itching to buy some but my local guy suggested I wait till the rush is over and it goes down closer to the MSRP, so that's what I'm doing now. I've seen a few boxes going for around $70-80 which seems decent and I'm strongly considering picking some up at that price.

Thanks for the video break! Oh yeah, I didn't see any bandaids in the video from all the SPA packs you had to mail out recently :confused0024: jk!

Nice break.interesting design & like the idea of different cards,like the cutty sark & uss Arizona.

i really like these cards! im gonna have to get a couple boxes of them.

Nice Pull on the Royal!

I really love these cards... especially after I pulled this out of one of the packs. I bought two packs and got one cut sig 1/1 and a Sterling Sharpe auto
Take a look:
http://warehouse40scollectiblecardboard.weebly.com/uploads/1/9/1/3/1913962/3365285.jpg?432x246

Love the retro design. Not too crazy about the non football cards though. The minis are cool too.

Nice looking cards. The black borders reminds me of 1986 Topps FB. Though I think the idea of adding in non-sports (horses, battleships?) is being taken too far.

Scobes