SCF Official Review: 2010/11 Panini Pinnacle

[Enigma]

First and foremost, I'd like to thank our sponsors at Panini for providing us with this box.



24 packs per box
5 cards per pack
Current Retail Price (online): 67.99 - 79.99

Product Description

BOX BREAK
- Four Ice Breakers Rookie Cards
- Four Museum Collection parallels
- One Artist's Proof parallel
- One Tough Times
- Four autograph or memorabilia hits, including Pinnacle Threads, City Lights, Pinnacle Penmanship, Rookie Team Pinnacle Signatures and many more!


HIGHLIGHTS
50 Ice Breakers, a scintillating collection of the season's must-have RCs.
Look for
- Taylor Hall
- Tyler Seguin
- Sergei Bobrovsky
- Cam Fowler and all your favorite freshmen! Plus, look for 20 Ice Breakers Autographs!

Tough Times returns, this time honoring the most intimidating hombres of the 1970s, including John Wensink, Dave Schultz, Willi Plett, Nick Fotiu and more!

The return of a hobby favorite, Team Pinnacle, is bolstered by the addition of Rookie Team Pinnacle Signatures, a set that brings collectors a tandem of first-year hobby titans, topped off with their on-card signatures!

City Lights Materials highlight hometown pride with a sweet swatch of game-used jersey set against a backdrop of each city's skyline.

WHAT WE PULLED



Base: 134/200 (67%)
Dupes: 43
Rookies (5)
Rink Collection (4)
Artist's Proof (2)



Chemistry On Canvas (1)
Saving Face (2)
Tough Times (1)



City Lights Scott Hartnell Jersey /499



Threads Ryan Callahan Jersey /499



Tough Times Jerry Korab Auto /250



FINAL RATINGS

Base - 3/5
Design - 4/5
Fun - 3/5
Value - 3/5
Rebuy - 2.5/5

Total - 15.5/25 (62%)

In bringing back products from yesteryear, Panini has unleashed Pinnacle back on the collecting masses. With a huge 200-card base set and an additional 50 rookies, it is attractive to set builders. In a twist, the order of the teams goes alphabetically from last to first. I'm sure that was no coincidence. There are two parallels of the base set, Artist's Proof and Rink Collection (also seen as Museum Collection). Neither set is serial numbered, so it leave you wondering which one is more special than the other.

There are a few inserts sets, but the one that is probably the most popular is Tough Times. This is devoted to the hard-hitting bruisers of the 1970s. Oftentimes, hockey "goons" do not get their due in the collecting world so it is refreshing to see them highlighted.

In the end, Pinnacle is for those who enjoy hockey and want a relaxing set to put together. It is essentially a highlight set as each player featured in the base series is there due to something that happened in the 2010-11 season. While hitting a bonus (something other than base) card in 75% packs is appealing, I found myself quickly getting bored. With no serial numbered parallels and a low insert yield, the interest and value suffers.

Once again, I'd like to thank our wonderful sponsors at Panini for giving us the opportunity to open and review this release. For more information on all their products, visit them today at www.paniniamerica.net.

[TheTGB]

I have to agree with the lack of serial numbers and knowing which set is harder to complete, etc. It is oddly reminiscent of the flagship Donruss product this year.

[hossa18sens]

As a player collector I like it because it allows for some PC cards of guys that are not in the high end sets. On that note I could use the Foligno lol

Thanks for the box Panini.