Panini Peek: Luxury Suite

[RGM81]

by Tracy Hackler

In early June, just as the 2011 Stanley Cup Playoffs are reaching their crescendo, Panini America will revolutionize high-end hockey collecting with the launch of 2010-11 Luxury Suite Hockey, a $50-for-three-cards thrill ride in which every card in the set is either a memorabilia card, an autograph card, an autographed memorabilia card or a Rookie Card.
By design, the truly unique concept — names like “Nothing But Hits” or “Every Card is a Hit” just didn’t seem right for a product with such a super-premium disposition – will cater to a more well-heeled hockey enthusiast.

“Clearly, Luxury Suite isn’t for every budget, but if the market has demonstrated anything of late, it’s an unquenchable thirst for high-end product,” says Al Muir, Panini America’s NHL Brand Manager. “Luxury Suite delivers on its name. There’s no filler here — it’s all thriller.”

Each four-pack box of Luxury Suite will deliver 12 cards — including eight autograph or memorabilia cards (at least two autographs guaranteed) and four Group 4 Rookies numbered to 899. Every pack of the product will contain two autograph or memorabilia cards and at least one RC from a staggering rookie checklist that is 125 players deep; 50 of those RCs will be enhanced by autographs, memorabilia or both.
At the 15-box case level, Luxury Suite should yield two Super Short Print autographed memorabilia RCs numbered to 199 or less, three SP Autographed Rookies numbered to 299 or less and five Gold Parallels numbered to just 10 copies.

“The super short print RCs will be the hot pull,” Muir notes. “Players like Taylor Hall and Jeff Skinner have already proven their value to collectors, so the chance to acquire an RC with both a patch and a hard autograph at this price point should be impossible to resist. Generally, I think our commitment to on-card autographs across the board will be equally appealing.
“It’s an incredibly demanding process to make a product with this many hard autos come together, but when you have a brand like Luxury Suite, there’s really no other way to go.”

Other product highlights include:

• Multiple tiers of every base card, each enhanced by a variety of memorabilia options including game-used swatches of jersey, prime jersey, patches, jersey numbers and sticks
• Autographed cards of hockey’s greatest legends numbered to just 199
  
• The existence of 1/1 Black Parallels
  

Stay tuned to The Knight’s Lance for additional updates and sneak peeks on 2010-11 Luxury Suite Hockey.

[jagrnyr68]

wow....one too many game-used options, but that ovy stick/jsy number combo looks disgusting. $50 a pack isn't too much either

[KangoBass]

Look at those Bobby Ryan dual cards SWEET!

[30ranfordfan]

I love the notion of a 125 card Rookie Checklist. Will fill in a few holes in my collection, I'm sure.

The scans pics look great. Going to be really interest in seeing a checklist.

[gatesnapper]

this type of product should have no redemptions. especially given the amount of time from announcement till release.

[Bostonfan46]

$50 bucks a pack, this should be a good product. i'll probably pick up two or three packs

[19spezzafan]

only 50 a pack? im gettin some :)

[PHK - AL]

this type of product should have no redemptions. especially given the amount of time from announcement till release.

Having spent decades on the other side of the fence, I completely understand where this attitude comes from. On this side, however, the reality of the situation is a little less black-and-white.
Thing is, there's zero correlation between time of announcement/time of release/redemption rate. Look, we're completely at the mercy of the players and at this time of year, when things are getting a little tense, a lot of them have other priorities. Wish we could nudge them, but, in practical terms, there's only so much we can do aside from repeatedly cajole them. Shoot, we even had arrangements to sit down with one player last week on an off day. We had three separate meeting times arranged and each time, he called at the last second to beg off. So if you think you're the only one frustrated by redemptions, well, save room on that bandwagon for us.

[afholmes87]

This stuff looks awesome! I love seeing Cory Emmerton on the RC sample too, glad to know I'll be seeing some Wings RC's this year!

[RGM81]

Having spent decades on the other side of the fence, I completely understand where this attitude comes from. On this side, however, the reality of the situation is a little less black-and-white.
Thing is, there's zero correlation between time of announcement/time of release/redemption rate. Look, we're completely at the mercy of the players and at this time of year, when things are getting a little tense, a lot of them have other priorities. Wish we could nudge them, but, in practical terms, there's only so much we can do aside from repeatedly cajole them. Shoot, we even had arrangements to sit down with one player last week on an off day. We had three separate meeting times arranged and each time, he called at the last second to beg off. So if you think you're the only one frustrated by redemptions, well, save room on that bandwagon for us.

Very well said. This is the most important time of the year for a lot of teams, and as much as I'm sure we'd love to think that everybody's as cool as Ian Cole taking the time to even post on Twitter that he was sitting down to do his signings (even if it was for the other guys), there's a lot of guys that are getting geared up for a playoffs run and that's where their energies are going. The cards will come, good things happen for those who wait.