Box Break: 2011-12 Panini Crown Royale

[Nicholas Sabo]

I recently picked up a box of 2011-12 Panini Crown Royale (4 packs per box, 5 cards per pack) to serve as my first box break for this blog. Don't expect too many breaks though, because I'm about to become a college kid, which means I'm dirt poor.

This box ran me about $90, which is pretty steep for a box containing only twenty cards, however, two autographs and two memorabilia cards are guaranteed to be in every box.

Here is a quick rundown of what I pulled...

Base Cards

I actually liked the design of Crown Royale's base cards this year. They have a glossy feel, and the crown design at the top gives them some style.

The base set is made up of 100 cards, and I pulled the following numbers: 5, 12, 18, 32, 38, 47, 56, 59, 73, 76, 80, 83, 99, and 130. I did happen to get two parallels: the Tim Thomas pictured above (#5), and a Raphael Diaz (#130). The only thing that makes the parallels different is the color of the crown. All of the base cards I pulled are up for trade.

Memorabilia

Nothing too special here, but hey, at least I got an up-and-coming youngster in Stepan. Both of these cards are consistently selling on eBay for under $10, so while I'm not disappointed with the two memorabilia cards I pulled, I'm not ecstatic either.

Autographs

I had high hopes for the two guaranteed autos. Perhaps I would pull the Rookie Silhouettes Nugent-Hopkins? Nope. Instead, I got a Rookie Royalty Signature of a player that I know nothing about in Horak, and Kyle Okposo. The Horak signature is actually an on-card signature, while the Okposo is a sticker. This particular Okposo card is a parallel (notice the golden crown rather than silver, and yes that is actually gold, despite what my scanner thinks) and is numbered 74/99. These two cards are also selling for under $10 on eBay consistently.

Other Inserts

I don't have too much to say about these two cards (I'm a Preds fan). The Shanahan card is a part of the Legendary Heroes set, which looks identical to the base set save for the black and white picture of the player. Both of these are for trade as well.










So, overall a pretty good break that I enjoyed. If you want any of the cards that are up for trade just head over to the "Cards Up For Trade" page. I'm willing to give some of these up for nothing in return.

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