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   Review: 2005-06 Topps Pristine Basketball (Review by Bill Kovacs A.K.A. chiliwilly)



2005-06 Topps Pristine Basketball

Each sealed box contains 5 packs of 8 cards each in a 210 card base set including 30 Rookies, 30 Veteran Jersey cards, 20 Rookie Jersey cards, 10 Veteran Autograph cards, 14 Rookie Autograph cards, 2 Veteran Autograph cards, and 3 Rookie Autograph Jersey cards.). >>> Each box contains FIVE Memorabilia cards, ONE Autograph card, and ONE #'d Die-Cut Gold Refractor parallel card. Each pack consists of three packs inside: Pack #1 > ONE #'d Uncirculated Refractor parallel card encased in a plastic holder (Veterans > #'d to TBD, Rookies > #'d to TBD; Jersey cards > #'d to 100, Autograph cards > #'d to 20, Autograph Jersey cards > #'d to 10, Personal Pieces Relics > #'d to 3, and Personal Endorsements Autograph cards > #'d to 3), Pack #2 > ONE Relics Memorabilia card (#'d to 200, 200, 75, 50, 10, or 1), Pack #3 > 6 cards featuring 4 Veterans and 2 Rookies (also look for: Personal Endorsements Autographs: Common > #'d to TBD, Uncommon > #'d to 125, Rare > #'d to 25, and Scarce > #'d to 10; Rare Autographs > #'d to 100, and Double Act Dual Autographs > #'d to 5).


   Base Card Scan
Comments:

The base cards have an innovative and clean looking design this year. They kept the same design as used for Football this year and there was good reason. A very nice high-gloss finish and streamlined look to the cards. There is nothing complicated on the front of the card to make it look messy. The front of the cards have action / posed shots of the player and the back has a short Bio of the player and stats from the 2004-05 season only.


   Rookie Card Scan
Comments:

The rookie cards are the same as the base and also look fantastic. We pulled rookie cards of; Martell Webster, Marvin Williams, Charlie Villanueva, Joey Graham and Monta Ellis.


   Insert / Parallel Card Scan


Comments:

Each mini box/pack has an uncirculated card of either a veteran or rookie player. We pulled uncirculated cards of Hakim Warrick, Rasheed Wallace, Baron Davis, Ben Wallace and Antawn Jamison. All of these uncirculated cards were numbered to /325. We also pulled a serrated edge die-cut card of Dirk Nowitzke numbered 25/50.


   Game Used Card Scans


Comments:

Each mini box/pack also includes a game-used card. We pulled uncommon game-used pieces of Amare Stoudemire, Ben Wallace and Raymond Felton numbered to /500. The other two GU were common player worn jerseys of Shaquille O'Neal and Marcus Camby numbered to /350.


   Autograph Scans
Comments:

We pulled a common personal endorsements autograph of Carmelo Anthony numbered to /215. We missed his jersey number by one number (darn)! The Carmelo autograph is crisp, clean and continuous with no bubbling or breaks. Great looking autograph pull out of this box.


   The Final Verdict!

I give this box a 4 1/2 of 5 HI Fives. This box was fun to open and the quality of the cards was good. This box is at a price of usually about $90 to $115 on most sites I have checked. If you are interested in high-quality cards then this is a good box for you to buy. Five game-used, Five uncirculated, One autograph, a die-cut and some very nice rookie cards in this new product from Topps. I would have liked to have seen two or more autographs like the Football for this year though. That is the only drawback that I have seen regarding this break and review.
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