
There is an excellent case to be made: National Treasures has consistently been the most prestigious release in the Panini roster.
That means that there will be a strong market for this product despite the very late date on which it was delivered. But sadly, we are coming towards the end of the run of this release, at least as a licensed one.
Does this near-last hurrah live up to the high standards of this high-end wonder? Or does it suffer from a dip as Panini struggles with its new identity?
Find out in our 2023 Panini National Treasures Football review.
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The National Treasures product was one of the first-generation items Panini released when it acquired the NFL rights in 2009.
It was a big hit, just like Prizm, introduced that year. It was a costly release by the standards of the time; in 2010, boxes sold for $400, which still sounds expensive in 2024 after all these years of inflation.
But those early boxes packed quite a punch. There were eight cards in each box. Two of them were base cards. But the important part was that every box contained 6 autos or memorabilia cards.
At least 3 of them were guaranteed to be autos, and often it was 4 or 5. The main attraction was, and remains, the NFL Shield and NFL Brand Logo patch cards. The autos of the early releases included some deceased legends, such as Walter Payton and Jim Thorpe.
Over the years, Panini introduced some other great patch cards, such as the Nike Swoosh and Laundry Tag, which have become iconic. All this added to the incredible status that Panini National Treasures Football gained as a hobby. The auto booklets were another fantastic addition.
Over the years, National Treasures was joined by other high-end card releases, which sometimes stole its thunder. For example, Flawless and immaculate. At times, it was eclipsed by the competition, but it always maintained its cache.
One of the secrets to the reputation it has maintained is that Panini has never reduced the hits in this release. While the price has increased significantly (more on that later), they have maintained the 6-hit formula with at least three autos.
There is no hiding the fact that this release is a 2023 product coming out just days before the 2024 season begins. The Panini National Treasures Football boxes are scheduled for release on September 4, 2024.
That is just one day before the Ravens play the Chiefs in the season’s first game. While the dates for other products have improved for Panini, this one has worsened.
The 2022 box arrived on August 9, 2023. Super late, but a month before the next season started. But this release has always been late, coming after the end of the season, even as far back as 2019.
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National Treasures is a hobby box-only release, like all genuinely high-end releases. There is a FOTL variant and a regular hobby box one. We do not have the data for the FOTL yet.
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The great thing about the National Treasures releases is that they maintain their prestige and value in the long term. A lot of other products have seen their reputation change significantly. However, this one enjoys excellent consistency.
That gives you much peace of mind if you invest in RPA’s or wax. This one is a sure thing. There aren’t a lot of those in the hobby.
The cards are also, without fail, beautiful and classy. Panini has never tried to play around with the formula all that much. Why would they? No one wants a gaudy or revolutionary design for National Treasures. This is a product for the class and reliability.
The 2023 design is a bit more modern-looking than usual, but it hasn’t lost the classic white-based and refined look we love. Sure, nothing here is jaw-dropping. However, that is precisely the right approach for this release.
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The price for these boxes is insane. Call me old-fashioned, but no box should cost $3,500. We will talk a bit about the rookie class below. However, it is not particularly deep. Even the most prominent name, CJ Stroud, will not necessarily be an all-time great.
Therefore, what are your chances of getting back the money you spent on a box? One Blowout Forums user wondered:
“I think it’s just like, if you buy one of these boxes, what exactly are you hoping to pull? Your best-case scenario is an Anthony Richardson RPA or maybe a CJ Stroud 1/1 shield or something like that.
In that way, it’s somewhat similar to the 2022 boxes in which it’s purdy or bust, but even with that, Purdy’s already been to a Super Bowl, and AR was just hurt most of his rookie year. Maybe it’ll be a scenario where the boxes are cheap initially, and if/when AR does well, they’ll eventually go up.”
Another user was more to the point: “Re-bury this treasure, as a cat would with the contents of its litter box!”
These prices are only suitable for affluent influencers and breakers. Regular folks have no chance or interest in spending this much money on a box. But what makes this even worse is that some of the top athletes in this release have exclusive auto contracts with Fanatics.
That means we may not get RPAs for CJ Stroud and Bryce Young. So, that begs the question, what are we paying all that money for?
As a result, CJ Stroud emerged as the standout rookie QB in 2023 and has become one of the most famous athletes to collect in the hobby.
Therefore, he is (at least for now) the top draw in this rookie class. His presence makes this a good crop. But the rest of the group stops it from being elite. Bryce Young, the most hyped-up QB going into the season, has been a disappointment.
Anthony Richardson is getting a lot of hype. However, we know that the dreams of these run-first QBs often end in tatters and that injury has done nothing to assuage fears.
There isn’t enough depth here to justify such an expensive price tag. But even if there was, as mentioned, it is not clear that RPA’s of the best players will be offered here. That is a severe problem for this release.
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The checklist for this product has not been published yet, so there is still much to learn. However, we assume that, as usual, there will be a 100-card base checklist. Meanwhile, the RPA list in 2022 was 44 cards long.
These have never been the main point of National Treasures. But here is the list of parallels nonetheless.
The big draw in National Treasures has always been the patch autos, particularly the RPAs and NFL Shields. That will be no different in this release.
The booklets have also become one of the most coveted parts of National Treasures. In particular, the Elevated Ink cards are beautiful, featuring two panels of the relevant player in gorgeous (usually) action pictures. Other favorites are reprising here, including the Rookie Jumbo Prime Signatures and Colossal Signatures.
The best cards tend to be the path autos. But there is no shortage of excellent memorabilia cards here, either. Perhaps the one I am looking forward to seeing most is the Rookie Triple Booklet NFL Shield.
Considering that some of the most sought-after autos may be absent from the product, a triple shield with Stroud may be one of the best hits in the release.
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No one buys a box of National Treasures to hit an insert, but a couple have become well-known and desirable.
These cards showcase some of the greatest moments on the biggest stage. You get a great action shot from the Super Bowl on the front and a recap of that moment on the back. Some of these go for $200-300.
The Gladiators insert appeared in the 2012 National Treasures Football release. It had a cool warrior going into the ring vibe then, and fans will be happy to see it back.
However, the new version (at least according to the mockup Panini has made available) looks like they are just using an ordinary action shot. That is a shame. Either way, these cards are not worth much.
Before we even crunch the numbers, we can tell there will be severe problems with this item’s value. When the 2022 Panini National Treasures Football hobby boxes were released, they sold for about $1,800. Now, they are almost double that.
We have no idea how they justify that price increase, especially considering that there will be fewer value autos in this year’s release.
We know there is a very high bar for wax to be worth stashing, considering a box sells for $3,499. Of course, boxes from previous years sell for a lot of money. There is no question about that. But is it enough to cover this high price?
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2017 Panini National Treasures Football Hobby Box | $14,974 |
2018 Panini National Treasures Football Hobby Box | $5,249 |
2019 Panini National Treasures Football Hobby Box | $1,950 |
2020 Panini National Treasures Football Hobby Box | $6,399 |
2021 Panini National Treasures Football Hobby Box | $2,199 |
2022 Panini National Treasures Football Hobby Box | $1,799 |
There are indeed quite a few boxes worth more than the current box’s price, which would explain the higher price.
But it’s hard to believe that prices for the current box will reach those heights. I am not optimistic about this crop of rookies and the probable lack of some of the most enormous autos. In the long run, I could see the box having the lowest value of any of these.
With wax being a dicey proposition, investing in singles is probably the way to go. Here is a look at some of the highest-selling cards from this prestigious release.
The singles are certainly better investments than wax. However, they will also cost you more for a suitable RPA. While the prices are reasonable, I expected them to be higher. There were no confirmed sales on eBay for over $20,000, which I believed would be the highest-valued cards.
National Treasures is an absolute classic in the hobby and retains a lot of its majesty and mystique. Nonetheless, the price is ridiculous for a product that will probably not have the most desirable autos.
After all, RPAs are the entire reason for the high cost of this product, and aside from CJ Stroud, it is hard to believe that many cards here would justify the price of entry. It is worth waiting to see which autos will be on the checklist.
However, this release will be another victim of the continuing Fanatics versus Panini feud. Therefore, it is likely a good product to ignore, despite our sentiments from previous releases.
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