One Hobby box of 2013 Panini Beach Boys trading cards yielded a full base set of 120 cards with just a handful of base doubles.

The set is comprehensive, with a terrific selection of photos and a lot of text detailing the history of the group on pretty much every card, including the chase/insert cards

Every 2013 Panini Beach Boys hobby box includes a pair of memorabilia cards with pieces of concert-worn outfits and mine included one from lead singer Mike Love and I lucked out and also found one of the autographs which were limited to 70 or less per member. They are sequentially numbered on the reverse side. I got Bruce Johnston who joined the group in 1964 to play on the recording sessions of "California Girls" and who became a permanent touring member the following year, replacing main songwriter Brian Wilson, who quit touring to recover from burnout and spend more time writing songs. Johnston also wrote "I Write the Songs" which became a massive hit for Barry Manilow.



Every pack comes with a specially stamped parallel card, the silhouette of a surfer in gold. I got 12 from the base set and 12 of the chase cards with this special stamp.

I also received a base card "Artist Proof" that is sequntially numbered out of 99.

There are 480 printing plates (4 per each base card) but I didn't receive one of those.

Retail edition boxes come with one commemorative Guitar Pick relic card, but mine was a hobby box so I had no chance at that.



Beside the parallels and premium hits, described above, just about every pack also included a basic insert card.

"Gold Albums" are just one per box, and die-cut to mimic a vinyl record album, a design used on the Beatles set from Sportstime back in 1995. This is a 23 card set, so it will be tough to complete at only one per box, and speaks to the longtime popularity of the band to have than many million selling albums.

"In Their Own Words" are 3 per box and feature quotes from the various members. It is 14 card set.

"Etchings" are three per box

"Honors" are four per box

"On the Record" cards are 3 per box and are die-cut like the Gold Albums chase set, but the "albums" coming out of the sleeves are black as opposed to gold.

"Sounds of Summer" are 8 per box

"Top 10 Hits" are 6 per box.

There is also a special "Etched Gold" card touting the band's besting a record formerly held by the Beatles for longest span between a group's first and most recent Top 10 Album. It is a one card set, and I believe those might be found one per box. My box had one.

The ratios were pretty much exact on all of the inserts, but I think I got lucky with the autograph. The Gold Foil Surfer Stamp variants are also seen on the regular inserts, which like the base cards, are loaded with information. As I mentioned, 12 of my 24 Surfer parallels were from the basic inserts.

This is an excellent set, and one that was long overdue. The Beach Boys have an embarrassingly good catalog of songs, and it's nice to see them properly commemorated. Good job, Panini!

This message has been edited. Last edited by: chesspieceface,

The autos are stickers (the Johnston anyway), which I think is a bit unusual for Panini non sports, but maybe that was the only way they could get them.

I'll post a scan of the back of the hobby box, which I believe shows how many cards there are in each insert set.

I also forgot to mention there are some 1 of 1 autographs, extremely rare parallel versions of regular cards. I'm not sure how many of those there are, and I don't think any have surfaced yet.

Finally tried out a hobby box

1 base set
20 extra base
2 Concert Gear - Wilson & Johnston
1 Artist Proof #37 87/99
1 Gold Album
3 On the Record
2 Etchings
14 base gold parallels
4 In Their Own Words
2 ITOW gold parallels
4 Sounds of Summer
3 SOS gold parallels
6 Top 10 Hits
3 Top 10 gold parallels
6 Honors
3 Honors gold parallels

Overall B+
Pros: Box, Wrappers, Base & Chase design.
Cons: Perhaps too many parallels, the Artist Proof may sneak past you if not careful.

This release is worth a look.