We have an interesting thread currently going about how do they sort cards into packs and the thread includes a video from Panini. I spotted a somewhat related video today about how they make memorabilia cards, specifically turning a Bear Bryant hat into 100 cards. Take a look below.

Thanks for posting that video I have often wondered how that all worked.

Neat!

I'm really impressed that they would make that video !

Interesting!

Cool video!

very interesting
I wonder if the pieces are always cut by a machine

Holy Moley! I THOUGHT that's how they might do it, but I wasn't sure. And if you believe that, I've a got a REAL good price on the Brooklyn Bridge for ya!

that was a cool video. but its amazing how they can butcher a piece of memorabilia like that.

Here's a different perspective on these costume/fabric cards. I don't see how destroying one piece of memorabilia to create another is really such a great thing. I know that a few people can have a piece of memorabilia from a uniform or a costume, but to destroy such an object? Shouldn't it be in a museum and not cut up into ten or hundreds of pieces? When Cristie's Auction House, in NY, auctioned off all the Star Trek props and costumes they went for thousands of dollars, and they weren't destroyed. On the contrary they were cherished by their new owners. I'm not a sports fan {and I don't really care about someones old **** hat}, but shouldn't these things be preserved in a sports museum, at least?
What's next cutting up the Mona Lisa or breaking up Michaelangelo's David to put in a trading card? {I know that's pushing it, but hopefully you all can get my drift ?}

quote:

Originally posted by Freddy:What's next cutting up the Mona Lisa or breaking up Michaelangelo's David to put in a trading card? {I know that's pushing it, but hopefully you all can get my drift ?}

If they could, they would. Thing is, for some reason, collectors are willing to pay more for an autograph cut out of a historical document then they would ever have to pay for the entire document with autograph in the first place. I say 'they' because I have never, and will never buy a cut autograph.

Now, as to relics, it's one thing to have a piece of a piece of coal from the titanic, or wooden deck of the U.S.S North Carolina, and another to have a cross section of a bone from a dinosaur.

quote:

Originally posted by Freddy:
I know that a few people can have a piece of memorabilia from a uniform or a costume, but to destroy such an object? Shouldn't it be in a museum and not cut up into ten or hundreds of pieces?

Well that argument has been going on for about 20 years now. Long before premium hits of material and uniform cards became commonplace there was the Babe Ruth bat card. Upper Deck sliced up an old, cracked bat once used by Babe Ruth and stuck rectangular, quarter sized slivers on a large number of bat cards.

All the sports collectors were horrified, how dare they destroy a Babe Ruth bat? Then they all went out and bought the card for some stupid price. After that bat cards were in every product. Moral of the story is that no one really cares, and its pretty easy to sell the Brooklyn Bridge if you find the right people.

This message has been edited. Last edited by: Raven, February 09, 2011 11:17 PM

This type of stuff would make a great NSU article (if it hasn't already in an issue I missed). A behind-the-scenes feature would rock! It was sort of hit upon recently in the article about why some sets are dropped.

quote:

Originally posted by Ted Dastick Jr.:
This type of stuff would make a great NSU article (if it hasn't already in an issue I missed). A behind-the-scenes feature would rock! It was sort of hit upon recently in the article about why some sets are dropped.

That's why TV shows like, "How's It Made" and such are doing good and so interesting, too.

Do they really use this same process for all the memorabilia cards they make? They produce hundreds of thousands (maybe millions?) of sports jersey relic cards a year. Seems like it would take forever.

No wonder mistakes are made if they work that fast

Very Interesting

What a great video. I never knew what actually went into making these cards. But...Did you notice the cards were numbered to 100 yet there had to be a few hundred squares of the hat and liner left over. Can we guess that they will use these for another Bear Bryant card in the future? Or are there unmumbered versions of the same card?

quote:

Originally posted by beamer:
What a great video. I never knew what actually went into making these cards. But...Did you notice the cards were numbered to 100 yet there had to be a few hundred squares of the hat and liner left over. Can we guess that they will use these for another Bear Bryant card in the future? Or are there unmumbered versions of the same card?

Unless the relic is tiny, it would make sense for the company to use part of the inventory and keep some in storage for future product. Take the Beethoven DNA Relic cards from Allen & Ginter. Topps has released 3 of them in consecutive years and I have no reason to believe they are done with them. They likely bought a lock of Beethoven's hair and have cut individual strands into segments. You get one segment of one strand of hair in that ultra-rare 1/1 card... until next year.

quote:

Originally posted by Freddy:
When Cristie's Auction House, in NY, auctioned off all the Star Trek props and costumes they went for thousands of dollars, and they weren't destroyed.

Representatives from the card companies go to those auctions, too... Rittenhouse had some Lost auction winnings on display at a recent show. I'm sure they will be in a future Lost release.

As an additional bit of info, I know of a guy who was allowed a visit to UD's "vault". There were whole items (jerseys, bats, etc.) but also baggies of cut-up items with labels. So yes, they cut up an immense amount of stuff and store them for future releases.

Great video, that is sure a great process. Shame great props/ items like that have to get cut up but on the other hand they make nice looking, dare I say, unique cards.

Thanks for posting