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Up for sale is a 2010 Panini Timeless Treasures Hall of Fame Materials memorabilia card of George Mikan and Kareem Abdul-Jabbar of the Los Angeles Lakers, card number 10, hand numbered 01/50. Photographed here front and back exactly as you will receive it.
Serial numbered 01/50. The print run is stamped on the card itself: 01/50. Only fifty copies of this card exist anywhere in the world. That is the number on this specific card, not a general description of the parallel — it is photographed and you can read it for yourself.
What the manufacturer certifies. The back of the card carries the manufacturer's own wording, quoted here exactly: “The enclosed game-worn swatches are guaranteed by Panini America, Inc.”
01 of 50 — the first one. Fifty copies were made and this is number one. On a serial numbered card the 1/50 is the copy collectors chase, the same way they chase the last one, and it is the only 01/50 that will ever exist. That is worth saying plainly rather than burying it in the title.
Two swatches, not one. There is a separate memorabilia window for each man and the material in them is visibly different — a pale cream piece under Mikan and a gold piece under Abdul-Jabbar. Panini’s wording is plural for that reason: swatches, certified game-worn, one from each career.
Game-worn, and the back says so. A great many relic cards from this era carry material from a photo shoot or a rookie premiere rather than a game. This one does not. Panini's wording is quoted above and it is specific: the swatches are certified as game-worn. That is the version collectors actually want, and it is worth knowing the difference before you buy anything with a window in it.
The look. Portrait, on an ivory field. GEORGE MIKAN sits top left and KAREEM ABDUL-JABBAR top right, each with Lakers written beneath in gold script, either side of the black Timeless Treasures nameplate. A silver bar reading HALL OF FAME runs the full width below them. Mikan is printed in sepia on the left with his arm raised; Abdul-Jabbar is in colour on the right in the gold Lakers jersey and his goggles. The two jersey windows sit side by side beneath the photographs, each capped by the word Inducted in gold script, and the Hall of Fame roundel is struck between them on a black and gold band of diamonds. 1959 and 1995 — their induction years — are printed in gold in the bottom corners. The back carries both team marks: the old MPLS Lakers roundel for Mikan and the Los Angeles Lakers logo for Abdul-Jabbar.
George Mikan. Basketball's first great big man, and the reason several of its rules exist. Mikan won seven professional championships across three different leagues — two in the NBL, one in the BAA and four in the NBA, all but the first with Minneapolis — along with three scoring titles and a 61-point game. He was in the inaugural Hall of Fame class in 1959.
Kareem Abdul-Jabbar. Six MVP awards, the most any player has won. Six championships, two Finals MVPs, nineteen All-Star selections, fifteen All-NBA teams and 38,387 points, a total that stood as the NBA record for nearly four decades. He also led the league in rebounding and, four times, in blocked shots. Hall of Fame, 1995.
About 2010-11 Panini Timeless Treasures. Timeless Treasures is Panini's old-money basketball release — cream card stock, gold filigree, and a checklist that runs from the current season straight back through the Hall of Fame. Nearly everything in the product is either serial numbered, signed, or carries memorabilia, and most of it is all three. The rookie cards at the back of the base set are on-card autographs on a leather panel, and the insert sets sit underneath them at print runs that fall away fast.
Condition. This card has been inspected front and back under direct light and is in near mint or better shape. Corners are sharp, the edges are clean, the surface is free of creases, dents and print defects, and both memorabilia windows and the foil are intact with no lifting. It has been stored in a penny sleeve inside a rigid top loader and has not been handled outside of protection. Please study the photographs closely — they are of the exact card you will receive, not a stock image, and they are the most accurate description of condition I can give you.
Shipping. Your card ships free. It travels in a penny sleeve inside a rigid top loader, secured against a stiffener, sealed in a team bag and sent inside a bubble mailer with the corners protected. Orders placed on a business day go out the same day or the next; weekend orders go out on Monday. Tracking is uploaded the moment the package is scanned. I ship every card the way I would want a card of mine to arrive.
About this listing. Top Shelf Trading AZ is a one-person operation in Arizona. Every card is photographed by hand, examined under light, and described by someone who has actually held it. If you have a question about this card — condition, the numbering, the material, anything — message me and you will get a real answer from a person. Offers are welcome. Thanks for looking.
