I have fond memories of Playoff Absolute Memorabilia back at the beginning of the decade, when there was an autographed mini helmet in every box. The brand's gimmick isn't nearly as unique today, but the 2007 edition boasts some creative jumbo and multi-swatch memorabilia cards plus rookie cards that make good use of materials used at the NFL Rookie Premiere.
Hobby boxes of 2007 Absolute Memorabilia Football hold four packs of four cards each. Each box should yield one autograph, one Rookie Premiere Materials rookie card, one jumbo, combo or prime swatch card and one other hit on average.
Base Cards and Parallels
Absolute Memorabilia base cards have always have a somewhat busy design, and this year's cards are no exception. Hash marks line each side of the photo, with a diagonal stripe on the left, the team logo in the bottom-left corner and the player name and brand logo at the bottom in gold foil. It's a lot, but it comes out looking pretty good.
Along with 150 commons picturing NFL veterans, the base set serves up 134 2007 rookies in three different varieties. The first 50 rookie cards are identical to the commons with the exception of the word "ROOKIE" in white at the top of the card and numbering to 999 copies or less.
The middle tier of rookies lend their autographs to their cards, which are numbered to 349. Notable first-year players in this group include Darrelle Revis and Paul Posluszny.
An Absolute Memorabilia tradition continues in the final tier of 34 Rookie Premiere Materials (RPM) rookie cards. These cards incorporate items worn or used at the preseason photo shoot that included the biggest names from the Class of 2007. The standard cards for these rookies sport three swatches of material with an "NFL" die-cut, and they're numbered to 849.
As in years past, the base set parallels are called Spectrum and come in several different levels with print runs ranging from one to 100 copies. There are also autographed parallels for the first 200 cards, plus a bunch of variations of the RPM cards I'll cover in the memorabilia card section.
My sample box produced eight commons and one Spectrum parallel, one base rookie and an RPM rookie of Gaines Adams.
Memorabilia Cards
In an era where the swatches of material used on memorabilia cards seem to be shrinking, Absolute Memorabilia offers a number of different jumbo and multi-swatch cards. Donruss seeded the cards in a way that ensures that each four-pack box contains one of these cards, which is a welcome touch.
The largest memorabilia insert - and the one most commonly associated with the brand - is called Tools of the Trade. With a staggering 17 different levels, I won't even try to recap all of them here, but suffice it to say that most feature jumbo, prime or multiple swatches, an autograph, or some combination of those elements. One downside: with 150 players on the checklist, not all of them are superstars.
Other memorabilia inserts include Marks of Fame, Canton Absolutes, Star Gazing, NFL Icons and War Room. Team Tandems, Team Trios and Team Quads present multiple game-worn pieces from NFL teammates, and Absolute Patches live up to their name by showcasing huge pieces of game-worn patches or nameplates. Last but not least, College Materials cards show off multiple jersey pieces from college jerseys worn by the likes of Vince Young.
As mentioned above, the RPM rookies also have eight parallel levels, some of which include a jumbo jersey swatch. I pulled one of these cards from my review box - an RPM Jumbo w/Football card of Dwayne Bowe, which has an oversized jersey swatch plus a football swatch and is numbered to 50.
The other memorabilia card in my box was a three-color Marks of Fame Prime Materials card of Bears rookie Garrett Wolfe.
Insert Cards
They seem kind of extraneous in a product like this, but every pack that doesn't contain a parallel does have a regular insert card. Every subset mentioned in the previous section except for College Materials and Absolute Patches can also be found in non-memorabilia versions, each with numbering to 200 or less. Tools of the Trade takes it to a ridiculous extreme with six different levels of parallels.
Two of the packs in the About.com sample box held inserts: a War Room Spectrum Jason Hill (20/25) and a Tools of the Trade Blue Deion Branch (63/75).
Autographed Cards
Absolute Memorabilia doesn't cater to the autograph collector, so there are no stand-alone signed inserts. Each box does contain one of a number of autographed parallels though, including a bunch of cool autographed memorabilia cards. There are also autographed variations of the RPM rookie cards numbered to 100 or less which should prove very popular on the secondary market.
Alas, my review box held no autographed jersey cards, but a Spectrum Silver Autograph parallel of Saints wide receiver Devery Henderson numbered 002/100. It uses a signed sticker which is fairly transparent, but the autograph doesn't stand out too well as the sticker is simply applied right over the photo.