Artifacts is an Upper Deck brand that made its debut in baseball cards in 2005 with some very unique memorabilia cards. It's making its football debut in 2007, looking to make a name for itself with a mix of jersey cards, autographs and Upper Deck's first take on the NFL's 2007 rookie class.
Hobby boxes of 2007 Artifacts Football hold ten packs of four cards each. Collectors can expect three memorabilia cards, at least one autographed card, four rookie cards and one short-printed rookie card per box on average.
Base Cards
Artifacts base cards have a design that definitely catches the eye. An action photo of each NFL player is set against a gold and silver background, with the player's initials behind him in a font that makes the letters look like they are made of stone. It's a cool 3-D effect and it fits the brand's theme.
The first 100 cards in the base sets are veterans, followed by 50 2007 rookies that fall one in every other pack on average. Fifty additional rookies round out the set, and Upper Deck has confirmed that these last cards are short prints that are seeded about one per box. Big names like Brady Quinn, Adrian Peterson and JaMarcus Russell all appear in the short-printed tier.
All of the base cards have several levels of parallels, all numbered to different quantities. Even the short-printed rookies have parallels, and it will be interesting to see which versions of these cards end up with the most secondary market activity.
A sample box of Artifacts Football provided by Upper Deck contained 26 veterans, four regular rookies, two SP rookies (Titans WR Joel Filani and Redskins S LaRon Landry) and a Paul Posluszny parallel numbered to 99.
Memorabilia Cards
Just like its baseball cousin, NFL Artifacts has a number of jersey and memorabilia card inserts. The easiest to find are the single-swatch NFL Artifacts, AFC Apparel and NFC Apparel, all of which have game-worn pieces cut in the shape of the NFL shield or one of the conference logos.
Dual Artifacts and Triple Artifacts combine game-worn swatches from two and three NFL players respectively. Collectors can also find multiple pieces from one player on Photo Shoot Flashback Fabrics, NFL Equipment and Awesome Artifacts.
All of the memorabilia inserts are sequentially numbered, and many have patch or autographed parallels.
My review box was right on the money with three memorabilia cards: a Photo Shoot Flashback Fabrics Charlie Frye (a somewhat dubious way to use up event-worn jerseys from previous seasons), an NFL Artifacts David Carr and a two-color AFC Apparel Ben Roethlisberger.
Insert Cards and Autographs
Artifacts Football has just a single regular insert set, aptly named NFL Facts. It's fairly nondescript as inserts go, but it is large, with 200 players on the checklist.
It also forms the basis for the product's main autograph set, the NFL Facts Auto parallel, which includes 186 of the 200 players from NFL Facts. The autographs aren't numbered, though some are short-printed. They're also not the most attractive signed cards Upper Deck has produced - the card design would be perfect for an on-card autograph or a clear sticker, but they sport silver stickers instead.
I found a pair of NFL Facts Autos in my sample box (Redskins WR Santana Moss and Raiders RB Justin Fargas) as well as two regular NFL Facts cards.
The Last Word
Artifacts Football doesn't quite have the same innovative memorabilia cards as its baseball counterpart, and the autographed cards were a little disappointing. What it does have is a great design that fits the brand's concept and perceived value in every pack.
Those strengths, plus the first Upper Deck cards of the new NFL rookie class, make Artifacts Football a solid choice to kick off the company's football efforts for 2007. And since it appears the brand has some legs (2007 Artifacts Baseball is already on the way), it could become a collector favorite before too long.