Bowman football cards come in several different forms, with Bowman Sterling occupying the highest end of the spectrum. It doesn't mess around when it comes to rookie content thanks to regular, autographed and relic (memorabilia) cards of the 2008 class in every pack.
Bowman Sterling Football is a hobby-only product that features six five-card packs per box. Every pack should contain one veteran relic card, one rookie relic card and at least one rookie autograph, and each box should yield eight autographs and 12 relics.
Rookie and Veteran Relic Cards
It's fair to say Bowman Sterling is loaded with relic (memorabilia) cards. All 50 veteran NFL players in the base set appear on cards with a game-worn jersey swatch, and 34 2008 rookies have cards with player-worn swatches. The design for both groups of players is the same, featuring a waste-high photo set against a gray background with a football texture. There's a splash of team color at the top, with the swatch in a shield-shaped window in the middle and all player and team info at the bottom. All of the relic cards are numbered to quantities that vary by player.
Since the cards are printed on what's basically extra thick Chrome stock, the parallels are Refractors. There are four levels, with regular Refractors numbered to 199 the most common and 1-of-1 Red Refractors the hardest to pull.
The player selection for the veterans is pretty interesting, with most of the top stars of the NFL supplemented by people who don't get memorabilia cards very often, like kickers Rob Bironas and Nick Folk and defensive players like Vince Wilfork and Ken Hamlin. The majority of the top 2008 rookies are in this tier, including the likes of Darren McFadden, Matt Ryan and Joe Flacco.
Topps states that a full box of Bowman Sterling should yield 12 relic cards, and a random box I opened to review hit that number on the button. The haul included four regular veteran relics (including Adrian Peterson), one Refractor and one Gold Refractor, plus five rookie relics (notably Matt Forte and DeSean Jackson) and one Refractor.
Autographed Cards and Autographed Relic Cards
Autograph collectors should dig Bowman Sterling's rate of just over one signed card per pack. The haul begins with 40 autographed rookie cards inserted one per pack. Players in this tier are mostly skill position players drafted on the second day, plus first-rounders on defense like cornerback Mike Jenkins and linebacker Jerod Mayo. The cards aren't numbered, but can be found in the same Refractor versions as the relic cards.
Gold variations of the relic rookies simply swap out the player-worn swatch for a signed sticker. Sixteen of the 34 relic rookies have signed, including McFadden, Ryan and Rashard Mendenhall.
Autographs and swatches combine on autographed relic variations of six veterans - Tom Brady, both Manning brothers, Peterson, Joseph Addai and Derek Anderson - and 24 of the relic rookies. These cards utilize a horizontal layout with a photo on the left and the swatch and signed sticker on the right. Expect to find two per box on average.
The final autographed goodies are Gold Dual Relic Autographed Cards that combine a pair of rookie signatures and swatches, and Gold Refractor Dual Autographed Cards numbered to 400 and seeded 1:4 boxes. The latter has a checklist that is heavy on rookies, but also has some veteran-rookie combos and some QB-WR teammate cards (Brady-Moss for one).
Seven autographs emerged from my sample box: two autographed rookies, two Gold Variation autographs, two autographed relics cards (both first round draft picks) and a redemption card for a Refractor autograph of Aqib Talib.
Rookie Base Cards
Believe it or not, there are some cards in this set without signatures or swatches of any kind. The base set finishes (or starts, actually, at card number 1) with standard cards of 50 more 2008 rookies. Not surprisingly, this tier doesn't have marquee names, but intriguing players like Arizona running back Tim Hightower and San Francisco receiver Josh Morgan are present.
These unnumbered cards combine with their Refractor parallels to fall about two per pack. I pulled nine regular cards, one Refractor and one Black Refractor from the About.com review box.
The Last Word
For rookie collectors, Bowman Sterling is quite simply packed with swatches and signatures from the best of the Class of 2008. Add in the veteran game-worn cards and it's quite a nice mix.
The cost may be a barrier for some, as boxes will easily run upwards of $200. Topps also announced that a production error resulted in some boxes shipping out with seven autographs instead of eight - the About.com review box, for one. But the company has already made plans to make good on that problem, as affected collectors can mail in the UPC code on the box to receive not only the missing autograph but a special set of Blue Refractors. Anyone pulling a redemption card also has a 1:3 chance of receiving an extra autograph when the exchanged cards are mailed out.
That little hiccup aside, Bowman Sterling is easy to like. High end football collectors hunting great rookie content may want to budget for a few packs or a box.