Buzz Break: 2008 Donruss Americana II cards (blaster box)

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The box: 2008 Donruss Americana II trading cards (blaster box)
Where to buy: BlowoutCards.com

Packs per box: 8
Cards per pack: 5
Cards in this box: 41
Base set completion:  38 of 100 (38 percent)
Duplicates: 0

Notables on base cards – Elijah Wood, John Cusack, Ray Park, Martin Kove, Goldie Hawn, Kurt Russell, Bai Ling, Greg Grunberg, Ricardo Montalban, Jake LaMotta, Peter Mayhew, Vicki Lawrence, Connie Britton, Jane Russell, Peggy Fleming, Lee Meriwether, Jonathan Winters, Ed Asner, Regis Philbin, Kane Hodder, Lindsay Wagner, Corey Feldman, Martina Navratilova, Laraine Newman

Insert/short-print cards: 3 (all in gallery below with some base)
Short-prints (Nos. 201-270) (2) – Dick Vitale, Mary Pickford
Silver Proofs (1) – Richard Anderson (/250)

Autographs/Memorabilia: 1
Stars Materials Silver Proofs (1) – Gloria Stuart (/100)

What’s Buzz-worthy: About a decade ago, Donruss Americana helped change the collecting game with a mixed set of celebrity and athletes’ cards with an autograph or memorabilia card in every hobby pack. Among them? Notables of TV and film but also the first autographs of MMA stars and Hall of Fame athletes in other sports that didn’t typically have card sets of their own. On the retail side in these early Americana releases, you could find autographs and memorabilia cards one per box — in later years it was memorabilia cards far, far more often than not — but these seem to deliver the goods (ink) at least a little more often. At least that’s how I remembered it — and it’s been a while since I had opened any packs from this second series. The wax has really dried up in general for the first two Americana sets and I was surprised to find these over on the mothership. The retail versions of these cards are not printed on foilboard — a plus in my mind — but you can still find inserts and hits from hobby packs. There are A-listers in this release and some of the names not found in this box included Jackie Chan, Christina Applegate, Willie Nelson, Julia Louis-Dreyfus, Quentin Tarantino, David Prowse, Barbara Bush, George Bush, John Wooden, Mark Hamill, Willie Mays, James Dean, Audrey Hepburn, Marilyn Monroe, Bing Crosby, George A. Romero, Gary Sinise, Kenny Baker and many more. It’s a very strong crop and many of them have inserts, memorabilia and ink — and this is the home of the first (or only) autographs for many, though there are a number who appeared on Americana cards to follow this release. This particular box included some good names on base cards but the inserts and hit are ultimately older celebs. The memorabilia card is of Gloria Stuart, who might be best known as the elderly Rose in Titanic but had an interesting life and career. Ultimately, this box was an average one — but they’ve dried up to the point where box prices can go higher than what this one cost me. I should have picked up several at this price — because the potential is there — but, ultimately I opted for some other boxes you’ll see here soon because I tore into a lot of this one back in the day.

Product Grade: A
Box Grade: C+ (strong base, not the flashiest on the rest)
Fun Grade: B

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