We wanted to get a little more cultured here on Bustin Wax, so we ripped open a box of:

2008 Upper Deck Masterpieces Football

• 6 cards/pack
• 12 packs/box ($75)

In case you're not familiar, the idea behind this product is to offer painting portrait-like images of the players on the cards. Like miniature works of art on canvas, with credit given to the artists in some cases. Some like it, some don't, but you get a good mix of past, present and future stars.

Here is what we found in this box:

• Jordy Nelson Stroke of Genius auto card (black frame)
• Dwayne Bowe patch card (green frame)  
• Chad Johnson patch card (green frame)
• 4 black frame: Vince Young, Lester Hayes, Chris Long and Walter Payton
• 2 red frame: LaDainian Tomlinson (numbered to 199) and Mario Manningham (numbered to 199)
• 1 brown frame: Matt Forte (numbered to 25)

And now on to the video:

Keeping with the spirit of the sports season, we're sticking with football. And in this installment of Bustin' Wax, we have:

2008 Leaf Rookies & Stars Football

• 5 cards/pack
• 24 packs/box ($80)

The big draw here is four autographs or memorabilia cards per box, along with a number of parallels and inserts. We have a lot to cover, so let's dive right in.

Our four big "hits" were as follows:

• Kevin Smith auto swatch (with Lions logo in the swatch (numbered to 117)
• Jamaal Charles monster swatch (numbered to 25
• Malcolm Kelly Cross Training patch (numbered to 250)
• Ben Roethlisberger Statistical standouts patch (numbered to 250)

Among the other highlights are:

• Malcolm Kelly Studio Rookies (numbered to 1,000)
• Rashard Mendenhall Cross Training (numbered to 1,000
• 3 base rookies: Davone Bess, Kenneth Moore and Jacob Hester (each numbered to 999)
• 2 rookie parallels: Kenneth Moore (numbered to 249) and Jed Collins (numbered to 99)
• Jeff Garcia gold parallel (numbered to 49)

For the rest of the highlights, check out the video below:

We got our hands on an early  box of:

Bowman Chrome Football

• 4 cards/pack
• 18 packs/box

With a street date of around Nov. 19, we're happy to hare this box a little early. In addition to the parallels, we're looking for rookie autographs. So let's see what we found:

• Pete Smith rookie auto
• Jerricho Cotchery orange refractor (numbered to 25)
• Terrell Owens blue refractor (numbered to 150)
• Kellen Winslow black x-fractor (numbered to 250)
• Marcus Henry rookie bronze parallel (numbered to 329)
• Plus nine other refractors.

All in all, an all right box. For complete highlights, check out the video below:

We looked for one-of-one autograph patch cards in Bowman Draft Picks & Stars Basketball, but we didn't find any.

What we did find in the $65 box (18 packs at 6 cards per pack) were the stud rookies hoops players just now getting their feet wet in the NBA.

The video below will tell the story of this box opening, but we did get a few hits:

• J.R. Giddens autograph
• Dwight Howard relic card
• Al Horford relic card
• Greg Oden orange Bowman (numbered to 299)
• 3 Blue Bowmans: Chris Douglas-Roberts, Richard Hamilton and Mike Miller (all numbered to 499).

Check out the video to see the rest:  

Leaves are falling as the calendar turns to November, and we decided to crack open some Leaf Limited Football on Bustin' Wax.

Donruss Leaf Limited 2008 Football

• 5 cards/pack
• 16 packs/box ($125)

There are a lot of special hits in this box, from the advertised four autographs/memorabilia cards per box to the Spotlight, Banner Season, Phenom and other inserts.

We got plenty of things to feature so, let's dive right in.

• 1 Team Trademarks Auto and Patch: John Mackey (numbered to 25)
• 1 Phenom Auto: Jacob Tamme (numbered to 299)
• 2 Team Threads: Roy Williams/Calvin Johnson dual jersey patch (numbered to 25) and David Garrard, Fred Taylor and Matt jones triple jersey patch (numbered to 100)
• 1 Team Trademarks: Joe Klecko (numbered to 999)
• 1 Phenom Spotlight bronze: Lawrence Jackson (numbered to 125)
• 1 Spotlight gold: Jon Kitna (numbered to 49)
• 3 Phenoms (numbered to 999 each): Justin Forsett, Marcus Henry and Patrick Lee
• 4 Legends: Yale Lary (silver Spotlight numbered to 99), Sid Luckman (bronze Spotlight numbered to 125), Jack Lambert (numbered to 499) and Bill Dudley (numbered to 499)
• 2 Banner Season: Chad Johnson (numbered to 100) and Marques Colston (numbered to 999)

For the rest of the break, please check out the video below:

   

The latest box cracked open by the Bustin' Wax crew is exactly as it says:

2008 Topps Baseball Updates & Highlights

• 10 cards/pack
• 36 packs/box ($50)

This set offers 45 new rookies, thus emphasizing the sets name: updates. We opened a few parallels and the advertised one auto or relic card. Nothing real hot here, but what do you expect for a highlight set?

By the way, anyone like Christian Guzman?

Roll the videotape.

Welcome to another bust on Bustin' Wax, brought to you by Tuff Stuff's Sports Collectors Monthly.  In this installment, we break:

SP Authentic Baseball

• 5 cards/pack
• 24 packs/box ($100)

The card themselves are all right. All of the players are "cut out" with some funky graphics in the background. Inserts include Marquee Matchups and Authentic Achievements, but what collectors area really looking for are the three autos per box (on average). So which ones did we open?

• By the Letter auto: Edwin Encarnacion ("W" - numbered to 99)
• Rookie auto: Jed Lowrie (numbered to 499)
• Rookie jersey auto: Felipe Paulino (numbered to 799)

For the rest of the box, check out the video below:

It just released and it's filled with retired greats and the youngest rookies (still in the minors).

2008 Donruss Threads Baseball

• 5 cards/pack
• 24 packs/box ($90)

It's always fun to see cards of Robin Yount, Stan Musial and Johnny Podres, but this set is all about the young studs who haven't made it to the big stage yet. With four autograph or memorabilia cards per box of these minor leaguers, it's a great chance to get their cards early.

Here are the highlights:

• Steve Garrison auto (numbered to 1,999)
• Jovan Rosa auto (numbered to 973)
• Nick Weglarz auto (numbered to 999)
• Ryan Miller auto (numbered to 999)
• Andrew LeFave parallel (numbered to 100)
• Austin Romine parallel (numbered to 250)
• Carl Erskine parallel (numbered to 250)
• Jordan Schafer Diamond Kings dual memorabilia card (numbered to 250)
• Carl Yastrzemski patch card (numbered to 400)

For the rest of the box, check out the video:

We decided to get a little artsy and bust open a box of Upper Deck Masterpieces Baseball.

UD Masterpieces Baseball

• 6 cards/pack
• 12 packs/box ($70)

While the artwork is really, nice, another treat is seeing some classic stars get the framework treatment, too, such as Lou Brock, Yaz and Ryne Sandberg to name a few. you have to have a soft spot for these, or else you think there isn't much here.

In our box, we got five black borders:

• Rich Harden
• Stan Musial
• Roy Oswalt
• Hunter Pence
• Alex Rodriguez

We also nabbed one red border:

• Wade Boggs

One patch card "Captured on Canvas":

• Matt Cain

And one Stroke of Genius autograph:

• Glen Perkins (black border)

And there is UD Masterpieces Baseball. Check out the video!

We've recently had our rookie fix in football cards, so we decided to crack open some rookies from the hardwood:

Press Pass Basketball 2008

• 4 cards/pack
• 30 packs/box ($100)

This book is all rookies in their college uniforms. Press Pass has most of the big-time prospects and they feature them in many different subsets and with autograph and patch cards.

Each box touted five autographed cards and one game-used jersey card. We pulled two jersey cards and the predicted five autos:

- Brook Lopez Game Day Gear patch (numbered to 50)
- Anthony Randolph Game Day Gear patch (numbered to 99)
- Jerryd Bayless auto (numbered to 250)
- Eric Gordon auto (numbered to 127)
 - Sonny Weems auto (numbered to 50)
- JJ Hickson auto (numbered to 199)
- J.R. Giddens auto (numbered to 199)

And now for the ever-exciting video box break: 

Nothing like a few NFL rookies to crack open with the morning coffee. At least, that was the treat when we cracked open"

Upper Deck SP Rookie Threads Football

• 5 cards/pack
• 6 packs/box ($235)

Each box contains two autographed rookie letterman cards and among that set, we pulled Paul Smith (numbered to 50) and Tashard Choice (numbered to 42).

But there was tons more of the good stuff in this box, which we'll highlight below. Among the treasure were autographs and some nice rookie patch cards.

• 1 Multi Marks triple auto: John David Booty, Dennis Dixon and Erik Ainge (numbered to 35)
• 1 SP Authentic auto: Early Doucett III (numbered to 244)
• 1 Signature Draft Choice auto: Rashard Mendenhall (numbered to 50 - just his initials, however)
• 2 Rookie Threads, patch cards: Mario Manningham ("RT", numbered to 250) and Kevin Smith ("SP", numbered to 25)
• 2 Rookie Numbers patch cards: Jake Long ("77", numbered to 75) and Earl Bennett ("85", numbered to 135)
• 1 Trio Threads patch card: Darren McFadden, Felix Jones and Rashard Mendenhall (numbered to 45)
• 1 Rookie Super Swatch card: Harry Douglas (numbered to 175)
• 2 Flashback Fabrics patch cards: Eli Manning (numbered to 60) and Brady Quinn (numbered to 20)

Over all, not a bad product to bust open, that's for sure. Plenty of hits. Check out the video to get an up-close look at these cards.
 

There's something regal about opening a product with the word "treasury" in it. It just feels like you have the chance to open something really cool.

Well, we opened Topps Treasury Basketball, and while we didn't find anything really cool, there were a few cards worth noting.

2008 Topps Treasury Basketball

• 5 cards/pack
• 18 pack/box ($75)

The big draw of this product is the Rip Card. To rip or not to rip, that is the question. And when Topps announced that there could be actual money in the Rip Card (up to a $1,000, no less), that gives you something to think about.

Our Rip Card was Rudy Gay, numbered to 99. Not bad, but we couldn't resist. So what was inside - money or a mini card? Well, it was a mini card of Deron Williams, numbered to 278. No autograph, no money. Bad decision on our part.

And here are some other parallel highlights:

• Robin Lopez auto (numbered to 50)
• O.J. Mayo (numbered to 2,008)
• Eric Gordon (numbered to 2,008)
• Samuel Dalembert (numbered to 999)
• Tayshaun Prince (numbered to 999)
• Danny Granger (numbered to 999)
• Carlos Boozer (numbered to 199)

Check below to see a video of the break: